“That One’s on Me”: Noah Gragson Owns Up to 2026 Daytona 500 Qualifying Mistake

Noah Gragson recently learned that old habits die hard. His qualifying time at Daytona on Wednesday was wiped after he forgot about the new rule placed by NASCAR that bars drivers from placing a hand on the window net.

At superspeedway tracks like Daytona, Atlanta, and Talladega, drivers had made it second nature to rest a hand on the net or wedge it near the A-post to nudge the air their way. NASCAR recently shut that door and made it clear that anyone who crossed the line would pay for it with lost time.

Gragson slipped back into routine, put his hand up, and the stopwatch did the rest. However, instead of looking for excuses, he owned up his mistake.

“Yeah, I completely forgot about that rule, so that one’s on me,” the Front Row Motorsports driver added.

Speaking to the Motor Racing Network, he doubled down. “Yeah, 100%. I completely forgot they changed that rule. So just had a bad habit or habit from the qualifying at all these superspeedways last year. You get into such a habit of putting your hand up that I completely space that they changed that rule.”

But while the lapse cost him, the book is not closed. With two Duel races before the 500, he has room to claw back track position. And in a 500-mile chess match, the starting spot can fade into the background. Daytona has a way of shuffling the deck before the final stage ends.

And that’s why Gragson is quite optimistic about the same. “It is what it is, but I feel like an idiot for that. Put my hand out of the net. Oh, well, we got a race tomorrow to do. I’m done for that,” he said.

Gragson is not losing sleep. He even pointed out that some of his best runs have come from the back. “My best finishes have started when I’ve started last. So a lot of track, a lot of racing left to go. By the end of the first pit stop, I’ll be in the first handful of cars.”

Meanwhile, former Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe, could not resist a jab. He said, “He’s my buddy, but I’m not surprised it was the guy that it happened to.”

This year’s Daytona 500 will be Gragson’s fourth crack at the iconic event. His best finish came in 2024, when he crossed the line in ninth after qualifying sixteenth but starting the main race from thirty eighth. It looks like he knows how to make up ground when the chips are down.