At the end of the season Stewart-Haas Racing will shutter its operations; leaving hundreds of people out of work including the four drivers – Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Preece.
As of Wednesday, Noah Gragson is the third driver to sign on to another team. Gragson will be joining former Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland at Front Row Motorsports beginning next season.
FRM said that Gragson’s crew chief, sponsors, and car number will be announced at a later date.
Speaking at the press conference Noah Gragson said, “it’s definitely exciting times. When we started out this year, I didn’t know how I was going to run. I didn’t know if I had the potential to run in the Cup Series just based off how the 2023 season went, and to be able to get my feet underneath me with the opportunity at Stewart-Haas, it definitely opened people’s eyes. And with the challenges that have come about with Stewart-Haas, we were looking for a home for a long time, and that’s when I got introduced to [co-owners] Bob (Jenkins) and Jerry (Freeze).”
Gragson added,“being able to sit down with them and talk and see what their goals were, what their vision was, and the thing that stuck out in my mind most importantly is what Jerry said when we met was Bob’s goal is to grow each and every year, and through the experiences that I’ve had in the last several years it’s been fun to challenge myself.”
Speaking on rejoining his former teammate, Gragson said, “Todd and I have been racing each other for the past, probably, 10 years. We had some fierce battles on the race track, became teammates over at Kyle Busch Motorsports and it’s going to be nice to be able to rekindle that relationship on the race track as teammates now. It’s been a few years in between, but I think from all our learnings from the past organizations that we both had been at we can definitely work together and help each other to become better.”
FRM co-owner Jerry Freeze spoke on signing Gragson saying, “when we told the team this morning, there’s a lot of enthusiasm about it for sure. I think Noah, he’s a likable guy for sure and brings a big personality to the team and the energy and I think people are just excited to know that. Filling the void of Michael McDowell leaving is hard without a doubt and so Noah coming in, somebody that people are excited about, kind of a very different personality than where Michael is in his life, I think is definitely just brought a real spirit to the shop and I think people are just excited to get to know Noah and get to work” Freeze noted that they still have a third team to field and hinted at adding a third younger driver. The announcement will be made at a later date.
Only SHR driver Ryan Preece has yet to find a new ride for next season. Chase Briscoe has been announced as the new driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing number 19 after the retirement of Martin Truex Jr. Josh Berry has been named to take over the driving duties of the Wood Brothers number 21 car. And crew chief Rodney Childers has been named as the new crew chief for Corey LaJoie.