Noah Gragson Promoted to Top-Five After Double Disqualification

Originally posted on Racing America on SI
By Joseph Srigley | Last updated Apr 28, 2025 1:03 PM ET

Photo Credit: Josh Calloni, Racing America On SI

After being in contention throughout the second half of Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Noah Gragson crossed the start-finish line in the sixth position, driving the No. 4 Rural King Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports.

The finish marked the second top-10 of the season for Gragson, who began his tenure with Front Row Motorsports at the beginning of the year. Plus, after a difficult start to the season, the solid finish not only helped with some momentum building, but also aided the Las Vegas, Nevada-native in recovering some points lost through a tough start to the year.

While Gragson, like everybody else in the NASCAR Cup Series field, was ultimately hunting down a trip to Victory Lane with his Front Row Motorsports crew, the solid finish was more than enough to put a smile on the face of the 26-year-old driver.

“We were in the third row on the outside and was trying to keep [Austin] Cindric out front and keep the outside that I was in from getting there, and then the No. 60 was able to pull up and we had two Fords out front,” Gragson said. “I’m happy for Ford and Penske for the win, but this is a good reset and good points today after the first 10 races of the season.”

“We haven’t had the results we want, so it’s a good reset after the off weekend and a good way to start off the next part of the season.”

That was until approximately two hours after the checkered flag was displayed in Sunday’s event, when Gragson was promoted to a fourth-place finish after it was discovered that both Ryan Preece (P2) and Joey Logano (P5) were disqualified for a rear spoiler infraction.

Update. P4 today. Cheers
— Noah Gragson (@NoahGragson) April 28, 2025

The finish, which all of the sudden removed the goose egg from the top five column for both Gragson and Front Row Motorsports on the season, is his third top five finish in the NASCAR Cup Series – all three of which have come on superspeedways, and for different teams.

Gragson, a young up-and-coming talent that no doubt fits into the mold of the iconic Talladega Boulevard, is now the sixth driver to score a top five finish for Front Row Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series – joining Todd Gilliland, David Gilliland, David Ragan, Michael McDowell, and Chris Buescher.

Now, while the 26-year-old driver currently sits 31st in NASCAR Cup Series point standings at the start of the 28-week stretch to the finish of the 2025 season, the 61-point deficit isn’t impossible to erase should things continue on an upward trajectory over the next couple of months.