"I was driving at 120 percent": Noah Gragson elaborates on his rookie season troubles with Jimmie Johnson's Legacy Motor Club

All is well that ends well they say, and that is certainly true for Noah Gragson's NASCAR Cup Series hopes. The Xfinity Series sensation took the sport by storm with his performances behind the wheel of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s cars in the second-tier series of the sport. However, it was Gragson's personality and behavior on the track that was the icing on the cake.

Often seen as a brash, young, and motivated racer, Gragson climbed up the ranks into the Cup Series after narrowly missing out on championship success to Ty Gibbs in 2022.

However, the Las Vegas, Nevada native's tenure in the highest echelon of the sport was anything but smooth sailing. Gragson failed to achieve a single top 10 finish in 2023 before being suspended from NASCAR for liking a racially insensitive meme on Instagram.

The young 25-year-old has recently been announced as Aric Almirola's replacement at Stewart-Haas Racing, making his comeback into the sport. Looking back at what went wrong for Gragson at Jimmie Johnson's Legacy MC team, Gragson told sportsnaut.com:

“I took all this confidence I had in 2022, and when you have challenges, you start to second guess yourself, you lose confidence. I started to change my process. I worked my tail off for a month and I’m finishing 29th, 30th, 31st and I don’t know up from down. I feel like I drive at 80 percent when the car is really good, and I felt like I was driving at 120 percent this year and when you do that, you’re stepping over the edge."

Noah Gragson was also involved in multiple uncharacteristic crashes and spins through 2023, not to mention, his clashes with a feisty Ross Chastain.

Stewart-Haas Racing owner Tony Stewart's views on Noah Gragson joining his team

Filling in the shoes of Aric Almirola in the #10 Ford Mustang at SHR, Noah Gragson is one driver Tony Stewart seems to back with all his heart. The former Cup Series driver elaborated on the same in a press release by the team:

"Noah has performed at every level where he’s competed and has regularly been in championship contention. That’s the kind of driver we need at Stewart-Haas and that’s why Noah is a part of our team.”

Some might say Gragson is reminiscent of a young Tony Stewart with his fiery personality and charismatic behavior, and we would tend to agree.