[autotag]Noah Gragson[/autotag] had a really good car in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but a poor qualifying effort put him in 30th place. However, that didn’t last long. Gragson slowly climbed up the leaderboard and knocked down each goalpost. The driver of the No. 10 car finally got to the top 5 spots with over 20 laps to go in the event.
It was a very impressive showing by Gragson, who eventually finished in sixth place. Gragson was battling three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers and came out triumphant over two of them. Simply put, the No. 10 team’s performance at Las Vegas has given Stewart-Haas Racing some optimism for the 2024 NASCAR season.
Noah Gragson’s 6th place finish in Las Vegas is the best finish for the 10 car on a 1.5 mile track since Las Vegas in the Spring of 2022, 2 years ago. pic.twitter.com/4DkyhJpjQY
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) March 4, 2024
The Cup Series race at Las Vegas represented Gragson’s intermediate debut with Stewart-Haas Racing, so it will only get better moving forward. This isn’t saying he will go out and win multiple races; however, it should provide optimism that Stewart-Haas Racing will have more consistent runs in 2024. Maybe it all starts with Gragson and his weekly performances.
It is a minimal sample size, but Gragson could be the driver who takes over Kevin Harvick’s role at Stewart-Haas Racing. Over the coming weeks and months, there will be more time to evaluate, but that type of performance creates these questions. Gragson has always been a talented driver. It was about putting it together, and he did that in Las Vegas.
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