Noah Gragson, now a mature Xfinity Series veteran, shows racing prowess with Phoenix win

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Noah Gragson seems to be in a new form this year.

Gragson, now in his fourth full NASCAR Xfinity Series season, won for the first time in 2022 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday. He is yet to finish worse than third place through the first four races on the calendar. He’s been the series’ most dominant driver thus far, and it doesn’t look like he’ll show signs of stopping.

He made his Cup Series debut last month when he qualified for the Daytona 500 with Beard Motorsports. He’ll also run a partial schedule with Kaulig Racing in the No. 16 Cup car. And most importantly, he is leading the Xfinity championship with JR Motorsports.

The 23-year-old has had a tumultuous ascent up the NASCAR ranks. He enjoyed success in stock car racing’s regional divisions, including the ARCA West and East series. He then underwhelmed during his tenure with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.

Gragson won only twice with KBM in two full seasons. That was a disappointment compared to the performances of its former drivers, Christopher Bell, William Byron, and Erik Jones. Two of those drivers won Truck Series championships with KBM, and had Byron not had an engine failure at Phoenix while leading late in the penultimate race of the 2016 season, he would have had a title, too. All three are now full-time Cup racers.

The Las Vegas native has come a long way since his Truck days and even his early Xfinity Series days. He’s thrown fists at Harrison Burton and Daniel Hemric, infamously made a cringeworthy attempt to kiss the victory lane girl after winning the 2018 Snowball Derby, and called David Starr a “dipshit” last season after an unfortunate tire failure from Starr’s car led to Gragson crashing while leading and falling short of a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

He’s been a controversial figure throughout his young career. But in 2022, he has simply outdriven just about everyone in the Xfinity field. And he has done so without stirring the pot, as it were.

“As I’m getting older, I’m getting more mature on and off the track,” Gragson said. “We’re confident … I’m really happy where I am at.”

The opportunity to enter the Cup Series was explored during the offseason, but a three-way split of the Kaulig No. 16 with fellow Xfinity rivals A.J. Allmendinger and Hemric is what landed. Gragson will be able to get experience at NASCAR’s top level while still competing for a championship before making an eventual leap to Cup.

“Like a big fish in a small pond” is how Gragson compared himself through four superior races this season. And it’s a fair assessment as his average finish is second while sitting atop the standings.

ARCA: Taylor Gray triumphs after tragedy

David Gilliland Racing driver Taylor Gray won the General Tire 150 at Phoenix on Friday night. The victory comes three days after the hauler carrying his car crashed on a freeway in Longview, Texas, where one of its co-drivers Steven Stotts, 54, was declared dead on the scene.

The No. 17 car that Gray ran almost was elected by the team to skip the race due to the accident. But it chose to compete, and it did so without sponsors on the vehicle in honor of Stotts.

“This is just for Steven,” Gray said after the race. He didn’t do any celebratory burnouts and dedicated the win to him.

For Sunday: Ryan Blaney leads the field to green

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney won the pole for the Ruoff Mortgage 500. It is his third time sitting atop the grid in his Cup career at the desert oval. Denny Hamlin will start on the outside of the front row for the 312-lap race.

Last year’s champion and most recent Phoenix winner Kyle Larson will start seventh, while Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric will be next to him in eighth.

The race will start at about 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, concluding NASCAR’s West Coast Swing.