Noah Gragson's Subpar Intermediate Speed Should Cost Him at Las Vegas
6 months agoNoah Gragson is a big question mark in 2024, especially on intermediates like this weekend's race at Las Vegas. Although Gragson shockingly had the second-fastest lap and fifth-fastest average speed in practice, he only qualified 30th. On intermediate tracks in 2023, Gragson posted an abysmal speed percentile of 17.90 and they were Gragson's worst track type in speed. However, Noah has a history of underachievement as a rookie in each series while he tends to improve in later years. Although the Las Vegas native finished 30th last year and didn't run any better than that, he did finish between 2nd in 6th in all his Xfinity Series starts there. He is probably an extreme longshot, but given his practice speed and his tendency to improve significantly in his second year in a series, he'll probably run slightly better than he did last year.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference