DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Noah Gragson was caught red-handed by NASCAR.
Gragson was the first driver busted during Daytona 500 qualifying for violating the new rule that specifies drivers are banned for sticking their hands out the opening of the window during the qualifying run.
Gragson's time in the No. 4 Ford for Front Row Motorsports was thrown out Wednesday because he used his left hand in an attempt to deflect air and gain an advantage on the track.
“I completely forgot about that rule so that one's on me,” Gragson said. “Yeah, I feel like an idiot for that.”
The 27-year-old Gragson did not advance to the second round of qualifying and lost his chance to race for the pole. The starting order for Sunday's Daytona 500 will be determined by a pair of Thursday night qualifying races.
“I feel like the Daytona 500 is such a long race, you can kind of start wherever,” Gragson said. "It is what it is. I feel like an idiot for that. I’m dumb for that.”
On the other hand, most in NASCAR found it hilarious.
“This is the most Noah thing ever,” NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on social media. “Don’t touch that stove, it’s hot. Touches stove. Gets burnt. Says yes, it is hot.”
Kyle Busch won the pole for the Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe, last year’s pole-sitter, qualified second and got a good chuckle out of Gragson getting busted.
“He’s my buddy, but I’m not surprised it was the guy that had it happen to him,” Briscoe said. “I told my guys as soon as it happened, of all the people, I bet he didn’t even remember it was a rule.”
Good call.
Teams believed that drivers could earn an aerodynamic advantage on superspeedways with the gesture before NASCAR made the call in the offseason to ban it.
“Sometimes you have a car that drives very easily, and you can do it easily and other times you have got your hands full and you can’t do it,” Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman said. "You always have an engineer telling you that you need to do it, exactly what position to put your hand in and all that. But I am glad that I can just keep two hands on the steering wheel for this one.”
NASCAR suspended Gragson in 2023 and he parted ways with Legacy Motor Club liking an insensitive meme with a photo of George Floyd’s face.
Gragson is winless in 111 career Cup races and will make his fifth Daytona 500 start.
“I don’t care if I start last for this race,” Gragson said. "I know that’s probably not what people want to hear, but my best finish in Cup is third at Talladega and we qualified second-to-last. It’s kind of crazy, but it is what it is here.”
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