Coming off of his first top-10 finish of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Noah Gragson is still searching for something he believes has lost recently.
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Coming off of his first top-10 finish of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Noah Gragson is still searching for something he believes has lost recently.
On the surface, things don't look that bad for the driver of Front Row Motorsports' No. 4 Ford. Gragson's ninth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway was his best finish this season by just two spots. It also put him on pace with last season for lead-lap finishes (four) and ahead of last season with his points position (29th vs. 31st).
The differences lie deeper.
In the first 10 races last season, he finished on the lead lap at places like Homestead-Miami Speedway and Darlington Raceway. This season, he hasn't finished less than two laps down at places that aren't either a drafting track or a road course.
"I’m not quite sure where that speed has gone. We had some glimmers of it at Bristol and we got a little away with it with pit strategy and having that wave around to stay out and went a couple more laps down because it went green. But to not finish on the lead lap on some of our better racetracks has been a big head scratcher and a big question mark to me," Gragson said. "It’s just unbelievably frustrating when you get done with the race and it’s like, I haven’t gotten three laps down at these tracks ever."
Gragson is adjusting to a new crew chief, Grant Hutchens, which has seen him adjust to more of a leadership role.
It's another way the driver of Front Row Motorsports' No. 4 Ford has had to adjust.
NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell praised Carson Hocevar for his unique celebration of his first Cup win. O'Donnell encouraged other drivers to show similar personality but Gragson argues it isn't that easy.
"I think if you’re winning, people don’t care. You can do whatever you want. It’s when you run bad that people’s opinions are like, ‘Oh, he’s winning so it works.’ And then you run bad and they’re like, ‘Oh, you need to change this,’ and you really haven’t changed anything," Gragson said.
When Gragson was dominating the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2022, he showed similar personality as Hocevar.
A lot has happened since moving to the Cup Series in 2023.
From Legacy Motor Club in 2023 to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024 to now Front Row Motorsports since 2025, he has dealt with getting suspended, having his organization shut down and generally struggling in the series.
“These last three years haven’t been much fun, just not even being able to be myself I feel like," Gragson said.
Gragson still has some fun. At Talladega, his guests included NFL player Marshawn Lynch and Gangster Granny, who posed for a picture with Gragson and a sign offering the race winner a lap dance.
"I do think that it is a balance but at the end of the day, I think the people who are closest to me know that I work hard behind the scenes throughout my whole career and I’m truly passionate about the sport. It’s not like I’m just going out there and messing around. I do my work throughout the week and when I get to the racetrack I try to enjoy myself as much as I can," he said.
Gragson is taking everything day by day and week by week. This week is Texas Motor Speedway, where he felt good about his speed last year but crashed and finished 34th.
"I don’t know if I’ll be the fastest thing at Texas or I’ll be the slowest thing at Texas but I’m preparing to be the fastest thing at Texas," he said.
With a best finish of 18th, Texas isn't the best track for Gragson. However, better points races lie ahead, like at Nashville Superspeedway and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 10th at Nashville in 2024 and at Charlotte last year.
“Our car was super, super fast there [at Charlotte] last year. We ran on the top probably sixth to ninth all day. On the final pit stop, I was short in the pit box because somebody was coming around us and I stopped short and had to start at the tail end of the field and we still came back to finish in the top 10," Gragson said.
It may take a lot to pull it together but if Gragson can pull off a win before any other Ford driver, he'll give the manufacturer their 750th Cup win.
More importantly, it may give Gragson more of a reason for him to give more of what the NASCAR world is looking for from driver No. 4.
