This weekend, Noah Gragson is racing for the win at the Snowball Derby, but took time to reflect on his recent controversies. Gragson had a tumultuous rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Now, it appears he is ready to get back to racing and put everything behind him.
Earlier this year, Noah Gragson appeared to “like” a meme on social media that mocked the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Soon, Gragson had lost his seat at Legacy Motor Club (which was likely going to happen after the season) and was suspended by NASCAR.
Gragson completed NASCAR’s sensitivity training program, RISE, and was reinstated on September 12. Since then, Gragson has raced some late models, a NASCAR Canada Series race, and some regional NASCAR events.
Ahead of the Snowball Derby, Gragson opened up to Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut about the last few months.
“I was quite frankly uneducated and just ignorant,” Gragson said. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of different people, put in a lot of time and effort to learn and understand things that I just didn’t know anything about.”
Noah Gragson is a bit of a wild child in NASCAR. He’s known for being loud, boisterous, and hard-working. However, immaturity and being a little too over-the-top at times were knocks on him as well.
Now, it appears that the driver has reflected on himself and learned a thing or two.
Noah Gragson credits RISE program for helping him
NASCAR has had to do a lot of work to shed a certain image. It’s not just a sport for white men. Diversity programs and efforts such as banning the Confederate flag from events have been early steps in that process. So, they take instances like Noah Gragson’s seriously.
Credit to NASCAR, it appears the RISE program is a quality one. Gragson gave it a lot of credit for helping him through this journey.
“The RISE program, they really took me step-by-step and allowed me to ask questions about things that I didn’t understand,” Gragson said. “Five years from now, whenever from now, this will be one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
“To be able to educate myself and learn, to become more open-minded, and I really was so closed-minded, selfish and didn’t really take time to understand what other people were going through or their situations.”
So, it sounds like Noah Gragson has learned a lot. Then again, actions speak louder than words. Rumors are swirling that he’s next in line to take Aric Almirola’s seat at Stewart-Haas Racing. Sponsorship will be important.
If and when Gragson races in the Cup Series, will it be better? I’m not convinced. This season was not good at Legacy. Second chances can go a long way, though.