DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There’s always pressure on a driver to perform when it comes to making the Daytona 500 starting field, but Noah Gragson’s attempt at this year’s Great American Race carries added significance.
Gragson, who will wheel the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Beard Motorsports at Daytona Int’l Speedway next week, looks to put the Michigan-based organization in the show and give the team something to smile about in the wake of the passing of team founder Mark Beard Sr. on Jan. 31.
The 22-year-old Las Vegas native was tabbed to succeed Brendan Gaughan behind the wheel of the entry and, while he never met Beard, feels “honored” to carry Beard’s legacy forward in his maiden Daytona 500 attempt.
“I never got to meet him; it was still early on in the relationship (when he passed away),” said Gragson of Beard during Daytona 500 Media Week on Friday. “I was hopeful to actually meet him down in Daytona. The Beard family sent me a Christmas gift and card and everything over the holidays, though, which was very generous of them and made me feel really welcomed as a part of their whole team.
“Just getting to know the family (over phone calls, etc.) and talking with them has been special, and, hopefully, I can make them all proud this week.”
Gragson and Beard Motorsports are one of eight teams in this year’s Daytona 500 field that do not have a NASCAR charter and will have to earn a starting spot in the biggest race of the year.
Gragson must either be one of the two fastest non-chartered drivers during pole qualifying on Feb. 10 or be the highest finishing such driver in his 150-mile Duel qualifying race on Feb. 11 if he wants to guarantee the No. 62 a place on the grid for the Daytona 500.
While that situation naturally puts pressure on any driver, the emotions of the task ahead are amplified for Gragson and Beard Motorsports given the recent passing of their team leader.
Gragson told SPEED SPORT he doesn’t feel added pressure to perform in the wake of Beard’s death, but he is using the situation as extra motivation to deliver a strong showing for the Beard family.
“I think it goes both ways, but I’m more leaning on it as a motivator to just go out there and run well,” he noted. “Obviously, you’re going to have pressure, because we’re not locked into the Daytona 500. We have to qualify our way in … as an open car, where the team is without a charter and that’s a lot of pressure in itself. Really, you can just try to do your best job getting up through the gears and running a nice, smooth lap (in qualifying), but the Duels are what make you nervous as a driver, I feel like.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure, just with the situation itself of trying to qualify and make the Daytona 500, but with Mr. Beard’s passing, I think it adds motivation for the whole Beard family and all the partners involved, and for myself as well. It’s more motivation and just a way to honor him and his life and the team he built. I’m very thankful for the opportunity that the Beard family has given me and their generosity to let me run the race car and to have taken a chance on me.”
That chance began with the recommendation of fellow Las Vegas native Gaughan, who hand-picked Gragson to take over the Beard Motorsports entry upon his retirement last fall.
“We all know Brendan’s a jokester, and he’s a funny guy and a talkative guy, and he called me up one day over Thanksgiving break when I went back to see my family back in Vegas. I was sitting in my room and Brendan called me and I was like, ‘This is strange. I haven’t talked to Brendan in a few months.’ I answered the phone and he asked me what my deal was with JR Motorsports and if I was allowed to run any other races and whatnot. I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know, but I can find out,’ but I didn’t know really what he was getting at. I knew he retired, but I didn’t know the Beard family wanted to continue racing in the Cup Series and on the superspeedways.
“When he told me that he wanted me to drive the (No.) 62 car for the Beard family in the Daytona 500 this year, I was surprised,” Gragson continued. “I thought he was joking with me the whole time. And then he was like, ‘Hold on, let me call Kelley (Earnhardt Miller, JRM co-owner),’ and so he calls Mrs. Kelley and he gets back to me the next day and says, ‘Man, I hate to break it to you, but she said you can’t run any other races and whatnot.’
“I was devastated for a few seconds. I actually asked him if he was serious and he started laughing and goes, ‘Nah, man, I’m just messing with you. She gave me the thumbs up and you’re good to go.”
As for the team’s strategy — both to try and make the Daytona 500 and in the race itself — Gragson said the plan shifted following Beard’s death from “be there at the end” to a new approach.
“It started off as Mr. Beard saying, ‘Hey, go out there and ride around so we have a car for the end,’ and then I got a phone call from Brendan the other day and he said that Mrs. Beard said the opposite, that she said: ‘Tell that little [expletive] to go drive it for all it’s worth,” Gragson recalled. “So we’re going to try our best. I know the car has been strong in the past and, obviously, Darren Shaw (crew chief) is a one-man band over there and he’s done a lot to make their cars run really well on the superspeedways.
“It’s incredible what these guys have been able to do and it’ll make it that much more special if we can go out and put them in the show where they deserve to be.”
Practice for the 63rd Daytona 500 begins at noon ET on Feb. 10.