Rette Jones Building Xfinity Presence With Gragson

Noah Gragson (Nigel Kinrade photo)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – In the latest chapter of his part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series effort for Rette Jones Racing, Noah Gragson collected a sixth-place finish Saturday at Michigan Int’l Speedway.

Not only did the Cabo Wabo 250 aid Gragson in building a notebook for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the two-mile oval, it also continued the rapid growth of the fledgling Xfinity Series operation.

In just three starts for team co-owners Mark Rette and Terry Jones, Gragson has one top five, three top 10s, nine laps led and an average finishing position of seventh. Saturday evening at Michigan, Gragson’s No. 30 Ford Mustang Dark Horse was just off the mark from contending for a potential win.

“I was just a little too tight today, but I just want to say thank you so much to Terry and Lisa Jones, Matthew, Casey and Mark Rette and all the Rette Jones Racing guys. It was a lot of fun to drive this Ford Performance Ford Mustang Dark Horse out there,” said Gragson after the race.

“I really wanted to get the win for Ford at their home track here in Michigan and take home those bragging rights, but I was just a little too tight, a little too draggy all weekend.”

On Saturday, Gragson qualified 12th, but quietly moved forward all race long.

Though he wasn’t in the top 10 in the first two stages, the Las Vegas native was eighth by the midway point of the race and ran as high as second at one point. He spent more than three-quarters of the race inside the top 15 on his way to his eventual solid result.

“We made good moves all day and hung on for sixth,” Gragson noted. “We need to go to work for Darlington [Raceway] in this car next time, but overall, I am just so grateful to be out here and for the fans sticking it out [through the rain delays].”

Noah Gragson in action at Michigan Int'l Speedway Saturday. (Ben Earp/NKP photo)

In his first year with Ford, Gragson returned to the Xfinity Series to get additional reps at tracks he wanted to improve at, hoping to improve when he gets behind the wheel of his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in the Cup Series.

The 13-time Xfinity Series winner, who’s led nearly 2,100 career laps at NASCAR’s second highest level, hasn’t missed a beat even with the learning curve for the first-year Rette Jones organization.

In June at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Gragson finished fifth, and has not been outside of the top 10 in all three of his season starts thus far. At Michigan specifically, Gragson managed his situation with not only the modified superspeedway package, but also the way his Ford Mustang was handling.

“I don't know if [the track conditions] were sketchy. I managed to build [the car] tight all day,” he explained. “My front tires wouldn’t turn and would get worse and turn less and less, so I would have to start lifting lap after lap.

“It was kind of that way all weekend, even the Cup car. Some guys were complaining loose, but I was too tight.”

Gragson is scheduled to make one final Xfinity Series start with Rette Jones Racing this year, at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Aug. 31 for the Sports Clips Haircuts/VFW Help A Hero 200.

In the meantime, Gragson remains appreciative of the opportunity to help build a family operation into, hopefully, an Xfinity Series contender down the road.

“Overall, just super grateful,” he said. “It is a little bit of a handful. We will move on. We will learn and keep getting better.”