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Noah Gragson caused the 'big one' during Snowball Derby restart

JHby:Jonathan Howard•12/03/23•

Jondean25

Noah Gragson
Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports

This year’s Snowball Derby was a wild one. Noah Gragson had a shot at winning, until missing a shift on a late restart. Instead of racing to the finish with NASCAR peer Ty Majeski, Gragson found himself causing the “big one” and collecting a number of cars.

It is rare in short-track Late Model racing that you see incidents like this. It was a massive moment in the race that took out a lot of good cars. Not a lot of folks are too happy with Noah Gragson. However, drivers miss shifts at times.

You can see the level of damage that was done in this replay, parts flew in the air and cars slid all around.

The Rette Jones Racing 30 was the car that got it all going.

In this wreck alone, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, William Byron, and Jake Finch were among the cars that were knocked out of this race. This led to a restart with 18 laps to go, but that wouldn’t be the only wreck in the final laps.

Stephen Nasse and Bubba Pollard wrecked racing for the lead. That opened the door for Ty Majeski to come in and take his second Snowball Derby title in four years.

Noah Gragson rumored to join Cup Series team

Of course, there are still rumors that Noah Gragson is going to go Cup racing next season. If you haven’t heard, the word on the track is Gragson will take Aric Almirola’s old seat at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Earlier this Sunday, Joe Gibbs was overheard introducing Almirola to Josh Harris, the owner of the Washington Commanders. It appears that Almirola will drive for JGR next year in some capacity.

However, that doesn’t have anything to do with Noah Gragson. While the rumors are just rumors, for now, it seems to make sense. Gragson has been teaming up with Rette Jones Racing for these Late Model races. RJR is a Ford team.

So, Gragson has been racing a Ford and is rumored to be the favorite for a Ford seat in the Cup Series? Perhaps the paperwork is already done and they are waiting to announce at the right time? Then again, it might just be coincidental.