Gragson feels held back by sponsors and his team, and let’s loose in this media availability
By Roy J. Akers –Ypsilanti, Mich. — Noah Gragson is feeling the pressure. He has no wins in 120 starts dating back to 2022. With Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar winning their first NASCAR race, Gragson is feeling the pressure. In 2026, the driver of the #4 has one top-ten in ten starts, one DNF and two laps led during pit cycling. Gragson has marketing down. He has a top-notch video crew showing his personality. With no wins and no top performances and a team in the second tier of NASCAR, his career is not what Gragson wants and he talks about his frustrations with the media.
🏁 NASCAR Cup Series
- 120 starts
- Seasons included: 2022–2026
- Driving for: Legacy Motor Club (2023), Stewart-Haas Racing (2024), Front Row Motorsports (2025–2026)
The Complete Interview
Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off his first top-10 finish of the NASCAR Cup Series season last weekend when he ran ninth at Talladega Superspeedway. Gragson was this week’s guest on Ford Racing’s media call to talk about that performance and this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway, where he has one victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (2022).
NOAH GRAGSON, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT IS GOING ON WITH YOUR TEAM THAT YOU FEEL LIKE IS TRENDING IN A POSITIVE DIRECTION? “I feel like maybe we had a little bit more speed last year overall as far as the 4 car, but we’re working hard behind the scenes. That being said, it’s one of those things that we’ve just tried to take it week by week and figure out what we can do. I feel like the communication is probably better than it’s ever been as far as just I’m having to do so much communication with the team. I’ve got a new crew chief and all that, so it’s a little exhausting but you don’t want to cut any corners. So, I would say something you probably don’t see is the amount of communication.”
YOU WERE THE ORIGINAL GUY, LIKE CARSON HOCEVAR NOW, FOR GETTING A LOT ATTENTION FOR BEING YOURSELF AND BEING FUNNY. CLEETUS MCFARLAND AND BUTTERBEAN ARE SOME OTHERS. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE MOVED AWAY FROM YOUR FUN PERSONALITY? “Yeah, they made me move away. They don’t like having fun. With that being said, I think if you’re winning, people don’t care. You can do whatever you want. It’s when you run bad that people’s opinions are like, ‘Oh, he’s winning so it works.’ And then you run bad and they’re like, ‘Oh, you need to change this, this and this,’ and you really haven’t changed anything. You haven’t done anything different from when you were winning Xfinity races to now, but I guess you just have to clean it up because that’s the way the world is these days. I’ve learned to just not go out there and show my personality as much as I can because people have lost that privilege.”
DO YOU THINK YOU CAN’T HAVE FUN IN NASCAR UNLESS YOU’RE WINNING AND THEN YOU WOULD BE ALLOWED TO DO THAT? STEVE O’DONNELL SAID NASCAR HAS TO GO BACK TO HAVING FUN, IT GOT TOO SERIOUS. YOU’RE SAYING THEY CHASED THAT OUT OF YOU, OR THE FANS DID, OR RACING DID. YOU’RE PROBABLY ONE WHO WOULD REALLY UNDERSTAND THAT. “Yeah, everybody has an opinion and if you’re winning, you’re OK. It’s when you’re not winning that it’s a firestorm and people want to just point and say, ‘It’s this, this and this.’ Well, you never said any of that stuff when I was winning races, so what’s the difference now? But, at the same time, I do think that it is a balance, but at the end of the day I think the people who are closest to me know that I work hard behind the scenes throughout my whole career and I’m truly passionate about the sport. It’s not like I’m just going out there and messing around. I do my work throughout the week and when I get to the racetrack I try to enjoy myself as much as I can. If you’re waiting until Friday or Saturday to start preparing for the race, it’s way too late. At the same time, I think you’ve got to be smart about things, but there are the select people that also know and just have a problem with everything and they ruin it for a majority of the people who enjoy my personality. They ruin it for all those people.”
WILL THEY COME BACK IF YOU START WINNING? IS THAT WHAT WE’RE SAYING? “Yeah, I’m trying to win, but these last three years haven’t been much fun, just not even being able to be myself I feel like.”
YOU ARE TIED FOR 29TH IN POINTS. IS THERE A GOAL FOR WHERE YOU WANT TO GET TO BY THE END OF THE REGULAR SEASON OR END OF THE YEAR? “I have four lead lap finishes and that has been Daytona 500, Atlanta, COTA and Talladega and other than COTA they have all been decently well runs. I felt like we had a lot of speed last year in our cars, and I’m not quite sure where that speed has gone. We had some glimmers of it at Bristol and we got a little away with it with pit strategy and having that wave around to stay out and went a couple more laps down because it went green. But to not finish on the lead lap on some of our better racetracks has been a big head scratcher and a big question mark to me, so I try to take it day by day and week by week and just try to prepare for Texas. I don’t know if I’ll be the fastest thing at Texas or I’ll be the slowest thing at Texas, but I’m preparing to be the fastest thing at Texas. I know last year in practice we were pretty good. Last year in qualifying we qualified 18th and then in the race I spun out early in the race but came back and was running in the top 10. At the beginning of stage three we wrecked down the back straightaway and I got collected into it with Bubba. Bubba tagged us and sent us wrecking, so last year I felt like we probably had more speed, but the luck wasn’t necessarily there. We were in the wrong place at the right time and just got collected in a bunch of wrecks. Now we’re finishing all these races, minus the mechanical failure with the brakes at Phoenix, but it’s just unbelievably frustrating when you get done with the race and it’s like, I haven’t gotten three laps down at these tracks ever, and now the speed is just not there. I’m trying to work hard with my team and my group to get that back, but there’s only so much I can do.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MISSING WITH THE TEAM THIS YEAR? WHAT DO YOU NEED TO WORK ON TO GET BACK TO THE LEVEL YOU WANT? “If I knew, we would be running better. Your guess is as good as mine.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING OFF THE TRACK TO BALANCE OUT SOME OF THE ON-TRACK STRUGGLES? YOU HAD A SPECIAL GUEST THIS PAST WEEKEND. “Grillo’s Pickles and Pabst Blue Ribbon, they’re partners that really allowed me, and Rush Truck Centers, have really allowed me to be me and have fully embraced it. I think you saw that this weekend through social media and we had a decent run. We had stage points and finished in the top 10, so that’s a solid day for us, but, at the same time, I enjoyed myself over the past weekend. I got to hang out with Marshawn Lynch quite a bit and developed that relationship. Gangster Granny was there and she was pretty cool. I had a good time with her and I just enjoyed the weekend.”
MARSHAWN LYNCH HAS BECOME A BIG NASCAR FAN. WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT HIM THIS WEEKEND? “From my understanding, they worked something out to get Marshawn to the Daytona 500. They did some promo stuff with him, but he liked it so much that he asked if he could come back to Talladega. It was his 40th birthday on the 22nd, so he asked if him and his buddies could come to Talladega and spend the weekend there, from my understanding. We had a good time. It started out with some go-karts on the boulevard and then we spent a good bit of time on Saturday evening together. To get that guy’s undivided attention to talk about just life with him, it was myself, Butterbean and Marshawn and we were just hanging out smoking cigars and talking about life. It was just three guys enjoying themselves. I can’t speak for him, but just from what he was saying and what I took away is he was blown away. His perception of what NASCAR was before he got there and the takeaways that he has after the Daytona 500 he said was 180 degrees opposite of what he thought it was gonna be. It was the best party. He had so much fun and then he came to Talladega and saw the real party track and he’s like, ‘Man, I want to come back in the fall.’ So, we had a great time together. I really enjoyed it and I hope he can come back. He might go to Sonoma as well with a couple of his buddies. He likes taking pictures and his photographer ghost. I told him, ‘Hey, make sure you guys bring your cameras because you can get some really cool shots at Sonoma.’ That will probably be their next one. I asked him if he could take me around Oakland since he’s the King of Oakland, so I might go meet up with him out there.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE RUNNING 600 MILES AT CHARLOTTE AND THE CHANGES IN THE TRACK FROM DAYLIGHT TO NIGHT TIME? “Our car was super, super fast there last year. We ran on the top probably sixth to ninth all day. On the final pit stop, I was short in the pit box because somebody was coming around us and I stopped short and had to start at the tail end of the field and we still came back to finish in the top 10. The race didn’t seem too long when your car is fast and it’s good and the effort level is down. It’s those days when the thing drives terrible and you’re just fighting demons in that thing. When it just drives evil, that’s when you’ve got your hands full and the effort level is through the roof and that’s when you definitely burn a lot more calories. It’s a long race. Hydration is key. We also got pretty lucky last year with weather. It was maybe only 70 degrees for that race, so I’m hoping we can maybe have another year like that, but it could be one of those races where it’s really hot, too. We’ll see.”
HOW SPECIAL IS THAT DAY WITH HONORING THE MILITARY AND THAT WEEKEND OVERALL? “It’s really special to honor those men and women who have the ultimate sacrifice and that’s putting their life on the line for our country and fighting for our country. It’s means a lot just to be able to have the families there of the fallen soldiers, have other fallen soldiers who are veterans and you also have other military personnel there that are active duty. It means a lot to be able to go and shake the hands of those people who are involved with those families or who are out there fighting each and every day for your freedom. You get that feeling and concept that registers pretty easily of how lucky we really are when you see all that goes into that weekend and the amount of gratitude toward those who really pay the ultimate sacrifice and that’s fighting for our country, so I’m really grateful to be a small, small, small part of that weekend and be able to witness that firsthand, and very grateful to be able to have those men and women out there for Memorial Day Weekend.”
IT WAS CLEAR THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA HOW MUCH FUN YOU HAD WITH MARSHAWN LAST WEEKEND. IS THERE ANOTHER CELEBRITY YOU WOULD LIKE TO HOST AT THE TRACK TO CONTINUE THAT FUN? FANS REACTED POSITIVELY AND YOU HAD A TOP 10 FINISH. “Marshawn is a pretty funny guy. I like characters. Those kinds of people are what’s good, so I would really have to think about that. It’s just great when you get anybody out to the racetrack for the first time. When you go to the racetrack, I’m assuming it, but before I started racing I thought, ‘Man, NASCAR, I don’t know about this. It’s just a bunch of guys going in a circle.’ And then you get there and you see everything that goes into it and how many people are involved, and just truly the logistics and the engineering and everything that’s involved with this, and you get to meet the drivers up close and personal. It’s different than any other sport, in my opinion. With that being said, you get to see the behind the scenes stuff. You get to see the drivers up close. There’s not one other sport, other than maybe golf where you can go high-five the players right before they tee off and start the event. This is kind of a similar thing, and I think once you go in person and you hear the roar of the engines, I think it’s special. I’d have to think, I don’t have a great answer for you right now on who I’d want to come to the racetrack, but Marshawn Lynch coming this weekend was pretty high up there. I don’t know if you could top that.”
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION GONE TO GRANT HUTCHINS AS YOUR NEW CREW CHIEF? “I’m still trying to get to know him. He comes from quite a bit of an engineering background, so I think he’s trying to figure out what I like. I’m trying to help point him in the right direction, but with all that being said, I feel like we get along great. I don’t know why our results haven’t been there, but we’re working hard. We’re not frustrated with each other by any means. We’re more trying to become better and pushing each other to be better. Our relationship is really good, it’s just I don’t know why we’re slow. There’s a lot of hard work and a lot of great people. The 4 car has been great. The team has been great. We’re just kind of scratching our heads. Zane is running pretty good. He’s been pretty fast. I don’t know what we’re missing, but we’re trying to figure it out.”
WHAT PART OF YOUR PERSONALITY DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’VE HAD TO RELENQUISH OR GIVE UP A LITTLE BIT SINCE YOU’RE NOT WINNING NOW THAT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU? “All of it. I just don’t really tweet much. I don’t really post a lot on Instagram anymore. I don’t really give the fans any ammunition because they’ve lost that privilege, unfortunately, because it takes one person to mess it up for everyone.”
SO YOU FEEL THE FANS ON SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE BEEN THE PROBLEM? “It’s just the nature of where my career and life has gone the last five years. It’s just not as enjoyable anymore to go on there and read the stuff. There’s just a lot of different situations that present itself that I’m finally like, ‘Why do I even put in the effort if people aren’t gonna appreciate me?’
WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE WAXING CRESCENT MOON AT TEXAS THE GRIP IS GOING TO BE BETTER. CHASE BRISCOE IS TALKING ABOUT IT AND YOU ARE TOO? “We’re off a week. I think we got a little ahead of ourselves. It’s the following week. We had the wrong moon phase this weekend coming up. It’s not gonna be a waxing crescent, it’s gonna be like a waxing or waning gibbous. I have to look at what it’s gonna be, but it’s not gonna be a waxing crescent. When this waxing crescent moon phase, Austin Dillion is so fast for whatever reason that may be. They did a whole report and study on it on Twitter the other day. It has something to do with the gravitational pull. I’m surprised that this hasn’t been talked about before, but they gravitational pull, we have to adjust the car and raise the ride heights because the gravitational pull, like the moon phase, it puts more load into the car and then we have more grip, so we do have to counter adjust for that just a little bit. I’d be curious to see what other drivers have to say.”
IT’S AN INSIDE JOKE, RIGHT? “No.”
YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN IT? “Yeah, everyone does. I can’t speak for everyone, but that should be your topic this weekend. It’s like 10 percent more grip. I thought we would have been wide-open this weekend qualifying, but I’l have to look when the moon phase is. It might be All-Star Weekend when it will be gripped up. It’ll be fast at Dover too with the qualifying the way it is where you have to come in for the pit stop. That’s gonna be crazy. ”
