With Stewart-Haas Racing ceasing operations, Noah Gragson will now head to Front Row Motorsports. His move will include a reunion with a prominent crew chief.
Videos by FanBuzz
Catchfence revealed on Tuesday that Drew Blickensderfer will also move from Stewart-Haas Racing to Front Row Motorsports. He will continue a partnership with Gragson that featured seven top-10 finishes and one top-five.
Their best outing was a third-place finish at Talladega in this season's spring race.
The 2025 season will not mark the first time Blickensderfer has guided a Cup Series driver at Front Row Motorsports. The move will also be a reunion for the veteran crew chief considering that he was atop the No. 34 pit box from 2019-21. Blickensderfer's previous tenure included a Daytona 500 win.
The Illinois native parted ways with Front Row Motorsports after the 2021 season. He moved to Stewart-Haas Racing for the start of the Gen 7 era and began working with Aric Almirola. The pair spent two seasons together before Almirola walked away from full-time competition.
Along with the time at Front Row Motorsports, Blickensderfer spent multiple seasons at Roush Fenway Racing, 33 races at Richard Childress Racing, and several at Richard Petty Motorsports. He won two races with Matt Kenseth and one with David Ragan.
This season was a learning experience for Gragson, who struggled during his rookie campaign with Legacy Motor Club in 2023. He didn't process information in the same way as Almirola, nor did he have the same amount of experience, so he had to put in extra time doing film study.
"We'll look at the 10 best drivers at a certain racetrack — like Dover," Blickensderfer said during a media session in May. "It's like, 'Martin Truex (Jr.) drives it like this, Denny Hamlin like that,' and it's super easy then for me to say in practice, or we're in the race, 'Hey, drive it like Ross Chastain.'
"(Gragson) knows what that throttle trace and that brake trace look like from watching (film) on Tuesday. And he can start emulating that and pick up speed or figure out how the car changes. It's helped our dialogue. It's helped us be more efficient throughout the weekend."
Gragson and Blickensderfer made strides during their first season together. The expectation is that this will continue in 2025 as they enjoy the reunion at Front Row Motorsports.
