● Noah Gragson will make his milestone 75th career NASCAR Cup Series start when he takes the green flag for Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Thirty-six of those starts will have come with Stewart-Haas Racing, the team Gragson joined at the beginning of this year. But it’s one-and-done for Gragson, not because of anything he did, but because earlier this year Stewart-Haas announced it would cease operations at the conclusion of the season. With Phoenix serving as the final race of 2024, the news first learned on May 28 will become reality when the checkered flag drops on Sunday’s 312-lap race around the 1-mile, desert oval. After running limited Cup Series schedules in 2022 and 2023, this was Gragson’s first full season competing in NASCAR’s premier division. He comes into Phoenix with seven top-10 finishes on the year, with his best result being the best of his career – a third-place drive on April 21 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Phoenix allows one last opportunity to better that performance before Gragson moves to his new home in 2025, Front Row Motorsports.
● Sunday’s season finale will serve as Gragson’s third career NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix. He finished 29th in his first Cup Series race at the desert mile in March 2023 during his rookie campaign with Legacy Motor Club. Gragson improved on that result significantly when he returned to Phoenix with Stewart-Haas earlier this year, finishing a strong 12th in the series’ March visit to the track.
● The bulk of Gragson’s experience at Phoenix has come in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the stepping-stone division to the elite NASCAR Cup Series. From 2019 through 2022, Gragson made eight career Xfinity Series starts at Phoenix and had only one finish outside the top-12. His five top-10s were punctuated by three top-two finishes, a mark highlighted by Gragson’s win in March 2022. It was a race he thoroughly dominated as Gragson started second and then led seven times for a race-high 114 laps, including the final 15 to beat runner-up Brandon Jones by 2.555 seconds.
● In Gragson’s final NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in November 2022, he was competing for the series title. Gragson was in the Championship 4 with Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry. Gragson qualified fourth and finished second, but in the winner-take-all format, polesitter Ty Gibbs finished the race exactly where he started to take the championship by five points over Gragson. Today, Gibbs, Gragson and Berry are all in the NASCAR Cup Series, with Berry ready to wrap up his rookie season as a teammate to Gragson at Stewart-Haas.
● Gragson has also made three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Phoenix with his best finish coming in his most recent Truck race at the track – second in November 2018. Gragson finished 16th in his first Truck Series race at Phoenix in November 2016, but when he returned for his last two Truck Series starts in 2017 and 2018, Gragson was a contender. He qualified second in 2017 and led four times for 55 laps before getting caught up in a late-race accident that left him 15th. A year later, Gragson qualified on the pole and led twice for 43 laps before finishing .456 of a second behind race-winner Brett Moffitt.
● Gragson’s first Phoenix start came back in November 2015 when he competed in the NASCAR K&N Series West, known today as the ARCA Menards Series West. It was a disappointing outing as Gragson qualified 20th and finished 14th, and in a season where he battled for the championship with Chris Eggleston, Ryan Partridge and Gracin Raz, the result left Gragson seven points shy of the title. However, Gragson handily secured the rookie-of-the-year crown.
● Nitro Circus adorns Gragson’s No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Phoenix. The nationwide tour, which kicked off this past weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, electrifies and engages audiences with a jaw-dropping show that thrills fans of all ages with unbelievable stunts, dynamic performances, boundless energy and non-stop excitement. Nitro Circus’ elite roster features top athletes like Australian Ryan ‘R Willy’ Williams, the holder of over 100 ‘World’s Firsts’ on both scooter and bike and one of the most viral sports figures on social media, with videos garnering more than 500 million views. Joining him are Adam Jones, a six-time X-Games medalist in Freestyle Motocross, and Andy Buckworth, a BMX icon and the first rider to successfully land the superman double front flip. These athletes will push the boundaries of what’s possible with high-flying stunts, tricks and heart-pounding excitement. Fans will witness all-new competitions, pitting the best against the best in friendly showdowns that showcase Freestyle Motocross, Skate, BMX, Scooter and Crazy Contraptions. With nonstop energy underscored by a live DJ, attendees can join in on the fun with new interactive elements that bring them closer than ever before to the competition. Fans are also invited to elevate their experience with the exclusive Nitro Circus Track Pass, designed for the ultimate fan and an unforgettable adventure. With the Nitro Circus Track Pass, fans will enjoy early entry to beat the crowds, floor access for an up-close view of the Nitro Circus track, FMX and BMX bikes, an exclusive athlete autograph session to meet the stars behind the stunts, a commemorative lanyard, a limited-edition poster and more. To see where and when the Nitro Circus will be near you, go to www.NitroCircus.com.
Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Nitro Circus Ford Mustang Dark Horse
It was a little more than five months ago, May 28 to be exact, when Stewart-Haas Racing announced it would cease operations at the end of the season. That moment is nearly upon us with Phoenix serving as the season finale. What’s your takeaway from your time at Stewart-Haas, which only began this year?
“The people are the most important thing, and being able to build relationships with what were once strangers in January to near and dear friends today – the people we go to battle with every weekend. So, it’s definitely emotional. I’ve only been there for less than a year, but at the same time there have been guys who have been there for two decades. To be able to see everybody come together when Chase Briscoe won, that was big and powerful and moving for the company as a whole. It kind of sparked a lot of excitement under everybody’s tails, and I’m just extremely grateful for the opportunity that Tony (Stewart, co-owner) and Greg Zipadelli (chief competition officer) gave me to be able to get back into the sport, and to do it at the highest level of the Cup Series means the world to me. I’m tremendously grateful for that, tremendously grateful for the friendships and experiences and memories that we’ve been able to make over the past year. It’s allowed me to get back on my feet in the Cup Series, and we’ve had some strong runs and it’s given me my confidence back. So, it’s definitely going to be emotional at Phoenix when that checkered flag drops, and I’ve only been there for a year. I can’t imagine what it’s like for other guys and gals who have been there for a much longer period of time. We’re one group, we’re in it to the end, and just extremely grateful. It’s going to be a bittersweet week, for sure.”
You only have two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix, but you still have plenty of experience there with eight Xfinity Series starts, three Truck Series starts and one K&N West start. Talk about your career progression at Phoenix – how you’ve learned and developed overall, and what you’ve learned by making laps at that track.
“I first started going there in 2015 for the K&N West championship race. Didn’t run great there, thought I hated the place, and then ran pretty good in the Trucks, and didn’t run too good there in Xfinity, but started running really good and ended up winning a race there in Xfinity and got a lot of second-place finishes, third-place finishes there. It’s a fun track, it’s a challenging track, and it always seems like it’s different, the way the sticky stuff is sprayed down in the corners. But it always puts on a good show for the fans.”
Restarts at Phoenix can be a little crazy. How crazy are they, and when is it smart to cut through the dogleg and when is it a riskier proposition?
“I’m not really a fan of cutting the dogleg. I like staying up and getting my speed up to angle into turn one. You feel like you usually cut through the dogleg, but your entry into turn one that way – you’re so low on the racetrack that you never get out to the outside wall to arc the car. I’ve never really liked going down there, especially in the Cup cars – it seems super sketchy to cross down there. But at the same time, it’s one of those things that, situationally, you might need to go down there sometimes, but I’ve always focused on the exit of turn two on restarts there.”
You cut through the dogleg and you’re carrying a bunch of speed – what do you need to do to get slowed down enough to make that first corner, which just got a whole lot tighter because you cut the corner – and how do you merge into traffic with those who stayed on the track and arced their way into turn one?
“A lot of it is based on hope. You hope they don’t slide up in front of you, or you hope they have you cleared and they keep on sliding up and up and up and you’re already turning on the gas. Each guy does it differently, which is what makes it pretty crazy. You see in Trucks, Xfinity and Cup, they’re always four-, five-, six-wide. I think in the Truck race last year they were eight-wide, which might be the record in NASCAR for side-by-sides. Overall, it’s pretty chaotic. It’s pretty wild.”
What did you not like about cutting through the dogleg?
“Just that I’ve always felt like I was never in control. I’d end up in the center of the corner or I’d have to lift way too long and too much to get the thing to stick on the bottom after entering so low and straight. I just never felt like I was in position to grab the bull by the horns. I always felt like I was putting myself in a bad position. I can control it more if I just arc the corner.”
● Event: NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale (Round 36 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 10
● Location: Phoenix Raceway
● Layout: 1-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 312 laps/312 miles (502 kilometers)
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 127 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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