Noah Gragson foiled the days of more drivers than just himself at New Hampshire on Sunday. A passing storm forced the teams to adopt Goodyear’s wet weather tires for the final 82 laps. Adjusting to the sudden change on the fly, Gragson failed to hold his own with 40 laps to go in the race and spun on the apron. He ended up collecting Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon.
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Despite the damage, Gragson’s skills as a driver cannot be blamed for the incident. Running in the damp wet weather tires was not something that any driver anticipated. Moreover, the apron in which he lost grip was where most of the speed was. The Magic Mile is the fastest track that these tires have been used in so far. It could’ve happened to anybody attempting to go around from the inside.
Bubba Wallace is DONE FOR THE NIGHT.
Noah Gragson slides into him and collects the No. 23 and Austin Dillon.
: USA Network pic.twitter.com/U0V7IMcIdm
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 23, 2024
It was just ill luck that it did for Gragson. However, Bubba Wallace wasn’t too happy with it. Unable to capitalize on a golden opportunity to climb ahead of Joey Logano in the standings, he parked his #23 Toyota Camry XSE in Gragson’s pit stall to let his displeasure be known. A DNF at this point of the season, when he hasn’t fixed a playoff spot, is not what he needed.
Misfortune keeps hanging off Austin Dillon’s back
Whenever Austin Dillon appears to be running well, misfortune intervenes in some form and messes things up for him. The same was the case on Sunday as well. He said to the press in the aftermath of the incident, “Our luck is unreal on this No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team this year. We started the race today with serious balance issues and difficulties going over the bumps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.”
“We finally get rolling, we were going to roll past two on the top, and the No. 10 car loses control and we have nowhere to go.” He has secured just two top-10 finishes so far this season. It is by far the worst full-time season that he has been having in the Cup Series since joining RCR a decade ago. He sits in 32nd place on the points table with no realistic chance of a playoff spot.
Wallace is a spot below Logano at 15th place. Gragson himself sits in 25th place far behind from the playoffs mark. Away from the fates of these three, the race at New Hampshire ended up being a massive success for both NASCAR and Goodyear.
