Noah Gragson's Frustrating Season Boils Down to One Ultimate Goal: "Win the Championship, That's It"

The 2021 Xfinity Series season has not gone the way Noah Gragson had hoped it might.  A strong playoff run could still lead to a championship, though he admitted to the media on Wednesday “I don’t really know if we’re a championship favorite right now, because we haven’t been close to winning these last few months.”

 

Last year, in his second full-time Xfinity Series season, Gragson finished the season in 5th place, with two wins under his belt and an average finish of 8.79.  This year, through 21 races, he remains winless and has an average finish of 15.62 so far.  While his points situation looks comfortable enough to earn him a spot in the playoffs, Gragson says “It’s extremely frustrating [to not have a win yet], we keep on pushing hard, working hard every week, trying to do the best job possible.”

 

Though Gragson was unwilling to extrapolate on how Josh Berry's new full-time deal with JRM might affect his own future at the team, he did identify the one thing that could turn this season into a success: a championship.  “It’s a failure if you don’t win the championship.  You can’t [make] excuses, […] I think we’re a good team, we’ve led laps, we’ve been in the top 5, but nobody really sees that.”

 

Noah Gragson and the rest of the JRM #9 Chevrolet team haven’t given up.  He’s hoping to make some positive strides over the remaining five regular season races before the playoffs start, saying “I feel like we’re a team capable of running in the top five, […] everyone’s working their tails off.” 

 

When asked about his future, and whether a few wins down the stretch might positively impact his plans for 2022, Gragson said “My focus is trying to win races, each and every race all year long.”  He rallied behind his team, saying “I know we have a team capable of doing it.  I feel capable of doing it.  I feel we have cars capable of doing it.  We’re hungry.”

 

Noah Gragson and the #9 team will aim to turn the season around as he will start fourth at Michigan International Speedway this Saturday. 

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