Noah Gragson out for Sonoma, Engfinger to fill in

Photo from Legacy Motor Club on Twitter

    Noah Gragson will miss the upcoming NASCAR race weekend at Sonoma Raceway due to concussion-like symptoms, Legacy Motor Club announced in a statement on Thursday, June 8, 2023. 

In Gragson's place, fellow GMS Racing driver Grant Enfinger will pilot the No. 42 around the turns of Sonoma, Legacy Motor Club also announced. 

Gragson's absence from the NASCAR Cup Series comes in the wake of a forceful impact the driver sustained at World Wide Technology Raceway. During Sunday's Cup Series race at the Midwestern race track the No. 42 Camaro was one of several cars to suffer brake failures. Such failures resulted in contact with the wall, which in all four events was terminal to the racecar.

The No. 42 car of Gragson, however, experienced a different series of events than the other three racecars. Rather than only crashing in the outer wall, Gragson steered his car low into the corner during the brake failure, that led the No. 42 to spin and then make rear collision with the outside wall, on lap 197. 

Three other drivers experienced brake failures, but rode the high-line into the wall:

• Carson Hocevar, No. 7 (lap 90)
• Tyler Reddick, No. 45 (lap 174)
• Bubba Wallace, No. 23 (lap 235)

Although each driver may have experienced significant impact with the wall, Gragson is the only driver currently reported to miss Sonoma's race this season.

Grant Engfinger who is a long-time competitor in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the place of the injured Gragson. 

“My thoughts are with Noah, I know how much he loves this team and the guys on it,” said Enfinger in a prepared statement for the team. “I’m happy to help out LEGACY MOTOR CLUB and the No. 42 team.”

Enfinger is connected to Legacy Motor Club through the team Co-owner Maury Gallagher. Gallagher also owns GMS Racing, a team that Enfinger competes full-time with in the Truck Series.

 This driver of the No. 23 truck will put his 13-years of NASCAR and ARCA competition to the test, at the track where he only has one start, finishing 11th in 2022.