Nascar’s Noah Gragson Not Being Released From Legacy Motor Club

Reports that Noah Gragson’s rookie season in the NASCAR Cup series has come to an end may be a bit premature.

Tuesday reports surfaced that Legacy Motor Club would announce that it would part ways with its rookie driver days after Gragson was suspended by the team, and soon after indefinitely by NASCAR. The reason for the suspension happened after screenshots surfaced that seemed to show Gragson “liking” a meme on Instagram making light of of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020 drew widespread outrage.

The screenshots surfaced Saturday and by that afternoon the team and NASCAR announced their sanctions and Gragson had posted an apology on X the platform previously known as Twitter.

“I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media,” Gragson posted. “I understand the severity of this situation. I love and appreciate everyone. I try to treat everyone equally no matter who they are. I messed up plain and simple.”

Tuesday morning the team officially announced that Mike “Rocky” Rockenfeller would drive the No. 42 Legacy Chevrolet at this weekend’s road course event at Indianapolis and at Watkins Glen the following weekend. This seemed to back up the earlier reporting.

However, a team spokesperson, who requested to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed to Forbes, that because NASCAR has suspended Gragson indefinitely the team must use drivers to compete in the No. 42 in the interim. Adding: “NASCAR will determine the timeline when Noah can return to the sport. We are working with Noah and his representation through this process.”

Rockefeller is a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner who got the call from Legacy Motor Club co-owner Jimmie Johnson Sunday shortly after Rockenfeller scored a fifth-place finish in the GTP class at Road America in the IMSA Weather Tech SportsCar series.

Johnson and Rockenfeller competed in the IMSA series together for Action Express
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for two seasons and were both an integral part of the Garage 56 project with Hendrick Motorsports where they completed the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June along with former Formula One driver Jenson Button.

The German born driver and 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona winner has made two starts in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2022 – at Watkins Glen and at the Charlotte ROVAL.

“After racing with Jimmie in IMSA for two years and together in the Garage 56 program not only were we teammates, but we are now great friends,” said Rockenfeller. “To get to race for him in the NASCAR Cup Series for Legacy M.C. with him as a co-owner is such a true honor. It’s going to be a huge challenge as I have never raced at Indy. I was dreaming about being in a Cup Series car again and I’m thankful for the opportunity. I will try my best in this short timeframe to come together with the team and have a great race in Indy.”

The speculation to replace Gragson isn’t a surprise given his performance at the team this season. While the Las Vegas native did win 8 races in 2022 in the NASCAR Xfinity series, this season at Legacy his best finish was 12^th at Atlanta in the spring race. If the remaining 21 races he has not finished outside the top 20 and has an average finish of 28.2. In 2022, Gragson raced with Kaulig Racing in the Cup series part-time entering 18 races scoring a top 5 finish at the August race at Daytona with an overall average finish of 23.1.

For now, Gragson remains with the team, and for the immediate future Rockefeller will race the car at the Indianapolis Road Course, and the following week at Watkins Glen.

“Rocky and I were teammates and helped develop the G56 program,” said Johnson. “I couldn’t think of a better person to assist our Club in this tough situation. These back-to-back road course events will be great for Rocky from the technical side as they will bring out his expertise. Rocky is extremely knowledgeable and talented, and I know he will get us the best results possible.”