The first time Noah Gragson went to a NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he was an 11-year-old fascinated by an argument two fans were having in front of him.
One was wearing a Jimmie Johnson No. 48 shirt; the other was wearing a Jeff Gordon No. 24 shirt. The two men talked so much crap to one another, Gragson — then a novice fan — figured the drivers must have been hated rivals instead of the teammates they actually were.
Advertisement
“I had no clue what was going on at the time,” Gragson said. “I thought they were going to try and wreck each other.”
Johnson ended up winning the race that day. Now, 13 years later, Gragson is back in his hometown preparing to compete Sunday on the same Las Vegas track as a full-fledged NASCAR Cup Series driver — who happens to race for the Legacy Motor Club team co-owned by Johnson.
At the time, Gragson couldn’t have possibly dreamed that big. He didn’t even start racing for two more years, driving a beginner-level Bandolero car on The Bullring, a track located 700 yards behind the big speedway’s Turns 1 and 2.
Now 24, Gragson is one of the few who can make this rare claim in a town of comers and goers: He is a fourth-generation Las Vegan. Noah’s late great-grandfather Oran Gragson holds the title of longest-serving Las Vegas mayor; an elementary school nine miles from the racetrack is named in Oran’s honor, as is a busy freeway that connects the heart of Vegas to the northwest edges of the city.
(If you need more of a refresher on Noah’s Vegas roots, we’ve got you covered here.)
After finishing a luncheon with local media on Tuesday, Gragson got in the car and called The Athletic for an interview. Where was he headed? His boyhood home, where Gragson is staying in his own bedroom during race week instead of one of the many shimmering hotels on the Strip.
The house will serve as a base for his favorite Vegas activities: mountain biking, grabbing some tacos al pastor from Tacos El Gordo and spending a night walking down Fremont Street — where he’ll eat at Le Thai and play cheap blackjack at the Four Queens. (“I don’t like playing anything higher than $15 minimum hands,” he said.)
Although he made a Cup start last fall — filling in for the injured Alex Bowman in the No. 48 car Gragson once watched as a spectator — it’s a different and more satisfying feeling to return with his own team. Gragson is now a Cup Series rookie, driving Legacy’s No. 42 car, and follows the Busch brothers as graduates of The Bullring who made it big.
Advertisement
Nearly all of Gragson’s racing roots are on that little 0.375-mile oval in the shadows of LVMS. He also raced Legend cars and late models there, moving up the ranks while wondering whether he had the ability to reach the top — no different than all the locals he competed against.
“That’s the coolest part about coming back,” Gragson said. “If I can be the representative of those people and be the face of The Bullring, I want them to be able to live vicariously through what I’ve been able to do. I feel like their passion for the sport is something I’m able to carry with me.”
The grandstand seats where Gragson sat at his first LVMS race are now gone, with the lower sections removed and covered up by dirt. As a NASCAR newbie, Gragson had figured the best place to sit would be as close to the cars as possible. Only once the race began did he realize that wasn’t a good idea.
But as he circles the track, he’ll be able to point to the general vicinity of where he watched as a fan. And chances are Gragson could have a better-than-expected race for a Cup Series rookie, as well.
Gragson never finished worse than sixth there in eight Xfinity Series starts (a streak that included five top-three finishes) and was 11th last fall during his substitute Cup Series duty. Oddly, though, he isn’t sure why it suits him so well.
“I don’t even feel like I’m good here, which is so weird,” he said. “I started looking at the stats on myself at this place and was like, ‘Man, maybe I am kind of decent here.’ I’ve never won, so maybe that’s why I feel like I suck here.”
But he suspects being home could have something to do with elevating his performance.
“You might put in just a little more and hang it out there a little more,” he said, “just because of wanting to win at your home track.”
(Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k2ttcmhna3xzfJFsZmlrX2V%2FcLrArJqaql2hrrR51Z6emqtdo7yitIygqZqfo6S7brbIpqSinV2fvKm60qilaA%3D%3D