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NASCAR insiders weigh in on Noah Gragson to Front Row

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones07/16/24brianjones_93
Noah Gragson Phoenix
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Two NASCAR insiders are confident that Noah Gragson will have a lot of success with Front Row Motorsports. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic weighed in on Gragson joining Front Row for the 2025 season.

“Good move for Front Row getting a young driver. I think Gragson’s shown this year that he has the potential to be competitive in the Cup Series,” Bianchi said. “He’s a young driver, still has to clean up those mistakes. We saw today (Sunday) got loose and crashed, that does happen. But we’ve seen this year if you give him a good race car, he can go to the front and do well with it.

“He’s much more mature as a racer than he has been the last few years. And this is a good move for him because Front Row is a stable organization. We never hear about dysfunction within Front Row. They treat people well there. They’re a family over there you never hear people bad-mouthing anything even behind the scenes. …Noah needs a place to go and plant roots. Let him be himself and grow. I think this is going to be the opportunity over there to do that.”

Gluck thinks Gragson will continue to improve with Front Row. “He’s got six top-10s this year, and we thought Stewart-Haas gonna be way off and Noah is gonna probably be the last car on the team,” Gluck said. “Even though they’ve had some hiccups, he’s still outperformed expectations, and I think that gets lost because now it’s to the point where, well I don’t know Stewart-Haas is decent. They have some good runs here and there.

“I think he’s definitely stepped it up. …Last year, for instance, he only had four lead-lap finishes in 21 races. This year in his 21 races, he has 14 lead-lap finishes. He’s doing a lot better job of taking what the car gives him. I think at Front Row, that mentality will serve him well.”

Noah Gragson, 26, signed a multi-year contract with Front Row last week. He signed a multi-year deal with Stewart-Haas in December last year, but the team is shutting down at the end of the season. Gragson has competed in 58 Cup Series races and has earned seven top-10 finishes.