New team, new ride — Noah Gragson is starting to figure it out in the NASCAR Cup Series.
One year removed from a season in which he failed to record a single top 10 finish and received an indefinite suspension from Legacy Motor Club, Gragson has tallied five top 10s this season and three in-a-row dating back to Talladega. He finished ninth in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway and subsequently earned some praise from one of NASCAR’s best.
Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Denny Hamlin brought up Gragson’s recent string of quality finishes, saying he’s routinely been the best of the Stewart-Haas Racing cars this season.
“He’s certainly finishing very well,” Hamlin said. “I think he’s performing well [as well]. To me, he’s clearly running the best of the Stewart-Haas cars right now. That’s a quick uneducated kneejerk reaction. But I feel like whenever I’m going through the field, he’s typically one of the front SHR cars. He definitely took a big leap in the offseason, and he seems to be very focused. You’re seeing nothing but good things out of Noah right now, he’s really performing well.”
Noah Gragson showing growth in year one with Stewart-Haas Racing
Gragson, who is up to 19th in the points standings, said after the race at Kansas that while he “still wants a little bit more,” he’s overall pleased with how his team has been running this season.
“I thought we had a really good Mustang all weekend. We qualified third and was fourth in practice and then come home ninth tonight. Overall, a really good weekend,” Gragson said, via NBC Sports. “We were trying some strategy stuff there at the end swinging two-tires at it with about 60 to go at that caution. It kinda hurt us on that short run but we were able to run them back down on the long run, which, I would have thought it would have been the opposite.
“I am super thankful for everybody at Bass Pro Shops and Winchester and Ford. Everybody has been working really hard and this is our third top-10 finish in a row. We were third at Talladega, sixth and Dover and now ninth here. 3-6-9, damn I guess we are doing fine. Still want a little bit more. But these have been good days compared to what our goals were at the start of the year.”