● Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Stewart-Haas Racing, will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn when he takes the flag for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400. Gragson’s lone Cup Series start at the 2-mile, D-shaped oval came in 2022 when a crash just past the race’s halfway mark left him 30th.
● Gragson’s history at Michigan in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is far more robust. In three starts at the track between 2019-2022, Gragson never finished outside of the top-three. He finished second in 2019 before scoring back-to-back third-place drives in 2021-2022. And in his last Xfinity Series start at Michigan in 2022, Gragson won the pole with a lap of 37.821 seconds at 190.370 mph. He then led twice for 39 laps before scoring the 11th of his 21 top-five finishes that season, which was a career high.
● A prelude to Gragson’s Michigan success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series was his two-race run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He never finished outside of the top-10, recording a seventh-place drive in 2017 and delivering a fourth-place effort in 2018.
● To gain additional experience at Michigan, Gragson will pull double duty during this year’s FireKeepers Casino 400 race weekend. He will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday before piloting his signature No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang on Sunday. Gragson will drive the No. 30 Ford Mustang for Rette-Jones Racing in the Cabo Wabo 250. It will be his third Xfinity Series start of the year as Gragson wheeled a Rette-Jones Racing-prepared Mustang to a 10th-place finish May 25 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway before earning a fifth-place result June 29 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
● Overstock.com adorns Gragson’s No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Michigan. The partnership amplifies the recent relaunch of Overstock.com, home of crazy good deals that offer quality and style for less. Overstock.com is for the savvy shopper who loves the thrill of the hunt and it includes product categories customers know and love, like patio furniture, home furniture and area rugs, while reintroducing jewelry, watches and health-and-beauty products.
Noah Gragson, Driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Michigan marks a return to a high-speed, high-banked, intermediate track after running a variety of tracks through the summer. Can the knowledge learned early in the year at Las Vegas – or even at places that we’ve raced at more recently like Kansas and Charlotte – be applied to Michigan, or were those races so long ago that it’s no longer applicable?
“We still apply the same stuff, and we did run well at Vegas. Aerodynamics are probably a little bit more important at Michigan because the straightaways are so long, but if you handle well through the corners, you can make moves in traffic and can pass cars. Michigan’s been one of my favorite tracks, so I’m excited for this one. I’ve always been just pretty good there. It definitely fits my driving style.”
We’ve heard the adage of, “Slow down to go fast,” and that seems to be used a lot at Michigan. What does that mean and how does it apply to Michigan?
“You’re just focused on carrying as much speed through the corner and on exit as you can. If you have to lift a little bit early, but stay part throttle and run the corner with a lot of speed, that’s kind of how you do it. Don’t overdrive your entry. You have to wait on the gas, and you’re not carrying a lot of speed down the straightaway.”
Oftentimes, Michigan races have come down to fuel mileage. How does a driver try to save fuel when they’re still trying to outrun other racecars?
“You’ve just got to pick and choose your battles. What’s more important? Is it holding off the guy next to you, is he on the same strategy as you, or can you let him go and just race the racetrack and race your fuel scenario? You’re in a spot, but it almost makes it easier to race other guys when you’re saving fuel because you’re just focused on your throttle inputs. You don’t care if other people pass you in different scenarios because they might have to pit again. You’re just doing your own program.”
Has there been a fuel-mileage race where at the end of it you’ve said, “I did a really good job of saving fuel and got us the best finish possible?” Or have there been races where you’re left scratching your head wondering what you could’ve done differently?
“Earlier this year at Nashville, we ran 110 laps on a tank of fuel when they predicted it would be around 70 to 74 laps when you’ve got full fuel. That just showed how well we were able to save. We were on the same strategy as (Joey) Logano, who ended up winning. He had a little bit better track position, so he got to stay up there a little bit better. But that definitely pushed me to save under caution at every racetrack we go to because you never know. I do take pride with how much I save, and it ended up working out, where other guys who pitted after us were running out of fuel. I saved that much more than they did and we ended up with a top-10 finish. The guys who didn’t save fuel well were lazy and ended up in the back. So, it can make or break your day if you get lazy with it.”
When you’re trying to save fuel, is it easier to make a mistake because you’re sort of out of your rhythm, or do you just adapt into a new rhythm?
“You just find a new rhythm. You’re lifting early and not touching the brake and coasting through the corner and just being super smooth on the throttle and not using more than you need to. You’re just trying to be very, very smooth and not jumping on the gas all too hard in ways that are unnecessary.”
Do you put an asterisk next to a fuel-mileage win, or are you of the opinion that a win’s a win, no matter how you get it?
“I think a win’s a win. You out-saved the other guy and you did a better job than them. You worked your tail off and you strategized better and it all worked out. It is what it is. I think a win’s a win, especially 20 years from now. They don’t ask how, they just ask how many. There’s no asterisk for fuel mileage on the sheet.”
● Event: FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 24 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 18
● Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps / 400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 75 laps / Final Stage: 80 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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