● Noah Gragson brings some quiet consistency to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup Series race. The driver of the No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing comes into the 188-lap race around the 2.66-mile oval with three straight finishes of 18th or better. While none of the performances – 11th Sept. 15 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, 12th sept. 21 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and 18th last Sunday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City – will be mounted over the mantle, that kind of solid consistency is key to emerging from Talladega with points in hand as opposed to being emptyhanded. The gargantuan facility is notorious for sending drivers to an early exit via The Big One, the perfunctory multicar accident that dashes any hope of victory and leaves drivers with just a handful of points and a garage full of mangled parts. In four career Cup Series starts at Talladega, Gragson has three top-20 finishes, a number that includes the best result of Gragson’s Cup Series career – third in the series’ prior visit to Talladega in April.
● In the three superspeedway races run this year – the season-opening Daytona 500, the April race at Talladega and the NASCAR Cup Series’ return to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in August – Gragson has scored two top-10s. He finished ninth in the Daytona 500 before finishing third at Talladega. Gragson was collected in a 17-car accident at Daytona in August, leaving him with a 37th-place finish.
● Gragson is still relatively new to the NASCAR Cup Series, with the YellaWood 500 serving as just his 70th career start. Prior to joining the elite Cup Series, Gragson spent five years in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2018-2022). In eight career Xfinity Series starts at Talladega, Gragson finished 11th or better seven times with six top-10s and three top-fives. His highlight was a victory in April 2022, when Gragson beat Jeffrey Earnhardt to the stripe by .131 of a second.
● Gragson has two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Talladega. In October 2017, Gragson finished 14th. He returned a year later and one-upped his performance by finishing 13th.
● Gragson first took to the Talladega oval in May 2017 via the ARCA Menards Series. It started off well with Gragson qualifying second and taking the lead on the first lap. But on lap 37 of the 82-lap race, Gragson was swept into a six-car accident that ended his day.
● At Talladega in October 2018, Stewart-Haas enjoyed one of its most dominant days ever. The team qualified 1-2-3-4 for the first time in its history. Stewart-Haas drivers then led 155 of the race’s 193 laps (80.3 percent), including the last lap by Aric Almirola, who delivered Stewart-Haas’ milestone 50th points-paying NASCAR Cup Series victory and the organization’s 11th win of the season.
● Beef-a-Roo, known for its famously delicious burgers and fresh, quality ingredients, will serve as the primary partner for Gragson and the No. 10 team of Stewart-Haas in the YellaWood 500 at Talladega. Beef-a-Roo is a beloved fast-casual restaurant brand that has garnered a loyal fanbase for its commitment to quality food and community engagement. Talladega is the first of three primary races for the No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse, with Beef-a-Roo returning with Gragson Oct. 13 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval and Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This partnership, facilitated by agency AMG Sport, marks a key step in Beef-a-Roo’s strategy to align with dynamic personalities who resonate with racing fans and support local communities through motorsport. Coinciding with Beef-a-Roo’s partnership with Gragson is the opening of three new locations in October: Manhattan, Kansas; Pittsburgh, Kansas; and Joplin, Missouri. These soon-to-be-opened restaurants will join already established Beef-a-Roo locations in serving a special Noah Gragson-inspired burger throughout the month of October. Gragson’s “Nacho Burger” features a premium beef patty with lettuce, tomato, onion, tortilla chips, jalapenos and taco sauce, all drizzled with melted cheddar cheese. Beef-a-Roo/Gragson merchandise will be available soon, as will a new loyalty app that will offer NASCAR fans VIP giveaways and Beef-a-Roo discounts. To learn more about Beef-a-Roo and its offerings, please visit www.beefaroo.com.
Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Beef-a-Roo Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Ninth in the Daytona 500, a career-high third at Talladega in April, but 59 laps into the Daytona race in August, a wreck ended your day? How would you assess your performances at superspeedway races this year?
“It started out really well, and then for whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem like we had what it took to do well at the superspeedways. The first Daytona and first Talladega, we were decent. Talladega, particularly, felt like we had a great car. But I didn’t feel great about it for the second Daytona race. As the year’s gone on, we haven’t had as much in terms of handling at these tracks, for whatever reason. I can’t make the moves that I need to.”
What’s the patience level of drivers in the last superspeedway race of the year?
“I think the added fuel-saving factor at Talladega will dictate the patience level at different parts of the race. You’re able to kind of establish track position at the beginning at Talladega and then get down to it at the end. It seemed like at the first Talladega we were able to make our way up there easier than at Daytona.”
These superspeedway races have become fuel-mileage races where you’re riding around until you get to your fuel window, and only then can you finally hit the go switch. Explain what you have to do, and are you handcuffed a little bit until you get into that window where you can go full throttle?
“Yeah, you ride around half-throttle pretty much the whole run until the end of the race, until you get within your fuel window to get to the checkers. Honestly, what they need to do is just let you go, whatever our fuel window is should be the race. We should be able to race hard the whole time.”
It’s the fourth and final superspeedway race of the year. Have you found some go-to guys in the draft who you work well with, and do you seek them out to develop your own strategy for the race?
“No. I race for me. I race to win the race, and I race to put myself and my No. 10 team in the best position possible. I’m not there to help others. I’m there to win the race.”
What’s the secret to performing well at superspeedways?
“I think just being smart and being patient. You definitely want to be aggressive and get to the front. I always want to get to the front at a superspeedway and be able to control the lines and be up in that front row leading the line or being second. But if I can’t get there, because sometimes it’s like a roadblock out there and you just can’t physically get to the front, I’ll just cruise around in the back and wait for them to wreck. It depends on what part of the race it is, but definitely starting that third stage, I want to be able to get track position. I want to have that track position at the start. And if we are in the back, I want to get up to the front as soon as I can because I know the intensity of the race ramps up as those stages and the race come to a close. Being able to get to the front early in the stage is definitely important to me as a driver. Those are the tendencies I look for.”
Does blocking remain the necessary evil it’s seemingly always been when it comes to superspeedway racing?
“I think there’s always blocking, especially if you’re leading the line. But it’s harder to punch through the air and get to a guy’s back bumper. As the lead car, you’re almost lifting off the corner to get the guy attached behind you and have him pushing you when you get to the flat down the back straightaway. Off of turn four, you kind of lift out of the gas so he can get locked up with you so he can push you down the straightaways. If you get too far of a lead and the cars in second and third are hooked up, they’re coming with a massive run, so yeah, you’re blocking. But it’s not like it used to be maybe three or four years ago where you’d see those guys get massive runs and hit the leader and the leader will go to block them. The runs don’t come as fast in this NextGen car, so blocking is definitely a lot easier to stall out the momentum of the guy behind you.”
When you finish the second stage at Talladega, is there a sense of accomplishment because you’ve avoided the Big One to that point?
“You don’t really get that sense until you cross the start-finish line when the checkered flag is waving at the end of the race. You could start the third stage and be wiped out on a restart, or something else happens, like you make a bad move. There’s no sense of accomplishment until you cross the start-finish line under your own power. You want to stay out of the mess. Anything can happen on any given lap.”
On the last lap of a race at Talladega, how smart do you need to be and how lucky do you need to be, as it seems those last 2.66 miles are the most treacherous part of the race?
“You’re spending the whole race trying to see what your car’s tendencies are, where they’re better and where they’re weak. You’re trying to figure out where you’re getting big runs and where guys around you are getting runs on you. You’re setting up a plan the whole race to where, if you’re in that position to be leading the race, or running second or wherever you’re running, you’re setting up a plan and you’re gathering information throughout the whole race. So you definitely have to be very, very focused and aware of your surroundings, and be in rhythm and in sync with your spotter to be able to paint a good picture. Your spotter has to paint a good picture so you can make the right moves. They always ask, ‘What’s the best position to be in coming to the white flag? Do you want to be second or do you want to be leading?’ I’d like to be leading. I feel like I can control a lot more, but it’s a different situation every single race. You just try to learn in every single race what’s going on, and if you get put in that situation again, you’ll be ready for it.”
● Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 31 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 6
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 188 laps/500 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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