Every driver who enters NASCAR dreams of having a great team with a competitive car that could challenge for wins. More often than not though, the team one lands up in isn’t usually with the best car out there, especially early in the career. In such scenarios, all you can do is wait out the season and hope for the best. According to NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr., this has been the case for Noah Gragson, who was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for a nonracing-related controversy.
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When Gragson was in the Xfinity Series, he used to be one of the best drivers out there, regularly winning races and competing for the championship. After he moved into Legacy Motor Club at the Cup Series level, it all went downhill.
Recently, while talking about the Gragson conundrum, his former boss at JR Motorsports spoke about the sad reality in NASCAR, using his career to highlight the situation.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the worst thing a NASCAR driver can experience
While speaking on his podcast, Junior mentioned, “I think the Cup Series man, if you’re not a good car, I’ve been there. When you’re running in the back, not running well. It’s the most miserable thing ever. Nothing’s good about it.”
Co-host Mike Davis then added, “It annihilates your confidence. I tell people I remember when we were racing and you would go around saying, ‘I’m the best racecar driver out there.’ Not to be arrogant but because you would almost say that to yourself. You had to think it. And I remember when that stopped happening.”
Davis added, “You were losing confidence in the team around you. But you also lost confidence in yourself… It was gonna take something special to get it back and you got it back. But it was It wasn’t without help.”
Subsequently Junior added, “It’s unique circumstances and it took a lot of years and I don’t think it happens for everybody and it barely happened for me…” Meanwhile, a very similar thing has taken place for Noah Gragson over the course of this season.
Junior hopes Gragson does not give up after a poor Cup debut
Even if we put his suspension case aside, Gragson’s overall performance through his Cup Series rookie year is not something to write home about. While speaking about him, Junior hoped that Gragson does not give everything up after such an abysmal rookie year.
While speaking about Gragson’s future, Junior mentioned, “I haven’t talked to him. I just hope he doesn’t give it up. I hope he doesn’t give it up. And I hope there’s an opportunity for him to come back in either Truck or the XFINITY series… And reinvent himself. That’d be the best-case scenario, I think.”
Looking at a number of cases who have had bad rookie years and then great careers, there is definitely hope that the former JR Motorsports driver could return to racing very soon. Although, according to Junior’s words, his calling to reinvent himself might be either in the Trucks or Xfinity for now.
