March 18, 2024

Gragson makes history while trying to win K&N Series title

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Noah Gragson is an 18-year-old NASCAR K&N Pro Series driver who resides in the state of Washington.

Any other K&N Series driver who lives in Washington would just compete in the West Series. Gragson decided to become the first K&N driver to participate in both the East and West Series in the same season.

While challenging, Gragson has found a way to make it work as he sits third in the East standings and fourth in the West.

Friday, Gragson may also get a boost in the Casey’s General Stores 150 at Iowa Speedway. Gragson gets help from a driver who won both K&N Series races at Iowa in 2015.

“Brandon McReynolds will be my spotter for this race,” Gragson said. “He is the first driver to win two races at Iowa in the same K&N Series season ever. I will lean on him for some notes. We are working well together. He will be my eye in the sky.”

Gragson said McReynolds will be positioned on top of the roof for Friday’s 8 p.m. K&N Pro Series East-West Challenge race.

“He can see stuff that I can’t see from up there,” Gragson said. “I have no doubt that he will help us. He is knowledgeable, and I am fortunate to have him on our team.”

Gragson has one win, three top-fives and five top-10 finishes in nine East races. He is third in the standings with 327 points, trailing Kyle Benjamin (355) and points leader Justin Haley (375).

In West races. Gragson has four top-five finishes and seven finishes inside the top 10. He has 274 points in fourth. Sitting in the West Series lead is Ryan Partridge with 291 points, while 16-year-old Todd Gilliland is second with 288 and Chris Eggleston sits third with 278.

“We are working well together right now,” said Gilliland, a rookie on the series. “No one on our team is afraid to take the lead. And having the same crew chief (Chris Lawson) as I did when I ran late models has helped with the learning curve with the K&N Series.”

Gilliland is the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Gilliland. He’s raced at Iowa before, but that was in ARCA car. Todd Gilliland is trying to learn as much as he can about how to drive a K&N Series car at Iowa Speedway.

“It’s a racy track. You can still move around,” Todd Gilliland said. “It’s going to be a feel thing.”

While Todd Gilliland is getting his career started, veteran driver Ron Norman is at the tail end of his career.

Norman, who grew up in Iowa and now lives in Arizona, returns to what he says is his home track with the hopes of securing his fourth top-10 finish of the season.

Norman attended elementary and junior high school in the Quad Cities area before moving to Minnesota for high school.

“We tour all over on this series, and this is one of the nicest tracks we attend every year,” Norman said. “As soon as I cross the state line, I start to feel really good. I love that place. I will have about 50 of closest friends and family in attendance to watch the race so it should be fun.”

Norman is currently 10th in his second season of the K&N Pro Series West standings. He competed in both K&N Pro Series races at Iowa last year and learned a lot from those experiences.

“We need to work a little harder and be mistake free,” Norman said. “We cut a tire 40 laps into the first race last year. It’s tough to come back from a lap down at Iowa. You can’t make mistakes at this track. You have to stay on the lead lap the entire way or you’ll be in trouble.”

Haley has dominated the East standings this season. He holds a 40-point lead over Benjamin, and his season has included two wins, eight top-five finishes and nine finishes in the top 10.

Rookie Spencer Davis sits fourth after Gragson with 319 points. He has one victory this season. Teenager Harrison Burton sits eighth in the standings with 281 points. Burton finished third in the ARCA Series race at Iowa Speedway earlier this summer.

Partridge holds a three-point lead over Gilliland in the West standings. He has one win, five top-five finishes and seven finishes in the top 10. Gilliland is getting hot at the right time though as he has won three times this season.

The only driver though to know what it takes to win on both circuits is Gragson. It hasn’t been easy though.

“It has taken lots of time and effort,” Gragson said. “We started out kind of shaky, but we are getting things going. It has been very difficult to do both, but it is possible because there are no overlapping dates.”

Gragson already has two top-10 finishes to his credit at Iowa Speedway. He was seventh in the first race last summer and then moved up to fifth in the second race.

“We qualified 26th in that second race, so we made it harder on ourselves,” Gragson said. “I had to pass a lot of cars, but we got around 23 cars to get to third. I like the top side of that track. It works well for me.

“What we did last year was challenging. It’s much easier if you can qualify closer to the front. We have a better understanding of the track now though.”

The Casey’s General Stores 150 presented by Vatterott College is part of the final weekend at Iowa Speedway. The K&N Series will have two practice sessions Friday before qualifying at 5 p.m. The 150-lap race begins at 8 p.m.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers are scheduled to hold two practice sessions on Friday evening. They will qualify for the U.S. Cellular 250 at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, and the green flag drops at 7 p.m. Saturday.