By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been a slow burn for Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson. Fresh off a season-best fourth-place finish in last Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, his road to a top-five fell onto his hands on-and-off the track.
Although the spring race has traditionally fared Gragson well, but it could’ve ended in disaster on Lap 43.
Running outside the top-20, some of the cars split between Ford and Chevrolet drivers entered pit road and the tight pack lent itself to the usual chaos.
Gragson’s teammate, Zane Smith, blended into apron to make his stop, but it caused an accordion effect that saw Brad Keselowski check up and in turn tangled by Kyle Busch.
Both went into the path of Alex Bowman, which saw him sustain left side damage from the melee before Keselowski and Busch went back into the path of the bottom lane. It led to Ryan Blaney being wrecked and nearly sent him into the path of Gragson, who was narrowly able to avoid the carnage.
In retrospect, Gragson explained during Wednesday’s media availability, he felt like he was Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder when the character, portrayed by Tom Cruise, avoided the big wreck at Daytona with nothing but smoke in his mirrors.
“I saw the smoke coming and then I saw the cars appear and then more smoke and then I’m like, ‘Oh, man. They’re right here,’” Gragson explained.
“Luckily I felt like Cole Trickle. I was able to miss the wreck and able to drive through the smoke.”
Brad Keselowski got the worst of it. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/9RSKqLLIZT
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 27, 2025
From there, as has been the case for Gragson when he’s strapped into his No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, it was “business as usual” and had a rare day where things clicked in the results column.
While Austin Cindric won the race for Ford, Gragson crossed the line in sixth for his second top-10 finish of the season, but the true outcome wouldn’t transpire until his flight landed ground.
Both Ryan Preece and Joey Logano, who finished ahead of Gragson, were disqualified during post-race inspection, promoting Gragson to a fourth-place finish. It marked his second straight top-five finish in the spring race at Talladega, which brought crucial motivation to the team as a whole.
“We were landing on the flight home and got word of it that we ended up fourth. I was like, ‘Heck, yeah.’ That’s good for the Racing-Reference,” Gragson remarked.
“You take some top fives any way you can get them, but we ran good at Talladega last year. We finished third and then ultimately to come home in sixth and then get moved up to fourth, Talladega in the spring has been pretty good to us. It’s good to get a top five.”
Throughout the season, Gragson and the entire Bob Jenkins-owned squad felt the performances are there, but the results have left a lot to be desired as indicated with his 31st points campaign 10 races into the season.
“It’s not been a great year result-wise,” said Gragson. “I think we’ve had some good runs and good speed throughout the races, just closing them out and finishing them off we haven’t finished the way we need to be.
“Hopefully, it’s a good building moment for our group and good motivation and confidence that we can take to these next handful of racetracks.”
Key examples were the two races Gragson failed to finish at Atlanta and Las Vegas where good results were snatched due to being collected in other people’s mess.
“We were running sixth or seventh (at Las Vegas) and got in a wreck with Blaney down the back straightaway with maybe 60 to go, so we were having a pretty solid run there. Atlanta, we were kind of biding our time there and Suarez comes up the racetrack and clips us,” Gragson said, on his early retirements.
Despite those incidents, at the end of the day, the pace of the No. 4 machine is something that’s on his radar where he hopes as the team improve, he moves up in the running order where he doesn’t end up in those incidental predicaments.
“It’s just kind of silly wrecks and getting involved with them, but it really just comes down to we need to go faster so we’re not in those positions. If you’re leading the race, the odds are you’re not gonna be around that stuff.
“Ultimately, we just have to go faster, and I think we’ve got a team to do it.”
Prior to the season commencing in February, Gragson joined Front Row Motorsports after his former team, Stewart-Haas Racing, ceased operations at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
It marked Gragson’s third team in as many seasons and while he’s last in points compared to his former SHR teammates Chase Briscoe (12th in points), Ryan Preece (18th), and Josh Berry (21st with a win at Las Vegas), he’s felt right at home and in a much better spot at FRM.
“I have a lot of similar crew guys that I had on my team last year, but just really enjoying what we’ve got here at Front Row,” Gragson said. “I’m happy for all of their success. It’s pretty cool to see those guys having success and I’m happy for them as well.
“I feel like I’m in a great spot here at Front Row Motorsports. Bob Jenkins and Jerry Freeze have a great vision and I’m thankful for the opportunity to race here,” Gragson continued. “Our cars are fast. We haven’t had the results we want, but in racing when you don’t have speed, you’re really scratching your head.
“Right now, I feel like we have some decent speed, it’s just putting the whole race together. I’m probably not as stressed out right now as maybe I was around this time last year, just because I feel like we’re in a good spot.”
Gragson added that stability has been nice to have where he doesn’t have to worry much about his future at this time, allowing him to focus at the business at hand.
“It’s a good place for me. I really enjoy my teammates, Todd (Gilliland) and Zane (Smith). I really enjoy the people I work with,” said Gragson. “When you go to work and you’re having fun and you’re enjoying yourself, I think it makes it that much better, and you can take it up an extra notch. Just showing up with excitement every day makes it better.”
With momentum in his favor after Talladega, Gragson and the rest of the field will head to Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Wurth 400 (Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
Compared to most tracks, the track surface has been a focal point as it’s struggled to wear down that’ll allow compelling competition and drivers being able to navigate around the track to their own accord.
Gragson attributes the problem with Texas’ lack of track wear stems to Fort Worth being nowhere near a beach, resulting in the surface not aging as much compared to tracks like Darlington and Homestead; both venues being popular amongst drivers and fans over the years.
“I don’t know if they’re using asphalt from around those places, but it seems like the sand peels away and then you’ve got those sharp, jagged rocks that stick out of the surface and that is what, in my opinion, caused the tire wear,” Gragson explained.
“I don’t really think it’s too sandy out in the middle of Texas. I don’t know where they get their asphalt, but it certainly is a one maybe two-lane track, and it definitely feels like ice out there.”
Time will tell how the 267-lap race will unfold as Gragson hopes to turn his first year at FRM around with another stout result. In two previous starts at the 1.5-mile circuit, Gragson has finished inside the top-25 both times.
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