No matter how you slice it, Noah Gragson has endured a highly disappointing 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
How rough has it been? Rough another for the Front Row Motorsports driver to declare on a Zoom call earlier this week that he’s “kind of over it.”
More specifically, Gragson is sick and tired of getting caught up in wrecks — which, though plentiful this season, have usually not been of his own making.
The Root Of Noah Gragson’s Issues In 2025 Is Not Difficult To Identify
Only one driver — Ryan Blaney — has more DNFs over the first 21 races of the NASCAR Cup Series season than Noah Gragson. Having failed to finish six times, Gragson is 33rd in the standings and owns only three top-10 finishes, which include just one top-five.
At this rate, he’ll finish the year with fewer top-10s and a worse final ranking than he did in 2024, his only season with the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing organization.
It’s not hard to figure out, though, the main source of Gragson’s troubles in this his third season as a full-time Cup Series driver and first season with Front Row Motorsports.
“I’ve just gotten collected in a lot of wrecks, and it’s pretty frustrating,” Gragson said. “I think the speed of our race cars keeps us focused and confident when we go to the track. If you don’t have the speed and you’re getting in wrecks, you’re like, ‘Man, I can’t catch a break.’ But, right now, it goes up and down. The beginning of the year, we were just kind of trying to sell blue sky and saying, ‘It’s gonna be OK. This is eventually gonna turn.’
“Maybe more than ever we’re telling ourselves that, but we have the speed. The speed is not a huge issue. It doesn’t matter if we’re 30th or fifth or anywhere in between, it seems like we just get caught up in a wreck.”
Huge wreck on the backstretch, which begun with contact between Wallace and Logano. Bowman, Allmendinger, Noah Gragson also involved. pic.twitter.com/CMyBEwFgNZ
— The Daily Downforce (@dailydownforce) May 4, 2025
Noah Gragson Just Can’t Seem To Get Out Of Other Drivers’ Way
All six of Noah Gragson’s DNFs in 2025 have resulted from being involved in an accident.
“We’ve just got to finish these things,” Gragson said. “I’m not a big believer in luck, but maybe I am now, because I don’t know who I pissed off or what happened. But it’s definitely not going our way this year.”
As a rookie Cup Series driver two years ago, Gragson failed to finish six times in just 21 starts for Legacy Motor Club.
Four of those DNFs were the direct result of a crash. And in those instances, he was often the one to blame. In 2025, however, he has more often been a victim of circumstance.
“In 2023, I wrecked a lot on my own and tore up a lot of stuff,” Gragson said. “I feel like it’s different this year.
“I have definitely made mistakes, but a majority of the instances, I’ve been an innocent bystander in the situation, in my opinion.”
Noah Gragson on the wrecks that put him out of the race: @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/0DHMk907Ba
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 24, 2025
Noah Gragson Hoping To Rebound From Woes With A Good Day At Indy
Noah Gragson finished ninth last year in what is his lone NASCAR Cup Series start at fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
Although now with a different team, Gragson is optimistic for a similarly solid outcome this weekend. His top priority at the Brickyard, though, is to simply see the checkered flag.
If he can be around at the finish, he could certainly leave Indianapolis with a strong result.
“We’re excited for it,” said Gragson, who has failed to finish each of the past two weekends. “I think Indy is an awesome place. I had a lot of fun there last year. So that being said, I’m excited. It’s another week to get onto the racetrack and try to have a good run.
“We’ve had good speed pretty much all year but just have had atrocious, atrocious luck getting collected in wrecks. It’s been a bummer, but we’re looking forward to the positives, and (Indianapolis is) the opportunity that’s ahead.”
This Sunday, @NoahGragson takes on the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the No. 4 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang. Don't miss the action! 🏁 @Team_FRM @IMS #Motorsports #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/hkqbpdQKqB
— Rush Truck Centers (@rushtruckcenter) July 24, 2025
Noah Gragson Knows How To Win, But It Just Hasn’t Happened In The Cup Series
Few question whether Noah Gragson — who won eight races and finished as the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship runner-up to Ty Gibbs in 2022 — has the talent to compete for wins in the Cup Series. But so far at least, the proverbial stars have just not aligned for the Las Vegas native.
Gragson is winless in 96 career Cup Series starts and with his third team in as many years of full-time competition.
His rollercoaster ride in NASCAR’s premier division has been cause for some soul searching. That’s at least in part because success for him hasn’t always been this hard to come by.
“When you’re winning every race and you’re on top of the world, you don’t feel like you need a lot of improvement,” Gragson said. “But it’s times when you’re in the trenches where you really get down in the weeds and look at yourself in the mirror and have a lot of reflection. It’s tough. But we’ll get through it.”
It’s only fitting that Gragson, who grew up in the gambling capital of the world, compares his fortunes this season to a game of roulette.
“If you keep betting on black and it’s hitting red, eventually it’s gonna turn,” he said. “We’ll see. It’s not a question of if. It’s just when.”
