The suspension of Noah Gragson could not have come at a worse time for the driver in his rookie season. His overall performance so far has been dreadful, and considering that he is now on an indefinite suspension from both the team and NASCAR, there have been speculative thoughts that he might have done the team a favor. It is widely known that Legacy Motor Club will be switching from Chevrolet to Toyota come next season.
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Hence, judging by the performance statistics alone, it would be inevitable before Toyota thought of an alternative to Gragson once they take over.
Discussing this very subject, Bubba Wallace’s spotter, Freddie Kraft, recently hinted at the possible outcome for the stricken Legacy Motor Club driver and Toyota’s eventual motives on who they plan to field that car with come next season.
Freddie Kraft believes Noah Gragson was and now is on his way out
During a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Freddie Kraft, mentioned, “I think that the end of the story is that Noah Gragson is gonna be out… Obviously, we were going off of reporting that’s going on. Obviously, rumors flying around everywhere…”
“I gotta be honest. We’ve been hearing rumors for the last two weeks, three weeks, maybe more. That Noah (Gragson) was gonna be out anyway because there’s a possible Toyota Xfinity driver that’s lighting the world on fire and by the way, this team’s going to Toyota next year, that may be taking that seat no matter what, just based on the performance that this 43 cars had this year…”
“So we’ve been hearing those rumors for a couple of weeks now and then, to your point. This is possibly a way out for Legacy. Like I don’t know obviously what Noah’s contract looks like, but if you’re looking for a way to get rid of a guy because you want to bring this other guy in. He might have handed it to you on a silver platter when he makes this mistake…”
Wallace’s spotter speculates Gragson’s replacement in Legacy Motor Club
In the middle of the conversation, Kraft had speculated who could possibly take over the seat from Gragson. He mentioned, “I mean, we can name John Hunter (Nemechek) waiting in the wings. You know, he’s up to whatever it is four or five Xfinity wins this year. Probably, the favorite to win the championship, had a stellar year last year.”
“You know, he’s sitting there so Martin (Truex Jr.) can take his time with this decision. Because here’s your guy, either he goes into #19 or he doesn’t. Now what goes back to #19? You’re looking for a home for John Hunter. Is he going to go back to Xfinity or you’re going to have this second opportunity to Toyota, maybe?”
Considering that Toyota is taking over as their new manufacturer from Chevrolet in 2024, Kraft’s speculation might arguably make sense. After all, Gragson’s performance in his debut season has been pretty underwhelming even though part of the blame also falls on the car.
But regardless, going by the current situation with Gragson, it seems more than likely that Toyota would now look forward to replacing Gragson with someone from their own program instead.
