Noah Gragson Eyes NASCAR Rebound with Front Row Motorsports at Atlanta Cup Race originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Former Stewart-Haas driver Noah Gragson sees the upcoming Quaker State 400 race as an opportunity to revive his NASCAR Cup Series career with his current team, Front Row Motorsports. The 26-year-old will be heading into the Atlanta Motor Speedway with new sponsor Zep Inc. and a shot at a $1 million prize money.

Advertisement

Following Stewart-Haas Racing’s shutdown last season, Gragson ended up in a NASCAR limbo, with collapsed sponsors and unsure of his racing future. However, luckily, this season, he’s racing into the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports and Zep Inc. as a new sponsor.

Reflecting on the past twelve months, he revealed that he wasn’t expecting to enter this Cup Series season piloting FRM’s No. 4 Mustang Dark Horse. But, he was always confident of a comeback, without knowing it would be like this.

“No, I didn’t know how it was all going to happen,” Gragson told Forbes.com. “I kept my confidence up that I’d have an opportunity. I just didn’t know what it was going to look like.”

Advertisement

Despite not expecting it, the now-FRM racer has even landed a new sponsor in the form of Zep Inc.— the same cleaning products company that sponsored Chase Briscoe at Stewart-Haas. As another plot twist, the upcoming Quaker State 400 starts NASCAR’s first-ever in-season tournament, complete with brackets, eliminations and a $1 million prize.

As for the track, Atlanta Motor Speedway has been an eclectic mix for him. Here, he racked up satisfactory finishes in the Xfinity Series— three top-five finishes and five top-10s. But, since turning into a superspeedway hybrid track, things have been rough for him there.

“The old track, I was really, really good there,” he admitted. “Since they added the banking and made it more like a superspeedway, staying out of wrecks has been tough. Honestly, it’s probably my worst statistical track since the reconfiguration.”

Advertisement

Still, the former SHR driver hopes to turn things around this time. “We’ve got an opportunity this weekend to change that,” he added.

As for now, he sees the Atlanta Cup race as more than just a rebound for himself; perhaps, the beginning of something bigger. “And does it all go according to plan? I don’t know what the headline’s gonna be. But it’s gonna be pretty big. I know that,” the 26-year-old concluded.

With a great story as an underdog, he’ll again be in the spotlight piloting Front Row’s No. 4 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway with eyes locked on the prize.

Related: NASCAR’s Top 10 Atlanta Motor Speedway Moments

Related: NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports Warned Over Antitrust Legal Battle

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 25, 2025, where it first appeared.

HAMPTON, Ga. (WSPA) – It’s one of the most thrilling stops on the NASCAR schedule for both Xfinity and Cup Series drivers.

Atlanta is home to some of the tightest finishes in NASCAR history, massive wrecks, and unpredictable outcomes.

The newly named EchoPark Speedway, formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, is known for its unpredictability. Here are four things to look for this weekend.

Historical Home Track Success

One driver has historically had great success at the track. Look for Xfinity Series driver, and Georgia native, Austin Hill to maintain his home track dominance.

Hill claimed victory in the February race at Atlanta, marking his third straight win and fifth overall at the track. Some other drivers said the 21 car is the one to beat.

“We have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to bring to the track and, you know, shout out to Joe Gibbs Racing’s motor department. They’ve helped us here these last couple of weeks making our motor program a little bit better to get closer to battle that 21 car. He’s always the one that we see that’s fast at this style of race tracks,” said Brandon Jones, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver.

The Drafting Dynamics

Wins in Atlanta don’t come easy, which leads us to our second focus of the weekend: the drafting dynamics.

Since its track reconfiguration in 2022, Atlanta features 28-degree banks and narrow superspeedway-style racing. It’s setting up what’s expected to be a weekend of action under the lights.

Recent NASCAR Cup Series races at Atlanta have delivered dramatic finishes, which include Daniel Suarez’s 0.003-second win in 2024 and Christopher Bell’s last-lap overtime pass in 2025.

As the sun goes down, the conditions are expected to change, including the temperature on track, which makes execution and pit stops elements that can make or break a race.
Three-time Cup Series Champion Joey Logano will look to lock up another win at the track.

“We continue wanting to bring more to the record books and to our fans, our race team, our sponsors, and all that,” said Logano.

That factors into the importance of Cup qualifying, the first thing to look for.

Competitive Qualifying Session

Expect a fiercely competitive qualifying session Friday afternoon that will determine critical track positioning that will be needed to stay up front and avoid wrecks.

Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney won the spring pole in Atlanta at 170 mph.

Debut of Cup Series In-Season Challenge

Saturday marks the debut of the first-ever Cup Series in-season tournament.

It’s a NASCAR-style spin-off of March Madness. The first bracket round kicks off at EchoPark Speedway with 32 drivers battling for a $1 million prize over the next five races.

The field of drivers was set based on points through the Pocono race last week, and drivers were seeded based on performances at Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono, according to NASCAR.

The race carries dual significance: traditional season points and knock-out tournament elimination. One bad day could eliminate even the top drivers from the million-dollar chase.

The green flag will drop for the Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on CW and the Cup Series Quaker State 400 will follow Saturday night at 7 p.m. Eastern.

MLB Speedway Classic Open House Event marking the construction of a baseball field at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben Earp/Ben Earp Photography via AP)

NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. advises the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves to watch a couple of night races at Bristol Motor Speedway before the Speedway Classic. Once at the racetrack, he recommends a walk up the banked walls to truly appreciate the half-mile bullring.

MLB’s Speedway Classic on Aug. 2 means either the Reds or Braves will win at Bristol before Stenhouse reaches victory lane at his favorite track. He still plans to watch as they play an MLB game on a ballpark built inside the Bristol infield.

“Hopefully, if they get one over the wall, kind of see where that ball ends up landing,” Stenhouse said of the track where going over the wall usually means injuries and ambulances. “But, yeah, just a really cool venue and something that I’ll be looking forward to watching.”

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, now a Fox racing analyst, said search his 1990 crash where his car disintegrated after hitting a wall to learn how challenging Bristol can be.

He joined Stenhouse, former Braves centerfielder Andruw Jones, 2009 World Series champ Nick Swisher and three-time All-Star Reds first baseman and now MLB Network analyst Sean Casey in promoting the first MLB game in the state of Tennessee.

Waltrip said the banking of the track has to be seen to be believed and is a big part of its intensity.

“The banking is straight up,” Waltrip said. “You can barely climb up it, and it’s condensed down to a half-mile track. So you’re just constantly in the corners and speeds upwards of 150 miles an hour. It’s just crazy how precise and how technical you have to be to be successful there.”

Trying to hit a baseball might be a bit easier than stepping into a racecar at Bristol. At those speeds, Stenhouse said he forgot to breathe for 10 laps his first time there.

Bristol still has tickets available for an event that will feature a pregame concert with Tim McGraw and Pitbull. A fan zone outside the track will feature more music, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, a food truck row, pitching tunnels and batting cages and team mascots.

“It’s going to be one of those special nights that goes down in history,” said Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol Motor Speedway. “People are going to want to be there and want to be a part of it or tune in on Fox and take in this event.”

Casey played in a March 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Coliseum that drew 115,300 for the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game. Casey said this crossover gives baseball fans a reason to check out Bristol and NASCAR fans the chance to see something different.

Players like Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. will get an experience to remember.

“These guys that are going to be able to have that memory of playing at Bristol, it’s going to be a one of a kind thing,” Casey said.

Stenhouse said he played some wiffle ball during the last stop in Bristol. NASCAR will be in Iowa with a Cup race Aug. 3, but he hopes to sneak over from his North Carolina home for a chance to hit some hard balls over the fence at Bristol — or pitch off the mound.

“I hit a wiffle ball over the fence,” Stenhouse said. “Yeah, it would be cool to get there and take the field in all at the same time.”

Wednesday (June 25) was a sad day for many in the Southern Virginia racing season and beyond, as longtime NASCAR fixture and three-time Daytona 500 champion car owner, Larry McClure, died at the age of 81.

McClure was the co-owner of longtime NASCAR Cup Series team Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which became known as a dominant force on superspeedways in the early 1990s and had a number of great drivers take the wheel.

Considering the long tenure of Morgan-McClure at NASCAR’s highest levels, it was more than worth examining all that the team accomplished upon McClure’s passing. And in some way, it was fairly easy to: After all, the team to this day has an unmistakable identity that in some ways perfectly represents what gave NASCAR its mass appeal.

Former NASCAR Team Owner Larry McClure Has Died

No one can think of Morgan-McClure Motorsports without thinking of its longtime sponsor: Midway through the 1986 season, Morgan-McClure picked up sponsorship from the Eastman Kodak Company, bringing one of the biggest and most recognizable brands in photography to NASCAR at a time where the sport was still finding its way from regional to national appeal. From that point onwards, the Kodak car – with its red No. 4 easily distinguishable from the company’s shade of yellow – became easy for everyone from the layman to the heartiest of race fan to pick out of the pack.

Kodak was just one of the many consumer brands that redefined NASCAR sponsorship, and it certainly helped that their car ran up front and was a contender to win any given week, especially when it came to the sport’s biggest and fastest tracks. From 1991 to 1996, few cars were faster on superspeedways than the Morgan-McClure No. 4.

With nine wins between Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway during this time period — including three Daytona 500s in five years — you could be assured that the Morgan-McClure car would be up at the front on the sport’s biggest stages and that its driver would be among the contenders.

Even as Morgan-McClure lost its advantage on superspeedways and gradually tailed off in overall performance, their car still had a sort of constant quality to it: The No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet had a look all its own, a reputation of performance and a history of winning drivers behind the wheel. It remained that way until the end of the 2003 season, when Kodak left the team after 17 years in favor of a third car at Team Penske.

When viewed through a certain lens, the Morgan-McClure Kodak car actually represents quite a bit of how much NASCAR sponsorship has changed and some of what was lost along the way. The changing business of NASCAR and its necessities, combined with outside economic factors, have created an environment where full season sponsors and full season paint schemes are few and in-between.

Most teams now employ a platoon of sponsors, with some multi-car teams now rotating their sponsors across each of their different cars. And while there remain some constants — Kyle Larson‘s HendrickCars No. 5 and Joey Logano‘s Shell/Pennzoil No. 22 come to mind — it’s become increasingly rare for a car to not only keep the same sponsor, but retain the same look from year to year.

Did You Notice?: Chase Elliott Climbing Back Up Hendrick Ladder

Along those same lines, consumer brands aren’t the same seemingly bottomless well of sponsorship opportunities they once were, and that vacuum has been filled by business-to-business partnerships encompassing manufacturing, technology, and other parts of how race teams make themselves viable businesses.

While those sorts of sponsors are more than welcome, as they keep cars on the track and lights on at the shop, it isn’t a stretch to say that the average race fan doesn’t quite connect to them the same way they do with a consumer brand. As was the case with Kodak, whose cameras they could go out and buy and make a part of their lives if they weren’t already.

This isn’t to lament the current state of NASCAR sponsorship, the dizzying pace that cars change paint schemes and sponsors or to make some type of argument about its effect on stock car racing’s identity: It’s simply the way things are, and the way the sport has had to adapt in the face of a world and an economy that has changed immensely since the 1990s.

Still, it’s easy enough to miss those simpler times, and to appreciate the contributions that the Morgan-McClure Kodak car made in helping NASCAR affirm and market its identity as the top form of auto racing in the U.S. And surely, that’s just one more thing to remember and admire about what Larry McClure brought the sport in his lifetime.

Tensions exploded in a Charlotte, North Carolina, courtroom on Tuesday, June 24, as NASCAR’s bitter charter battle with Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing reached a boiling point. Twelve NASCAR Cup Series teams fought desperately to shield financial records from the sanctioning body, calling disclosure “catastrophic” for competitive survival.

The hearing exposed raw nerves in NASCAR’s franchise model war. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell’s closing remarks cut through the legal sparring.

Judge Kenneth Bell Blasts Legal ‘Arsonists’ in Fiery Courtroom 23XI vs. NASCAR Battle

After nearly two hours of arguments over financial secrecy, Bell’s frustration erupted. “I am amazed at the effort going into burning this house down over everybody’s heads,” Judge Bell declared. “But I’m the fire marshal and I will be here in December if need be.”

The “house” refers to NASCAR itself. Teams fear revealing driver salaries, sponsorship deals, and manufacturer payments would cripple their operations. Attorney Adam Ross argued NASCAR’s demand for 11 years of records crossed a red line.

“It would be absolutely devastating to these race teams if their competitors were able to find out sponsorships on the cars, driver salaries, and all revenue streams,” Ross said. “It cannot make its way into the public realm. … NASCAR has gone a step too far.”

Judge overseeing NASCAR-23XI case reportedly admonished the sides again for not settling yet: “I am amazed at the effort going into burning this house down over everybody’s heads. But I’m the fire marshal and I will be here in December if need be.” – @AP https://t.co/aZdOFT8aO9

— Adam Stern (@A_S12) June 24, 2025

NASCAR claims it needs the data to counter 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports’ antitrust lawsuit alleging economic unfairness. Yet Bell questioned the scope, asking NASCAR’s attorney, “Why is not enough to know it costs X to run a car?”

Anonymized Compromise Fails to Douse Flames of Distrust Within NASCAR Teams

In a partial victory for NASCAR teams, Bell ordered limited disclosure through a neutral accountant. Organizations must provide anonymized per-car averages for revenue, costs, and profits since 2014, far narrower than NASCAR’s original subpoena. The data will hide team identities, accessible only to attorneys and experts.

But trust remains filled with tension. Ross emphasized teams feel “torn to pieces” by NASCAR’s request, noting they compete directly for sponsors. He warned redactions wouldn’t prevent identification, and said, “This is the opposite of what they want – all the teams are torn to pieces that NASCAR wants them to disclose this information, and they don’t want to upset NASCAR.”

The hearing followed Bell’s refusal to dismiss NASCAR’s explosive counterclaim, labeling the teams (23XI and FRM) as an “illegal cartel” aiming at Jordan’s business manager, Curtis Polk, during charter negotiations.

NASCAR cited Polk’s alleged boycott threats and cited a quote from Benjamin Franklin to teams: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

“NASCAR knows it has no defense to the monopolization case so they have come up with this claim about joint negotiations, which they agreed to, never objected to, and now suddenly it’s an antitrust violation,” Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney representing the teams, said.

With a December trial date looming, teams face agonizing calculations. Protecting secrets risks judicial wrath. Disclosure could arm competitors, including NASCAR itself, which now owns teams.

HAMPTON, Ga. (WSPA) – It’s one of the most thrilling stops on the NASCAR schedule for both Xfinity and Cup Series drivers.

Atlanta is home to some of the tightest finishes in NASCAR history, massive wrecks, and unpredictable outcomes.

The newly named EchoPark Speedway, formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway, is known for its unpredictability. Here are four things to look for this weekend.

Historical Home Track Success

One driver has historically had great success at the track. Look for Xfinity Series driver, and Georgia native, Austin Hill to maintain his home track dominance.

Hill claimed victory in the February race at Atlanta, marking his third straight win and fifth overall at the track. Some other drivers said the 21 car is the one to beat.

“We have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to bring to the track and, you know, shout out to Joe Gibbs Racing’s motor department. They’ve helped us here these last couple of weeks making our motor program a little bit better to get closer to battle that 21 car. He’s always the one that we see that’s fast at this style of race tracks,” said Brandon Jones, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver.

The Drafting Dynamics

Wins in Atlanta don’t come easy, which leads us to our second focus of the weekend: the drafting dynamics.

Since its track reconfiguration in 2022, Atlanta features 28-degree banks and narrow superspeedway-style racing. It’s setting up what’s expected to be a weekend of action under the lights.

Recent NASCAR Cup Series races at Atlanta have delivered dramatic finishes, which include Daniel Suarez’s 0.003-second win in 2024 and Christopher Bell’s last-lap overtime pass in 2025.

As the sun goes down, the conditions are expected to change, including the temperature on track, which makes execution and pit stops elements that can make or break a race.
Three-time Cup Series Champion Joey Logano will look to lock up another win at the track.

“We continue wanting to bring more to the record books and to our fans, our race team, our sponsors, and all that,” said Logano.

That factors into the importance of Cup qualifying, the first thing to look for.

Competitive Qualifying Session

Expect a fiercely competitive qualifying session Friday afternoon that will determine critical track positioning that will be needed to stay up front and avoid wrecks.

Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney won the spring pole in Atlanta at 170 mph.

Debut of Cup Series In-Season Challenge

Saturday marks the debut of the first-ever Cup Series in-season tournament.

It’s a NASCAR-style spin-off of March Madness. The first bracket round kicks off at EchoPark Speedway with 32 drivers battling for a $1 million prize over the next five races.

The field of drivers was set based on points through the Pocono race last week, and drivers were seeded based on performances at Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono, according to NASCAR.

The race carries dual significance: traditional season points and knock-out tournament elimination. One bad day could eliminate even the top drivers from the million-dollar chase.

The green flag will drop for the Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on CW and the Cup Series Quaker State 400 will follow Saturday night at 7 p.m. Eastern.