MARTINSVILLE, Va.: Noah Gragson had a good car during Saturday afternoon’s Draft Top 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, but for the JR Motorsports driver, he needed a winning car to earn his shot at his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
Unfortunately, he came up two positions short with a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the season.
Starting on the outside pole alongside Austin Cindric, Gragson flexed his Martinsville muscle early and took the Stage 1 victory.
An air pressure adjustment kept the balance underneath Gragson during Stage 2 but lost the stage victory to Harrison Burton. While making a planned pit stop for four tires and fuel, Gragson restarted mid-pack and had to crawl his way back through the field during Stage 3.
With 90 laps remaining, Gragson had climbed to ninth, with 50 to go he had maneuvered back inside the top-five in third behind his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier and Burton.
Despite his best efforts though, Gragson could not close the gap even with a restart inside the final 30 laps of the race.
Finishing third, his stage points weren’t enough to overcome the deficit from the opening round of the Playoffs at Kansas Speedway, where an early race accident left the Las Vegas, Nev. with a 36th place finish and just 16 laps completed.
After the race, Gragson emerged from his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops | TrueTimber Camo Chevrolet Camaro disappointed but thankful for the opportunity to not only race but fight for a place in the Championship 4.
“I feel like it was a success,” Gragson said. “The season’s not over, but at the beginning of the year, we wanted to go finish top five every race and the last six races we finished top three in five of the last six races.”
Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Gragson saw his automatic lock at the Championship 4 – flash before his eyes after being passed by Burton exiting Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag.
While Texas was obviously tough to swallow, Gragson pinpointed his rough result at Kansas Speedway earlier this month that ultimately set the tone for his outlook on the semi-final round.
“It’s unfortunate not making the final four, but if we don’t have that (36th place finish at Kansas and getting taken out, it might be a different story,” added Gragson.
Still, Gragson, 21, reflects on the season with positivity knowing he captured two wins, 16 top-five and 24 top-10s with one race remaining.
“Super proud of Dave Elenz (crew chief) and the guys on this No. 9 Bass Pro Shops team,” sounded Gragson. “They put in a lot of effort, lot of late nights at the shop. Definitely a bummer, but I don’t think it’s a failure by any means, it just is what it is.”
Gragson heads to Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway next weekend without a shot at a championship, but with an opportunity to win and set a strong offseason tone for 2021 where he’ll return to JR Motorsports for a third season.
In March before the coronavirus pandemic, the two-time NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series winner finished seventh after starting seventh – the best of the four-car JR Motorsports stable.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
