Noah Gragson Joins Venturini Motorsports for ARCA Season Finale at Kansas
Concord, North Carolina (October 10, 2016) – On the heels of last week’s signing with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) for a full-time driving effort next season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), it was announced today Noah Gragson will join Venturini Motorsports (VMS) for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards – Kansas 150 season finale at Kansas Speedway on October 14.
“The last couple weeks have truly been amazing,” says Gragson. “Running with Venturini Motorsports at Kansas is an exciting opportunity and just another step towards my integration into the Toyota family. The Venturini Motorsports group has a strong reputation in the series and a proven track record. I’m looking forward to working with Billy (Venturini) and the guys on the team. It’s going to be an exciting week!”
A current member of the NASCAR Next program, the 18-year old Gragson will make his VMS debut driving the team’s No.15 SpeedVegas – Alert ID Toyota Camry and will be paired with two-time season winning crew chief Jeff McClure. McClure and Christopher Bell combined for the season sweep at Salem Speedway earlier this season.
Gragson, a native of Las Vegas, has spent the last two seasons primarily racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West Tours. Running two full consecutive seasons on the West tour, Gragson earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2015. In 41 career NASCAR K&N starts across both regional series, Gragson has tallied 6 wins, 18 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes.
Friday’s ARCA race at Kansas will mark Gragson’s third series attempt. In his two previous starts (Kentucky ’15 and Pocono ’16) he’s finished a career best 14th at Kentucky Speedway.
The Kansas 150 marks the 16th consecutive ARCA race at Kansas since the series debuted on the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 2001.
RaceDay Schedule – Friday, October 14
Practice for the Kansas 150 is Friday, October 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. with final practice following from10:35 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is slotted in for 2:25 p.m. The 16th Kansas ARCA 150 is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with live coverage on FS1. All times are local, central time. ARCAracing.com will also feature Live Timing and Scoring and Live Chat of all on-track activities.
Tickets are currently on sale for the full weekend of activities, which kicks off with the Kansas 150 show-openerFriday night, followed by the Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race Saturday with their inaugural Chase for the Championship. The Hollywood Casino 400 grand finale, the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, takes center stage Sunday afternoon.
ABOUT VENTURINI MOTORSPORTS:
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars for over 30-years in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports. Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Brian Scott, Ryan Blaney, Brennan Poole, Daniel Suarez, Brandon Jones and John Wes Townley. Over the years the Venturini name has become synonymous with modern-day racing in America. In 2012, the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
Sources: Tommy Venturini/Venturini Motorsports PR