Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson
Car no., team: No. 9 (JR Motorsports)
Born/Date of Birth: July 15, 1998
Place of Birth: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Education: Bishop Gorman High School
Achievements: 2018 Snowball Derby Winner
2017 Winchester 400 Winner
Most poles in one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season (6 in 2018)
Awards: 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Rookie of the Year
Noah Gragson (born July 15, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He is a member of Drivers Edge Development Program.
Racing career
Early career
Gragson started racing Bandoleros at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring at the age of 13, eventually moving to compete in late models. Gragson also competed in the INEX Legends car racing series, winning the 2014 Young Lion Road Course championship.
K&N Pro Series West
In 2015, Gragson joined Jefferson Pitts Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West in the No. 7 with sponsorship from AlertID, his ride being overseen by co-owner Jerry Pitts. In his series debut at Kern County Raceway Park, he finished third after qualifying eighth. At Tucson Speedway, Gragson battled with teammate Gracin Raz to score his first career victory. Later in the season at Meridian Speedway, Gragson recorded his first pole position and led 176 laps to win. In his first season of stock car racing, Gragson finished second in the final points standings behind Chris Eggleston with two wins, seven top fives, 11 top tens, becoming the ninth driver in series history to finish runner-up in points and win Rookie of the Year. After the season ended, he was named Rookie of the Year.
K&N Pro Series East
During the 2015 season, Gragson ran two races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, finishing eighth in his debut at Watkins Glen International.
ARCA Menards Series
In September of 2015 he joined Mason Mitchell Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series, driving the No. 78 Ford Fusion at Kentucky Speedway. After qualifying eighth, he finished 14th, one lap behind race winner Ryan Reed.
Camping World Truck Series
2016
On October 7, 2016 he was hired by Kyle Busch Motorsports to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2017.
In preparation, he drove the No. 18 Toyota from KBM at the Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway events in an entry fielded by Wauters Motorsports who also fielded Super Late Model’s for Gragson. In his debut at Phoenix, Gragson qualified 14th and finished 16th. Gragson raced at Homestead as well, qualifying 10th and finishing 15th.
2017
In 2017, he recorded his first career Truck win in the fall at Martinsville Speedway in the Texas Roadhouse 200 after passing Matt Crafton for the lead on the outside with 10 to go, he finished tenth in points.
2018
He returned to the No. 18 KBM truck for the 2018 season.
A week after wrecking with 2 to go while battling with Johnny Sauter for the win at Dover, Gragson dominated at Kansas in the 37 Kind Days 250 leading 128 out of 167 laps to score his 2nd career win.
During qualifying at Pocono Raceway, Gragson fell ill and was not cleared to race. Erik Jones replaced him for the race, but he was granted a playoff waiver and will still contend for the championship.
Gragson finished 2nd in the points standings, after finishing 3rd at Homestead.
Xfinity Series
2018
Gragson made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing at Richmond Raceway in 2018 as part of a three-race schedule that included further starts at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover International Speedway.
2019
On September 25, 2018, JR Motorsports announced that Gragson would drive the No. 1 Chevrolet full-time for the 2019 Xfinity Series, replacing Elliott Sadler who retired at the end of the 2018 season. However, on January 25, the team announced that Gragson would instead pilot the No. 9 and teammate Michael Annett would drive the No. 1. Gragson opened his rookie campaign with JR Motorsports by finishing 11th in the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona International Speedway. He scored a ninth-place at Atlanta the next week for his first top-10 of the season and followed it up with his first top-five of the season the next week when he finished third at Las Vegas. Gragson would go on to produce several strong runs during the season including a season-best second-place at Michigan.
Gragson would end up making the Playoffs after the second Las Vegas race on the strength of seven top-fives and 17 top-10s in the regular season. Gragson scored his first DNF of his XFINITY Series career in the 2019 O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway when contact on lap 150 with the No. 18 of Harrison Burton sent Gragson's car spinning through the frontstretch grass. Gragson would be credited with a 30th-place finish.
2020
On February 11, 2020, Gragson announced Bass Pro Shops, Black Rifle Coffee Company, and TrueTimber would sponsor him as a primary sponsor for three races starting at the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. He went on to win the season-opening NASCAR Racing Experience 300.
Other racing
His 2018 racing slate also included starts on the NASCAR Pinty's Series and CARS Tour circuits in an effort to make himself a better driver via more seat time. Gragson also started working with a sports psychologist in 2018.
In his final ride with KBM, Gragson won the 2018 Snowball Derby after holding off Ty Majeski.
Personal life
Gragson attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada for two years. Gragson enjoys downhill mountain biking, and is an avid video game player, saying in an interview that he would maybe spend Dash 4 Cash winnings on the popular video game Fortnite.
In May 2019, Gragson’s father Scott, who has made his son’s racing career possible with his wealth, was involved in a fatal crash in which his blood alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit. He settled out of court with the victim and is awaiting sentencing.
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