Front Row Motorsports: Circuit of the Americas Race Report (Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith)

Noah Gragson Key Takeaways

• Stage One: 33rd / Stage Two: 31st / Race Result: 8th
• Noah Gragson earned his first top-10 finish of the 2025 season this Sunday, leaving the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas with an 8th place finish. The result didn't come without challenges, the team struggled during Saturday's practice session and qualified 17th for Sunday's race. Those challenges continued Sunday where hard racing and a spin on track saw Gragson hang around the 30's throughout the first two stages. Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer made the call to flip Stage Two and take the track position going into the final stage. Gragson continued to battle through the final stage, picking up spots, eventually finding himself within the top five before dropping to the eighth position where he finished the race.
• "Good day for what we had," said Gragson. "We struggled during practice and qualifying but got the car handling better during the race. After we pitted before the end of Stage Two, we started picking them off 4 to 5 at a time. Proud of the whole team for keeping at it and bringing home a top-10 finish! Even more special to do it with Rusty (and family) at the race as we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Rush Truck Centers."

Todd Gilliland Key Takeaways

Stage One: 29th / Stage Two: 16th / Race Result: 10th

Todd Gilliland also left Austin, Texas with his first top-10 finish of the season. Gilliland's result didn't come easy, however, getting caught up in the lap one, turn one chaos, losing track position and suffering damage. Gilliland finished 29th in Stage One. Stage Two went better for the No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford team with Gilliland battling within the top-20, finishing Stage Two in the 16th position. Pit strategy, a perfectly timed caution, and a little damage repair wrote the final stage's story for Gilliland and the 34 team ending with Gilliland crossing the start / finish line in the 10th position.

“We knew it would look different here today," said Gilliland. "We started 10th and finished 10th but we battled all day. We were ok at the beginning, but we got stuck behind the [number] 9 literally in turn one. That is how it goes sometimes. I am just really proud of the fight in our team. We fought through a lot. We got a little lucky with the caution there at the end but overall, we just kept fighting through everything. That brought home a top-10 finish for our Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang Dark Horse and we can be proud of what got us that result.”

Zane Smith Key Takeaways

• Stage One: 34th / Stage Two: 35th / Race Result: 29th
• Zane Smith made his second NASCAR Cup Series Circuit of the Americas start this Sunday. The weekend went off to a rough start for the No. 38 TitleMax Ford team as Smith had to start at the tail of the field after the unapproved adjustments were made post-qualifying. Sunday didn't deliver much action for Smith, spending the first two stages in 34th and 35th. Smith crossed the start / finish line in the 29th position.
• “Just one of those days," said Smith. "Nothing terrible happened but nothing good happened either, just one thing after another. It stinks, but I’m confident we’ll rebound as we start hitting the ovals coming up.”