If you were scripting a Hollywood blockbuster around the life of a NASCAR underdog, Noah Gragson would be your ideal leading man. His narrative has been one of struggle, change, and a reputation hanging by a thread. But the racing circuit at The Americas (COTA) provided the real-life set for Gragson’s dramatic turnaround. He managed to silence his critics, not through a cinematic montage, but in real-time and on worn-out tires against some of the industry’s best.
Those who doubted Gragson had their popcorn ready, anticipating another mediocre finish. But as the race progressed, chaos ensued, and Gragson found himself weaving through a fierce battle between two racing heavyweights, Tyler Reddick and Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen. Like a clever thief in a street brawl, Gragson seized the prize while the fight was still on.
When the dust had settled, the sceptics were ready to tweet “Gragson still isn’t Cup material”, but he silenced them with seven simple yet powerful words: “It just matters what that scoreboard says.”
But how did we get here? How did Gragson, more known for his struggles than successes, find himself among the frontrunners at COTA? His journey in the Cup Series has been anything but smooth. After a tumultuous 2023 season with Legacy Motor Club and a shaky start with Front Row Motorsports in 2024, the only consistent element in Gragson’s performance seemed to be inconsistency. But all that changed at COTA, where he finished strong for the first time in a long while.
It wasn’t a walk in the park, though. His tires were so old they could tell tales from the first lap of the race. He watched Reddick and SVG battle it out, waited for the perfect moment, and then swooped in like a seasoned chess player amidst a chaotic game of checkers.
The 26-year-old admitted, “It feels good to finally run up front again… It’s been kind of s—y the last couple of weeks.” This was not just an honest reflection, but the words of a man who had tasted defeat repeatedly but was finally savouring victory.
For a significant part of the race, it seemed like another disappointing day. He was placed 33rd in Stage 1 and 31st in Stage 2. The narrative of another failure was almost writing itself. But the final stage saw Gragson pull off a strategic and gutsy move, “Yeah, they were racing super hard at the end and everybody was, I’m not sure what tires they were on, but I was on super old tires. So I saw them getting into each other… We had three-wide at one point, bouncing off the rub blocks.”
Gragson’s performance at COTA demonstrated his ability to thrive amidst chaos. While he didn’t win the race, finishing eighth amongst multiple road-course specialists and championship-caliber drivers was a feat. This wasn’t just about one race; it was a testament to Gragson’s larger narrative. The once rising star in Xfinity, a championship contender, and a 13-time winner finally proved that he can still compete with the best despite recent setbacks.
His team was equally impressed, “It was not looking good the first run. On the first run, we were horrible. And they went to work on it. The pit crew did a great job. Drew (the crew chief) caught a great race, and we were able to get up there at the end.”
The question now is, was his performance at COTA a fluke, or the start of a larger comeback? Gragson’s performance in the past seasons has been less than stellar. 2023 was disastrous, 2024 showed some promise, but nothing noteworthy. Now, in 2025, his eighth-place finish at COTA might be the spark Front Row Motorsports has been waiting for.
Next up is Phoenix, a track where Gragson has had some decent finishes. No victories, no laps led, but if he can replicate his performance from COTA, we may need to reconsider the “struggling prodigy” label.
Front Row Motorsports took a gamble by bringing Gragson in as their full-time driver in the No. 4 Ford Mustang. If he continues to deliver promising performances, they could be hailed as visionary strategists. If not, at least we’ll always have the epic COTA moment to remember.
Next week, everyone will be watching the scoreboard. In the words of Gragson, “It just matters what that scoreboard says.” And for once, it displayed a result worth celebrating.