Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
NASCAR introduced Tuesday that it had reinstated driver Noah Gragson after his completion of a sensitivity coaching program.
Gragson was suspended indefinitely Aug. 5, a suspension that lasted slightly greater than 5 weeks after Gragson appreciated a racially insensitive social media submit on the demise of George Floyd.Â
The reinstatement course of contains finishing a program performed by RISE, the Ross Initiative in Sports activities for Equality.Â
“I need to specific my honest gratitude to NASCAR for reinstating me,” Gragson stated in an announcement. “Over the previous a number of weeks, I’ve devoted myself to private development and reflection, and I consider I’ve turn into a greater particular person due to it.
“I could not have achieved it with out the help of my household and the NASCAR trade.”
5 days after his suspension by Legacy Motor Membership and NASCAR, the 25-year-old Gragson and Legacy agreed to his launch from the Cup workforce. He had struggled in his rookie Cup season and his job standing was already in query as he was thirty third within the driver standings earlier than his suspension. The workforce has used a handful of drivers within the No. 42 Cup automobile and already has named John Hunter Nemechek to take over the automobile in 2024.
Gragson will compete Saturday in a non-NASCAR race, an ASA Stars Nationwide Tour tremendous late mannequin occasion at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway. He might have run that race whether or not or not he was reinstated by NASCAR.
Any NASCAR plans for Gragson are nonetheless to be decided.
“I’m now extra targeted and dedicated than ever to representing my future workforce in the easiest way attainable,” Gragson stated. “I am desperate to get again behind the wheel and compete on the highest degree, giving it my all on and off the monitor.
“Thanks to everybody who has been part of this journey, and I am unable to wait to benefit from this second likelihood.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent many years overlaying motorsports, together with the previous 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Comply with him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and join the FOX Sports activities NASCAR E-newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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