MARTINSVILLE, Va. – There’s no doubt that the pressure was building for Noah Gragson.
A promising rookie with a new sponsor and driving for one of the best teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series — Kyle Busch Motorsports – but the charismatic driver had little success to show for initial launch in NASCAR’s top-three national series.
Entering Saturday’s post-season playoffs Round of 6, Gragson sat 10th in the championship standings with a career-best second on the road course at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Knowing that Saturday afternoon’s Texas Roadhouse 200 presented by Alpha Energy Solutions was likely his final chance to put his No. 18 Switch Toyota Tundra in Victory Lane, Gragson used a restart with 10 laps to go to slip by Matt Crafton on the outside lane at Martinsville Speedway to earn his first career victory in his 19th career Truck Series start.
“It’s really tough racing against these veterans,” said Gragson, a native of Las Vegas, Nev. “Those last like 40 laps with Johnny Sauter being off my back bumper, he did that earlier to that to us in the spring and I wasn’t gonna let him pass me again like that.
“We got that caution there at the end and you can’t pass on the outside in Martinsville and I did it.”
Did it he did.
It wasn’t easy though.
For much of the race, Gragson kept his Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota inside the top-10, but utilizing strategy to set himself up for Stage 3, Gragson found himself safely secured in the top-five and on the move.
Holding down second, the 18-year-old found immense pressure from veteran and reigning series champion Johnny Sauter for the runner-up position. For a good 60 laps or so, Sauter attempted to force the freshman driver into making a mistake.
Gragson, however – remembers video that he studied earlier in the week from his Martinsville Truck Series debut where pressure from the cagy veterans from behind caused him to lose his rhythm and give away crucial spots.
Despite Sauter’s best efforts – Gragson was flawless using a loose No. 18 Switch Toyota to his advantage – hustling the throttle when he needed to and keeping Sauter’s Chevrolet at bay.
Gragson knew that if Sauter passed him and a caution came out, his chances at victory were likely over.
The caution waved on Lap 183 for a truck spun in Turn 2 – giving Gragson the chance he needed to outwit Crafton using the high line.
Traditionally, the high line never works at the track’s 0.526-mile oval.
Gragson didn’t care. He made it work brilliantly, clearing Crafton off Turn 4 on the restart and never looked back.
“Starting out on the outside, it’s really really hard to pass here,” Gragson said. “You got a lot in wrap and stay really far on the bottom and man I’m just so thankful to have an awesome Switch Toyota Tundra to come out here. Thank you to Kyle Busch, Samantha Busch, my crew chief Marcus Richmond, all my crew guys. This is crazy. I can’t believe it all. Thank all the fans for coming out – for Switch, Toyota, TRD.
“Everyone that makes this possible for me – a young kid from Las Vegas who started racing five years ago. To be racing here in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, it’s a privilege and all those hours of hard work.”
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series multiple-race winner said as he went to be on Friday night, he felt like race day was going to be different. He woke up feeling the same.
“I knew to myself this morning, I knew I could get it done,” Gragson explained. “I’ve known it this whole year and I told myself I’m gonna get that trophy today and that’s what we did.”
Busch – often credited with carving young talent into superstars through his Kyle Busch Motorsports university said his driver’s focus and ability to stay in contention planted him in Victory Lane.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Busch who had all four of his KBM trucks finish inside the top-10. “You know it just goes to show you that these guys given the opportunities that they have in KBM stuff can do a good job and that was another example of that today and just being able to stay focused and stay up front and be there at the end and having that opportunity.
“You know he was kind of getting his bumper mangled in a little bit by the 21 (Johnny Sauter) that run before that, so we weren’t sure we were going to have a truck capable of getting out there and getting a lead over the 88 (Matt Crafton), but Noah just put his mind to it on that final restart, got on the outside and you know there’s two lanes here I guess or he made two lanes and got a good jump on the restart, did a good job through (turns) 1 and 2, staying even, getting the launch off of 2 and actually getting ahead and completed the pass really quickly and then was able to go where he wanted to after that and drove away.
“Just really impressed with the speed that he showed at the end and the composure of being able to drive away and not getting too nervous or anything like that and have the guys behind him all over him trying to knock his rear bumper off, so just excellent execution by the team. Good pit stops today that the 18 bunch had and you know Noah driving the thing to his first win was pretty cool.”
While the veterans of Crafton and Sauter – both Playoff drivers seemed a tad salty after being aced by a fearless rookie, Gragson took that next step in his career by shutting his naysayers with a huge win with four races remaining in the year.
Ultimately that win should cross the i’s and dot the t’s in his returning contact for Kyle Busch Motorsports next season.
Even team owner Kyle Busch hinted that Gragson will likely be back next year.
It’s often said the first win is the hardest.
If that’s the case for Gragson, his second career win – and possibly his career for that matter should be as easy as flipping a switch.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
