DOVER, Del.: Noah Gragson led the charge for Stewart-Haas Racing once again.
In just his second NASCAR Cup start at Dover Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 10 Miller Tech Ford wheeled to a career-best sixth-place result at the Monster Mile. Gragson’s fourth top 10 of 2024 came one week after a third-place at Talladega—the first podium finish of his career.
From Talladega—the longest oval on the Cup tour at 2.66-miles—to a concrete one-mile track on Sunday, Gragson continues to display his versatility with the Drew Blickensderfer-led team.
“I thought we qualified really well and then we kind of fell back there the first half of the race,” said Gragson, who started fifth. “We got really lucky with that caution coming on the final green flag pit cycle, but the Miller Tech Mustang was good once we got some track position.”
Gragson finished 12th after the first stage on Lap 119. He restarted 13th for the second stage but dropped back before making a green-flag pit stop on Lap 183. Gragson cycled out to 19th after pit stops and ended the second stage in the same position on Lap 252.
For the final 242 laps, Gragson lined up 20th. The No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing pit crew had just serviced the car when the fourth caution was called after contact between Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on Lap 321. Having just pitted, Gragson cycled up to fourth behind eventual race winner Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr.
Gragson maintained fourth place until the fifth and final caution on Lap 330 when a three-wide incident went wrong with Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and William Byron receiving the worst of the incident.
Over the final 55 laps, Gragson held onto a top-five position until Chase Elliott passed him with six laps remaining.
“It just took a little bit, but things fell our way,” Gragson said. “We were able to come home with a top 10-finish, finishing sixth.
“It wasn’t looking pretty there in the middle of the race, but I’m thankful things went our way and we were able to get that track position at the end.”
Over the past two weeks, Gragson has vaulted from 29th to 21st in the NASCAR Cup standings. Had the team not been docked 35 points for illegal roof rails at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, Gragson would be sitting 19th.
Still, the No. 10 team continues to gain momentum as the team builds the program for the future.
“We set goals throughout the week on where we want to run,” Gragson said. “We were hoping to qualify in the top 15 and then run top 16 today, so to come home sixth feels really good. A big thanks to Drew Blickensderfer (crew chief) and Andy Houston, our spotter, and everybody else on this number 10 team. They’ve been doing a great job with me and I’m excited for the future.”
For Blickensderfer, who has led a variety of drivers, from Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth to Marcos Ambrose, Bubba Wallace, Michael McDowell and Aric Almirola, watching Gragson reap the benefits of his labor is rewarding.
“Noah is working hard during the week to prepare for the weekend,” Blickensderfer said. “He is working on better preparation and gaining confidence along the way.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
