NASCAR Cup Talladega

Noah Gragson on Talladega: "It was a good day until it wasn't"

It has been a difficult NASCAR Cup rookie season for Noah Gragson but he appeared headed for a big turnaround in Sunday’s race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Jim Utter

Edited: Apr 24, 2023, 4:01 PM

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Noah Gragson, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, Wendy's Beef is in the Bag Chevrolet Camaro

Gragson, who drives the No. 42 Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club, had driven an impressive race and found his way near the front of the field when the final stage got underway.

He quickly gave Harrison Burton a big push on the restart that put Burton in the lead. However, just 15 laps later, Gragson got into the right-rear of Burton in Turn 3 to send Burton spinning out of the lead.

Gragson was able to remain in contention and when the race went into the first of two overtimes, Gragson was lined up third, behind Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola.

Just as he was powering into the lead of the race, he got spun himself by Ross Chastain, which left him sidelined for the rest of the race and credited with a 32nd-place finish.

While that left Gragson, 24, with another disappointing result, he took solace in he and his team’s performance in the race.

“This No. 42 team was really on top of it today. Good pit stops and a fast car there in the race,” he said. “I felt like we were in a good position restarting on the front row on a green-white-checkered.

“I got kind of shoved out there and bobbled a little bit by (Chastain). I just got to look back and see what I could do better. Obviously, not let (Chastain) get inside me. Overall, it was a good day until it wasn’t.”

So far this season, Gragson is 31st in the series standings with a best finish of 12th at Atlanta. He has now wrecked out of two of the last four races.

Asked over the weekend if he was “panicking,” Gragsons said, “No, I’m actually kind of the complete opposite. The (team) has a lot of good things in the works, kind of behind the scenes. Hiring more engineers and utilizing the sim in a better way.

“I was kind of panicking after Phoenix and whatnot, now I’m kind of in a really good headspace now and we have good things way coming our way. It’s going to take a little bit of time but those constant reminders of seeing what’s going on in the background are definitely key for my mentality of staying focused, confident, comfortable and energized and ready to go to the race track.”

It's not just Gragson who has been struggling.

Until the late wrecks helped Legacy MC teammate Erik Jones salvage a sixth-place finish on Sunday, Jones had only one top-10 finish this season (eighth at Atlanta) and was 27th in the standings.

Both teams have shown potential at times and Sunday’s race gives Gragson hope the organization is on the right track.

“The results have sucked here lately, but we’ve been running strong,” he said. “We ran in the top-five, the top-10 all day (Sunday) and I’m really proud of that.

“We’re close. We’ll get there one day.”

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