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After struggling in 2023, can Noah Gragson find speed in 2024 in his new NASCAR Cup Series home at Stewart-Haas Racing?
Last season, Stewart-Haas Racing struggled to find speed. So did Noah Gragson, who ran for Legacy Motor Club before he found himself embroiled in controversy and lost his ride with the team.
Now, SHR and Noah Gragson have teamed up together in 2024, with Gragson taking over the No. 10 car that Aric Almirola had piloted since 2018.
What are the expectations in 2024 for Noah Gragson in his new home at Stewart-Haas Racing?
Can Noah Gragson Find Speed In 2024?
On paper, the move of Gragson to SHR looks like a rough one. On one side, you have a race team that's coming off of an awful 2023 season. The three drivers who weren't Kevin Harvick combined for seven top-fives and 15 top-10s during the 2023 season. Harvick was the only driver to finish in the top 20 in points for the team, while back in 2022, SHR saw three of four drivers place in the top 20.
Then there's Gragson. Before losing his ride, he was arguably the worst full-time driver in the Cup Series. In 21 starts for Legacy Motor Club, Gragson had zero top-10 finishes. His average finish was 28.2 and he totaled just two finishes all year in the top 20, one of which came at a drafting track.
So it makes sense to think that the 2023 season will be a slog for Gragson and the rest of Stewart-Haas, especially considering that the team also lost Kevin Harvick this offseason, with Josh Berry set to replace him. Honestly, it probably will be a long season for Gragson, but that's not to say there aren't some reasons for optimism.
As cliche as it sounds, one reason to think 2024 will be better for Gragson is that there isn't really much room for it to be worse. The only drivers to make double-digit starts and have a worse average finish than Gragson last year were B.J. McLeod and Josh Bilicki, who raced in the 78 car that is no longer full-time this season. And while SHR struggled, Gragson steps into a No. 10 car that had an average finish of 19.6. This car will be better than the car he was piloting last season.
Plus, Gragson's Xfinity Series career suggests that he's a talented driver. He has 13 wins in that series, including eight of them in 2022. That year, he had an average finish of 8.1.
While fans shouldn't expect Gragson to be a playoff contender in 2024, they should expect him to show more consistency than he showed in 2023, with some occasional strong runs when SHR can put everything together.
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