Concord, North Carolina (October 17, 2016) – Eighteen-year old rookie Noah Gragson set a new career best finishing fifth place in Friday night’s ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season finale at Kansas Speedway.
“What a great learning experience tonight,” said Gragson. “I had a lot of fun out there. Venturini Motorsports did a phenomenal job prepping my SPEEDVEGAS-Alert ID Toyota. I feel we were probably better than a fifth-place car, I just need to get better myself, but I had a ton of fun out there and that’s the most important part. Ultimately, I wanted to learn a lot coming to Kansas and that’s what we accomplished. Finishing top-5 on the lead lap and to gain valuable experience means a lot.”
A member of the NASCAR Next program, Gragson impressed in his team debut behind the wheel of his Venturini Motorsports’ No.15 SPEEDVEGAS-Alert ID Toyota, running up front throughout most of the 100-lap Kansas event. ARCA’s Kansas finale was Gragson’s third career start in the series.
"This has been a dream come true...to get the opportunity to race here," said Gragson. "I have a lot to learn that's for sure. I'm new to this mile-and-a-half stuff. Still getting the feel of dirty air and the changing attitude of the cars. I felt like I adopted pretty good, but I need to learn more on the aero deal. We fell back, worked on the race car on pit stops, and I stayed focused. I had a lot of fun out there."
Gragson, a native of Las Vegas, recently signed with Kyle Bush Motorsports (KBM) for full-time driving efforts in next season’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Gragson has spent the last two seasons primarily racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West Tours. Running two full consecutive seasons on the West tour, Gragson earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2015. In 41 career NASCAR K&N Pro Series starts across both regional series, Gragson has tallied 6 wins, 18 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes.
ABOUT VENTURINI MOTORSPORTS:
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars for over 30-years in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports. Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Brian Scott, Ryan Blaney, Brennan Poole, Daniel Suarez, Brandon Jones and John Wes Townley. Over the years the Venturini name has become synonymous with modern-day racing in America. In 2012, the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
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