“Don’t Want to Ruin His Chances” – Noah Gragson Reveals Why He Sacrificed His Chance to Win at Martinsville

Following the race at Martinsville, Noah Gragson analyzed his run and why he failed to make the playoffs. Gragson revealed that if teammate Justin Allgaier was not driving around the outside, he would have attacked Harrison Burton for the lead.

He said, “There at the beginning, I wanted to let Justin put pressure on the #20 early on…He’s going for a championship on points and I don’t want to ruin his chances.

“Because there’s a teammate out there, you’re not gonna bulldog your way up there.”

He assumed that Allgaier would have tried to attack and not let Burton get away too easily. However, Gragson acknowledged that if it was any other driver instead of Allgaier, he would have just attacked straight away.

Since Justin Allgaier was gunning for a championship, Noah Gragson decided to not be selfish and ruin his teammate’s chances. Owing to the fact that it was his teammate, trying to ‘bulldog’ through would have been a horrible idea.

Noah Gragson knew that his partner had a shot

There is an unwritten rule in motorsport to never take out your teammate. Noah Gragson was not too keen on breaking that cardinal rule and earning the wrath of his team. A collision could potentially cost them in a constructor’s championship, as two cars scoring points is better than one.

In the end, Gragson missed out on a victory when Harrison Burton overtook him. To make matters more heartbreaking, it was on the last lap at the final corner. To be honest, he had ticked all the right boxes and hardly put a foot wrong during the entire race.

He managed to snatch the lead from Austin Cindric after a restart with 15 laps remaining. However, it soon became apparent that Burton had the faster car. Needless to say, the #20 driver hunted down Gragson in the final three laps and struck on the final lap.

Now, all that Noah Gragson can do is ruminate on what could have been, and try again next year. On the other hand, he could try his level best to aid Justin Allgaier’s title aspirations.