Noah Gragson has finally put in a full NASCAR Cup Series season and has his feet back underneath him.
Gragson finished 24th in the championship standings driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. The No. 10 team put together seven top-10 finishes and an average finish of 21.6. Along the way, Gragson marked off tracks he had never previously competed on and signed a new deal — with Front Row Motorsports — for the 2025 season.
“I think getting an opportunity for next year with everything going away, the goal was to just get back on the map,” Gragson told RACER about what he wanted to get out of the 2024 season. “The main goal was to get back on the map and show we can run competitively. With that being said, it’s been a privilege to be in this opportunity.”
Stewart-Haas Racing announced the end of its tenure in May. Gragson announced his deal with Front Row in July.
It was Tony Stewart and Gene Haas who brought Gragson back into the sport. Gragson became a hot commodity by winning 13 races in four Xfinity Series seasons. In the process, he ran nearly half a Cup Series season in 2022 with Beard Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, and then as a substitute driver at Hendrick Motorsports when Alex Bowman suffered a concussion.
Legacy Motor Club hired Gragson for the 2023 season. However, it only lasted until late summer when he was suspended by the team and NASCAR for liking an insensitive meme on Instagram. But his second chance came with Stewart-Haas and Gragson has been putting his best foot forward ever since.
“I’m very grateful for Tony and Greg Zipadelli and everybody who has given me this opportunity over at Stewart-Haas,” Gragson said. “It’s a bummer what everyone is going through but for myself personally, I’m not content and I’m not satisfied with (what we’ve accomplished). But I’m confident to say I feel like I have somewhat earned an opportunity to race on Sundays.”
It was an up-and-down year for Gragson and his team. At the start of the season, Gragson appeared to carry the banner for Stewart-Haas with five top-10 finishes in the first 12 races. But as the season progressed, Gragson felt there were rule changes that hindered the team and areas where he could have done better.