Noah Gragson has found a home for 2025 and beyond.
The affable 25-year-old racer has signed a multi-year deal to drive for Front Row Motorsports.
After advancing to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023—and not finding stability with his first two opportunities—Gragson is thrilled at the prospect of building a team for the future.
“It’s definitely important to find balance and a home–and to do it with a team that does have a key partnership with Ford and the Penske alliance,” Gragson told Catchfence.com. “Bob Jenkins (FRM team owner) and Jerry Freeze (FRM general manager) made it clear that Bob’s vision was to make the team better than it was the year before. They want to see constant growth.
“And they’ve been running pretty good with the (Nos.) 34 and 38 (Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland). It definitely allows the opportunity to grow. Bob has invested into the sport—and invested a ton over the last year with buying a third charter. With their speed on the race track, with Bob’s vision to grow, there’s a great opportunity there.”
Gragson is grateful to have expedited his contract with FRM for two reasons. First, getting next year’s deal locked down gives him the freedom to concentrate on the rest of this season with the No.10 Stewart-Haas Racing team. Second, Gragson can get acquainted with his new crew so he can hit the ground running in 2025.
“It allows the opportunity to walk in January 1 and know the people’s names that you’re working with,” Gragson said. “It allows confidence in the group and you’re firing off the next year with the opportunity to build on what you have.
“I really haven’t been able to do that the last two years. I walked into a new situation with a new group, a new organization and it was tough to learn everybody’s name and then go right into the Clash.
“To have a home for multiple years and to be able to grow with the group over there, I think there’s a lot of potential.”
FRM sees the potential in Gragson as well. In 2016, he joined forces with fellow Las Vegas native Kyle Busch to compete in trucks. The following season, Gragson ran full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Not only did he win his first truck race at Martinsville Speedway, but Gragson won the 2017 Winchester 400 with KBM’s late model program. The following season Gragson posted six poles, won at Kansas Speedway and again in a Late Model in the Snow Ball Derby.
Gragson truly blossomed during his tenure at JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. He qualified for the Playoffs during all four of his full-time seasons, advancing to the Championship 4 in 2021 and 2022. In his final season, Gragson finished a career-best second in the 2022 NXS standings following eight wins, two poles, 21 top fives and 26 top 10s.
His consistency behind the wheel with JRM earned Gragson a Cup seat for 2023 as well as a substitute role at Hendrick Motorsports when Alex Bowman was injured during the 2022 Cup Playoffs.
Though his rookie season at Legacy Motor Club did not go as planned–and ended with a suspension for an ill-considered “like” of an inappropriate post on Twitter–Gragson was recruited to replace Aric Almirola at SNR after earning reinstatement. His leadership skills and ability to rally the team—particularly after Stewart-Haas Racing announced it was shutting down at season’s end—have been noticeable.
Coming in, Gragson insisted that crew chief Drew Blickensderfer hold him accountable, and the structure has paid off with one top five and six top 10s. When SHR had no off-the-track activities to improve the drivers’ performance, Gragson used proven practices to develop a system for himself and his teammates.
“It’s definitely taught me a lot about myself and also a lot about leadership to come in and learn from the program that they have and then apply some of my experiences to try and improve it,” Gragson said. “For me, it’s about people. It’s about the investment with people and time. Time is the most important investment for me. Allowing myself the time to come in and build relationships, to build communication and processes with teammates and other teams.
“To bring everyone together is important to me. So this is an opportunity I’m looking forward to.”
Team owner Jenkins sees Gragson as the next piece to building a youthful and competitive stable of drivers for Front Row Motorsports’ future.
“We feel that this is a great opportunity and the perfect time to bring Noah to our organization,” Jenkins said in a release. “He has just the right amount of experience in the NASCAR Cup Series to breakout and become a winner for years to come. This season, Noah has started to get the finishes, and race consistently up front, which was expected from him.
“Joining our team, staying with Ford Performance, and welcoming him to our partners, we are only going to accelerate his opportunity to win races and compete in the playoffs. This is the driver that we want to help get us more wins.”
Certainly, Gragson has the talent to do just that. After having a year under the Ford banner, he feels comfortable continuing in that camp and working in their simulator and utilizing their resources.
Although there have been pitfalls along the way since graduating to the Cup Series, Gragson is willing to invest the effort to thrive at FRM.
“It’s going to be challenging,” Gragson admits. “It won’t be easy by any means. I don’t know who the third driver is going to be, but working with Todd, we were teammates over at Kyle Busch Motorsports, so we know each other a little bit. We’ve matured over the years, learned from our experiences and can push each other to become better.
“I’m really excited about it. There’s a lot of potential to grow from my side of things and to help the organization and participate in the building process.”
Veteran McDowell’s contributions to FRM cannot be overlooked. However, Jenkins could possibly be looking at a driver lineup with an average age of 25 if the rumors of Zane Smith returning to the team are true. Smith is also close friends with Gragson.
The final piece to the puzzle will be aligning Gragson with the proper crew chief to continue accelerating his learning curve in Cup. With Blickensderfer’s previous three-year stint at FRM, Gragson would be up to speed in no time.
“I would love to continue my relationship with Drew,” Gragson said. “He’s been a great leader for myself, personally. He’s pushed me beyond my comfort zone off the race track and on the race track. He’s been good for me. I’d love to keep it going.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
