DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.: In his 11th start in the NASCAR Cup Series and his third with Beard Motorsports, the team that gave him his first opportunity to compete at the sport’s highest level, Noah Gragson surged forward in the closing laps of the postponed Coke Zero Sugar 400 to earn his first career top-five finish at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Without the benefit of practice and with Mother Nature eliminating qualifying, Gragson started his No. 62 Beard Oil | South Point Hotel & Casino shotgun on the field and had 160 laps head of him to earn a strong finish.
In a calm Stage 1, Gragson drafted to as high as 15th but following a multi-car accident, Gragson finished the stage 33rd in a one-lap shootout following a routine pit stop for four tires and fuel.
Starting 20th in Stage 2, the Las Vegas, Nev. kept his car clean and gained valuable experience by running smooth laps and finished the stage in 30th.
Gragson launched his No. 62 Beard Oil Distributing Chevrolet Camaro from the 24th position to begin Stage 3 and by Lap 126 had hustled to 13th when the caution waved for a multi-car accident at the front of the field.
During the second stage, Gragson did a masterful job of avoiding two more accidents, including a Lap 138 pileup that collected more than 10 cars but vaulted Gragson to the top-10 after he cleverly avoided two rounds of crashes, one which was initiated by an untimely rain shower.
After nearly a three-hour and 20-minute red flag, racing resumed with Gragson quickly on the move.
With drafting help from Landon Cassill and Tyler Reddick, Gragson would quickly navigate through the other traffic in the top-10 to find himself third behind the Richard Childress Racing duo of Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick.
Without the benefit of a huge push and different drivers on separate agendas on the last lap, Gragson dropped from third to fifth but earned a career-best finish for not only Beard Motorsports – but for himself.
“It was strong run for this team, considering that we have one employee at Beard Motorsports,” said Gragson. “To come home with a top-five, that is big for us. We were in a good spot running third there when the 2 (Austin Cindric) was out front and the 3 (Austin Dillon) was running second.
“It seemed like the 2 got loose and started down the racetrack and it was a hell of a save by Cindric, but that killed all our momentum.
“We were in a four-car breakaway; I thought I was going to set myself up to be in a pretty good spot and it just didn’t transpire. We had to regroup and come back for a fifth-place finish, and we will take it.”
Gragson took extreme pride in finishing fifth with a team that is truly just a one-man band.
Congrats to everybody at RCR and the ECR motor department,” continued Gragson. “They help us out tremendously on this Beard Motorsports team and with one employee, this is a pretty big deal to go up against these organizations with 500-600 employees.
“So, for the goals that we have, the budget that we are on and the race team that we are; it’s pretty rewarding to be kicking yourself over a fifth-place finish in the Cup series. Very grateful for the opportunity and appreciate all the fan support and for NASCAR in letting us go to the end.”
Next up for Gragson in the Cup Series will be the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on September 11th, 2022 with Kaulig Racing.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @Grace3140.
