Why Petty GMS is “blessed” to have Noah Gragson join Cup team

Petty GMS on Wednesday made official its hiring of Gragson – currently a fulltime driver in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports – to a multi-year contract to drive its No. 42 Chevrolet in the Cup Series beginning in 2023.

The sometimes-fiery 24-year-old driver from Las Vegas has had his share of run-ins with fellow competitors in his career and even with NASCAR, which fined him $30,000 and docked him 30 points for intentionally wrecking another driver earlier this season.

But there is no doubting Gragson’s talent, which includes eight wins, 52 top-five and 85 top-10 finishes in 123 Xfinity series starts. He also owns two career wins in the Truck Series has seven combined wins in the ARCA East and West series dating back to 2015.

However, Gragson’s move to Petty GMS next season comes with potentially an even bigger bonus – precious seat time in the new Next Gen car, which debuted in the Cup Series this year.

While competing in Xfinity, Gragson has also been running a partial schedule in Cup in 2022, driving entries for both Beard Motorsports (twice) and Kaulig Racing (seven races so far).

“It’s so exciting. We’re so blessed he gets to run those races,” said Petty GMS president Mike Beam. “It’s like I told him last week: ‘Don’t be a dumbass and wreck the first lap because the next year you’re back there, you’re a rookie again.’ You got to big-picture this deal.

“He just needs to get laps. We really appreciate the opportunity he has there (at Kaulig and Beard). This is just going to benefit us.”

Learning to drive the ‘difficult’ Next Gen car

Most drivers plucked from NASCAR’s lower tier series usually don’t come with any prior Cup experience and even less in the Next Gen car. With teams not allowed to test on their own, Gragson’s Cup seat time this year is extremely valuable.

“It’s been quite a challenge,” Gragson said of his Cup races this season. “The cars are hard to drive. They’re really hard to drive. When you’re not running it every week, it’s even more of a challenge and you’re playing catch-up.

“With that being said, the added track time has been a benefit, I think, and my dream has always been to get to the Cup Series. Mike Beam and (owner) Maury Gallagher reached out to me a couple months ago with the opportunity and it just…