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Noah Gragson is a character to say the least. He showed up to Dover with a bowl cut because of a lost bet. He left Dover in the garage, which is ultimately what matters as a race car driver.
Eleven races into the season, Gragson finds himself outside of the top 30 in points. He is lower in points than Chase Elliot, who missed six races this season. Only one full-time driver is lower than Gragson in the standings, Ty Dillon.
Gragson has led only two laps this season, and has only been in contention in one race this season, Talladega. That race he finished in the garage, one of three DNFs on the young 11 race season.
Nicole Ison on Twitter expresses how this trend has been frustrating this season.
Even for a rookie, that is simply not good enough. Its’ especially disappointing given the fact that Gragson won eight Xfinity Series races last season finishing second in the standings. He even had a Cup Series top five at the August race in Daytona last season, although that did have a massive luck aspect to it.
As for his rookie counterpart in Ty Gibbs? Gibbs has been quietly putting together a solid rookie season with four top 10 finishes, including three in a row. Gibbs has a realistic chance to potentially point his way into the playoffs if he keeps up this performance.
Now equipment must always be taken into consideration, so how has Gragson’s teammate Erik Jones fared this season? Jones has been better, albeit not much better as he is mired in 25th in points heading into the Dover race with two top tens.
NRF Productions also points out that Ty Dillon had similar struggles in the same 42 car last season.
The counter to that is to ask how has Gragson done when he has gotten good equipment? Last season he filled in for the final six races for Alex Bowman. Gragson had only two top 20 finishes with 0 top tens.
It’s unfair to put too-high expectations on Gragson, he is still a rookie after all. Unfortunately, with the emergence of Josh Berry getting three top 10s in that same Hendrick Motorsports equipment in fill-in duty with less seat time in the Gen-7 car than Gragson, some serious questions may need to start surfacing.
Is there still going to be a place for Gragson at Hendrick in the future? That path is uncertain, and it ultimately depends on the performances of guys such as Sam Mayer (Still looking for his first Xfinity series win) and Brandon Jones (Who has struggled at JRM to start).
With that in mind, it is also worth noting that it took Gragson until his second season in Xfinity to find his first career win. Maybe he is just a slow starter? That could indeed be feasible as well.
Gragson has a personality for sure. One that can sell to sponsors, and one that can bring in fans or push fans away.
That type of polarizing attitude is something that NASCAR needs. Every sport needs big personalities that people either love or hate like a Kyle Busch or Kurt Busch. It also needs those personalities that simply entertain like Kenny Wallace or Clint Bowyer.
The Iceberg made the case a couple of years ago for Gragson being NASCAR’s most entertaining driver.
However, what ultimately matters is what one does on the track. If Gragson does not get that sorted out soon, everything else simply is not relevant. It is not time yet to give up on Gragson, but the clock is ticking.
