NASCAR: Noah Gragson looking to take 4th place Talladega finish to improve his 2025 season

By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net and Ford Performance

Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, is coming off a season-best fourth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. As the series shifts to Texas this weekend, Gragson took some time this morning to answer questions from the media about the race and his season to date.

Noah Gragson > Season Stats

NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES YOUR FINISH AT TALLADEGA HELP IN TERMS OF CONFIDENCE FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON? “I feel like it’s good motivation for our team. It’s not been a great year result-wise. I think we’ve had some good runs and good speed throughout the races, just closing them out and finishing them off we haven’t finished the way we need to be. Hopefully, it’s a good building moment for our group and good motivation and confidence that we can take to these next handful of racetracks.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT FINDING OUT THERE WAS AN INSPECTION ISSUE AND YOU WERE MOVED UP, AND HOW DID YOU AVOID THE SPIN WITH BUSCH AND KESELOWSKI? “Yeah, I saw the smoke coming and then I saw the cars appear and then more smoke and then I’m like, ‘Oh, man. They’re right here,’ and luckily I felt like Cole Trickle. I was able to miss the wreck and able to drive through the smoke. Going back to finding out the inspection issues and getting moved up into the top five, we were landing on the flight home and got word of it that we ended up fourth. I was like, ‘Heck, yeah.’ That’s good for the racing reference. You take some top fives any way you can get them, but we ran good at Talladega last year. We finished third and then ultimately to come home in sixth and then get moved up to fourth, Talladega in the spring has been pretty good to us. It’s good to get a top five.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE CHANGED AND YOU CAN EVENTUALLY BE YOURSELF PUBLICLY? CAN YOU BE THAT EDGY DRIVER OR HAVE YOU TONED THAT DOWN? “I think a little bit of both. It’s definitely one of those things where you answer to so many different partners that might have different views. Within the partners that you have, they have different views. You kind of just have to tone it down and I’m probably a little more edgier than most drivers, and I try to live every day like it’s my last, and I try to enjoy it, but at the same time there’s so many partners that you’ve kind of got to walk that middle road.”

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE SURFACE AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY? SOME DRIVERS HAVE SAID THEY DON’T FEEL LIKE IT IS WEARING LIKE SOME OTHER PLACES? “Yeah, there are no beaches around. That’s why the place doesn’t age, in my opinion. You look at Darlington and Homestead, I don’t know if they’re using asphalt from around those places, but it seems like the sand peels away and then you’ve got those sharp, jagged rocks that stick out of the surface and that is what, in my opinion, caused the tire wear. I don’t really think it’s too sandy out in the middle of Texas, so with that being said, I don’t know where they get their asphalt, but it certainly is a one maybe two lane track, and it definitely feels like ice out there.”

YOU DID A BACKFLIP ON A MOTORBIKE, AND YOU JUMPED THE EV DEMONSTRATOR TRUCK. WHAT’S NEXT? “I don’t know. It just kind of comes to me in the moment. I guess we’re just gonna have to wait and see. It’s one of those things with the Ford Switchgear, the F-150 Lightning, I was like, ‘Man, this thing looks pretty sweet. I should go jump it.’ And I didn’t really get permission. I kind of was hoping to ask for some forgiveness afterwards, and then the dirt bike thing was at (Travis) Pastrana’s house. I got to do a back flip on the dirt bike. That was pretty cool, but I didn’t plan that either. I just asked him, ‘Hey, could I flip a dirt bike?’ And he was like, ‘Heck, yeah.’ So, I don’t know what the next thing in store is. We’ll see.”

WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE FOR FRONT ROW TO ALL CONNECT THE DOTS AND GET THOSE MORE CONSISTENT FINISHES? “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Vegas, we were running sixth or seventh and got in a wreck with Blaney down the back straightaway with maybe 60 to go, so we were having a pretty solid run there. Atlanta, we were kind of biding our time there and Suarez comes up the racetrack and clips us. It’s just kind of silly wrecks and getting involved with them, but it really just comes down to we need to go faster so we’re not in those positions. If you’re leading the race, the odds are you’re not gonna be around that stuff. Ultimately, we just have to go faster and I think we’ve got a team to do it.”

YOU’VE WON THE FAN VOTE AT THE ALL-STAR RACE THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE THAT KIND OF SUPPORT? “It means a lot. It’s cool to be able to take part in it and participate in that race, and then to make the main event and you walk out for driver intros with your pit crew guys it’s a good time. There are a ton of fans there and they’re all pretty hyped up, so it’s pretty sick to be able to take part in it.”

A YEAR AGO THE SHR RUMORS WERE STARTING AND NOW WE SEE ALL FOUR OF YOU GUYS HAVE LANDED ON YOUR FEET. WHERE WOULD YOU EVALUATE THE FOUR OF YOU NOW WITH ALL OF THE UNCERTAINTY YOU GUYS FACED? “Yeah, I think we’re all kind of settled into that new home we’re at. Josh obviously has done a great job this year getting the win at Vegas. Preece has had a lot of speed that he might not have had last year. Myself, I feel like I’m in a better position here at Front Row Motorsports. I have a lot of similar crew guys that I had on my team last year, but just really enjoying what we’ve got here at Front Row, and then Chase Briscoe has had a lot of speed. He sat on the pole at the Daytona 500 and stuff like that is pretty cool to see. I’m happy for all of their success. Preece obviously had a shot at the win this past weekend, but all of us going in our own separate directions, still at the end of the day it’s pretty cool to see those guys having success and I’m happy for them as well. I feel like I’m in a great spot here at Front Row Motorsports. Bob Jenkins and Jerry Freeze have a great vision and I’m thankful for the opportunity to race here. Our cars are fast. We haven’t had the results we want, but in racing when you don’t have speed, you’re really scratching your head. Right now, I feel like we have some decent speed, it’s just putting the whole race together. I’m probably not as stressed out right now as maybe I was around this time last year, just because I feel like we’re in a good spot.”

IF I TOLD YOU A YEAR AGO THE SHR WOULD SHUT DOWN, WOULD YOU THINK ALL FOUR OF YOU WOULD BECOME AS SETTLED AS YOU APPEAR TO BE NOW? “Yeah, I really didn’t know what was gonna happen, so I would have been pretty surprised by that statement had you told me 365 days ago, but we’re all in really good spots and just very grateful.”

HOW DO YOU VIEW SOME OF THE CHANGES GOING ON IN NASCAR. DO YOU VIEW THIS AS A TRANSITION PERIOD FOR NASCAR OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? “For me, it’s business as usual. I look at the task at hand and, for example, this weekend is Texas and I’m gonna go out there and try to be the best race car driver for our team as possible. I don’t really get caught up on all the different formats. I just try to control what I can control and focus on what I can control. With Mexico, that will be a new experience. It will be something that’s really cool and something that’s different for NASCAR. They haven’t been down to Mexico in the premier series of NASCAR at the Cup level, so that will be super exciting, but as far as the playoff format and all that kind of stuff I just kind of do what I’m told and try to control things I can control.”

DO YOU LIKE THIS CHANGE AND NOT NECESSARILY KNOWING THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING NEW NEXT YEAR OR THE YEAR AFTER? “I don’t lose sleep over it. It’s cool, I guess, but they just kind of tell me what we’re doing and I just try to be the best race car driver for our team and whatever scenario we’re in, whether it be a different points format and/or going to new tracks, I just try to show up and do the best job I can.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE BUMPS ARE LIKE IN TURNS THREE AND FOUR AT TEXAS? “You kind of just lose the nose a little bit through three and four at Texas. Just being mindful of being aimed and pointed in the right direction that you want to be to be able to finish the corner with throttle – definitely timing on the steering wheel and timing on where you let out of the throttle to get your car pointed in that direction. I would compare it a little bit to a hiccup. You hit it and you’re like, ‘Oh.’ It’s a little hiccup of a bump, but it’s not too bad.”

YOUR VOICE IS REALLY ROUGH. ARE YOU SICK? “Yeah, I’ve kind of been sick since last Wednesday or Thursday. It’s been kind of hitting me really hard today. I have a little bit of a sore throat.”

ARE YOU GOOD FOR THE WEEKEND? “Oh, yeah. We’ll be alright.”

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AT AN ORGANIZATION THAT HAS SOME STABILITY COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO? “Like you said, it’s kind of business as usual. You’ve got stability and it’s a good place for me. I really enjoy my teammates, Todd and Zane. I really enjoy the people I work with. When you go to work and you’re having fun and you’re enjoying yourself, I think it makes it that much better and you can take it up an extra notch. Just showing up with excitement every day makes it better.”