There’s No Place Like Home for Gragson

In sports it is usually considered an advantage for a team to play at home. Everything is familiar and the fans are rooting for the home team. This weekend, Noah Gragson gets to experience that feeling racing at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Although he has never turned a lap at the 1.5-mile oval, he started his career racing next door at The Bullring. In fact, he won there earlier this month. Will the home field advantage help Gragson achieve his first win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Saturday night? He sure hopes so.

 

Gragson began racing Bandoleros and eventually late models there at the age of 13 at The Bullring. He earned 14 wins there, including the most recent one on Sept. 9 in the 50-lap NASCAR Super Late Model race. If Gragson can take the checkered flag in the Las Vegas 350, it would also be a hometown win for his owner, Kyle Busch. Much like Gragson, Busch began his driving career shortly after his 13th birthday at The Bullring. From 1999 through 2001, Busch won over 65 races in legends cars and two track championships there, before moving up to late models. Busch scored 10 victories in late model competition at The Bullring during the 2001 season.

 

Not only is Las Vegas the hometown of Gragson and Busch, but also the team’s sponsor, Switch. Founded in 2000, this global technology solutions company, headquartered in Las Vegas, is built on the intelligent and sustainable growth of the internet. Switch Founder and CEO Rob Roy has developed more than 260 patent and patent-pending claims covering data center designs that have manifested into the company’s world-renowned data centers and technology solution ecosystems. Gragson and the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports team will tour the Switch facility on Friday before getting to work at the track on Saturday.

 

Gragson is looking forward to his first race under the lights at the big track, after seeing it in the distance from The Bullring early in his career. He will have 146 laps to enjoy the home-track advantage and knowing he is the local favorite. It will be a night he won’t soon forget, especially if he can cap it off with his first NCWTS win.

 

KBM PR