Noah Gragson never got to finish his rookie season in the Cup Series. After being suspended indefinitely due to a social media post, Gragson parted ways with his then-Chevy team, Legacy Motor Club (LMC), and when he was reinstated just a few months later, he was a free agent in search of a motorsports team in NASCAR’s most prestigious division. That landed him with NASCAR Ford team Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), where he now drives the No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, and according to a recent report from NASCAR.com, he’s just hitting his stride with The Blue Oval.
Thus far, Gragson has an average finish of 17.6 through the first 11 races of the 2024 racing season. Compared to his average during the same time period in 2023 – which was 27.6 – that’s a step in the right direction.
“I don’t know if we’ve fully seen our potential yet,” Gragson said during a media event, “because I’ve been taking steps as a driver each and every week on my preparation and whatnot that I don’t feel like I’m anywhere close to where I could be, just based off – if these steps can keep on going my whole career, it’d been pretty cool. And that’s what we’re trying to work for.”
Drew Blickensderfer currently sits atop the pit box as crew chief for the No. 10 NASCAR Ford team, and he says he’s impressed with Gragson’s performance thus far.
“Noah’s talent level is extremely high driving race cars on Sunday. Figuring out what line he needs to run, figuring out how to make passes, where to put his car, things like that,” Blickensderfer said. “The things we had to work on were how to unload to where he was comfortable, could get up to speed quickly, and then qualify better.”
Gragson is fresh off his career-best Cup Series finish, earned last weekend at Dover, where he crossed the line in third. He’s been quietly consistent all season, and currently sits in 21st in overall points.
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