CUP: Loose-handling car sends Noah Gragson into Turn 1 wall at Pocono
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng)
Noah Gragson picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VisitPA.com at the Pocono Raceway when his #10 Overstock.com Ford crashed after 13 of 160 laps.
The finish, which came in Gragson’s 60th series start, was his first of the season and first since April 2, 2023 at Richmond, 50 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 40th for the #10, the 671st from a crash, and the 746th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 135th for the #10, the 1,041st for Ford, and the 1,384th from a crash.
Just this week, news broke that Gragson had secured a new Cup Series ride for 2025, signing a multi-year deal with Front Row Motorsports. He’s the third of the four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers to secure a deal, following Chase Briscoe taking the place of Martin Truex, Jr. at Joe Gibbs Racing and Josh Berry landing Harrison Burton’s ride with the Wood Brothers. Only Ryan Preece, currently driver of SHR’s #41, has yet to land a deal before the team’s impending closure at the end of this season.
Heading into Sunday, Gragson had earned a solid 14th-place finish on the Chicago Street Course, a track where he struggled tremendously last year after multiple encounters with the tire barriers. The race before saw him finish 10th at Nashville, already his sixth Top Ten of the year. His season-best 3rd came at Talladega, one of the races where he ran sponsorship from Overstock.com. At Pocono, where Gragson and Berry would run near identical Overstock paint schemes, Gragson began the weekend a distant 34th of the 37 entrants in practice, then qualified 13th in Round 1B, securing 25th on the grid with a lap of 53.860 seconds (167.100mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was J.J. Yeley, who brought the NY Racing Team back to the series for the first time since the Coca-Cola 600. This time, the car was bright yellow as Ollie’s Bargain Outlet sponsored Yeley for the fourth time in the last three seasons. He’d be joined by 30th-place qualifier Corey LaJoie, whose #7 Parity in Paris Chevrolet incurred an unapproved adjustments penalty for fender and suspension repairs after he struck the wall in qualifying. Also docked was 24th Kyle Busch, who just minutes before the command to start engines had his #8 Zone Chevrolet in the garage for a discovered oil leak from a frayed cable.
The view onboard Yeley’s car coming to the green. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)
When the race started, Yeley still dropped back into the 37th spot as the last car on the inside lane with Busch trailing the outside line to his right. The #44 team’s plan was to keep their car clean to give them a shot at a finish inside the Top 20. At the stripe, Yeley crossed the line 2.997 seconds back of the lead. Coming off Turn 1, the field stacked up, shuffling back to 37th Cody Ware, making his 100th career Cup start in the #15 Jacob Construction Ford. At the line, Yeley was 4.859 back of the leader and 0.222 behind Ware.
For the next several laps, Yeley remained within striking distance of the cars in front of him. On Lap 3, he was 0.443 behind Ware, then 0.438 on Lap 4. That time by, Busch snapped loose off Turn 3 and slipped back a few positions to 36th, 0.509 ahead of Yeley on Lap 5. Busch inched away on Lap 6, opening the gap to 0.860 before re-passing Ware on Lap 7. Again, Yeley drew near, cutting the gap to 0.670 second, but Ware then inched away. On Lap 8, the gap was 0.806, then 0.971 on Lap 9 and 1.307 on Lap 10. During this run, Yeley’s crew took note of his entry into Turn 1, comparing it to that of Ross Chastain in the #1 Busch Light Peach Chevrolet. They advised Yeley to not to drive as deep into the corner, which would save his brakes. Yeley closed from 1.629 seconds behind Ware on Lap 11 to 1.623 on Lap 12, but Ware pulled away to 1.852 on Lap 13, then 2.060 on Lap 14, just as the first caution fell.
During this same run, Gragson was fighting a loose race car, hoping to make it to the next caution for adjustments. But on Lap 14, the car got away from him entering Turn 1. The car slid up the track and smacked the wall with the left-rear, then the left-front. Gragson re-fired the engine and began to drive along the apron, but he soon stopped just past the exit of the turn. He climbed out, and crews hooked his Ford to a tow truck. Now in last place on Lap 15, the car was first towed to an infield entrance before Turn 2, but the truck backed up and headed to the next entrance in the corner itself. The truck then towed the car back to the garage area, where the on-board camera lost connection and shut off. NASCAR declared him officially out on Lap 21.
Lap 17 - Gragson's car gets dragged by he tow truck. The truck first pulled into an infield opening short of Turn 2, but backed out, then pulled into the next opening going through Turn 2. pic.twitter.com/J6k74wAiR6
— Brock Beard (@LASTCARonBROCK) July 14, 2024
Finishing 36th was Chastain, whose #1 reportedly had steering issues before he spun out off Turn 3 and smacked the wall with the right-rear and right-front of his Chevrolet. He then limped down the frontstretch before he hit the wall again in Turn 1. He made it to pit road under the third caution of the race, but the repairs ended his day. Yeley’s #44 made it 112 laps before engine issues forced him behind the wall, taking 35th. Moments later, the attrition picked up: Todd Gilliland took 34th after an apparent right-front brake rotor failure put his #38 C.H. Reed Ford into the wall entering Turn 1. A pileup in that same corner on the Lap 121 restart completed the Bottom Five after LaJoie twice bumped Kyle Busch’s #8, sending him spinning into traffic. Among those collected was Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., whose #47 Sugarlands Sippin’ Cream Chevrolet bounced off the outside wall.
Chastain’s damaged car being towed off pit road (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marks the first last-place finish for the #10 in a Cup Series race at Pocono since July 24, 1983, when Clark Dwyer’s #10 Kings Inn Chevrolet lost oil pressure after 6 laps of the Like Cola 500.
Dwyer (#10) on the grid at Pocono in July 1983 (SCREENSHOT: SMIFF TV on YouTube)
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #10-Noah Gragson / 13 laps / crash
36) #1-Ross Chastain / 53 laps / crash
35) #44-J.J. Yeley / 112 laps / fuel pump
34) #38-Todd Gilliland / 115 laps / crash
33) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 120 laps / crash
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing, Spire Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing (3)
2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Penske Racing (2)
3rd) Hendrick Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (8)
3rd) Toyota (3)
2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
