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Noah Gragson’s breakthrough victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last weekend provided a celebratory stage for one of the sport’s most vibrant new personalities. But that storybook finish at venerable Martinsville Speedway contained a bigger-picture aspect, a generational fight with an influx of young drivers making inroads against the established guard.
Gragson led the way, with Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Harrison Burton a career-best fourth and Todd Gilliland fifth, putting three teenagers — all current or former members of the NASCAR Next youth initiative — in the top five. All three held their own against a pair of veteran series champions: Matt Crafton, who finished second, and Johnny Sauter, the defending series champ who came home third in Saturday’s race.
Gragson’s impressive high-lane power move gave him the race-winning pass and a tick mark for the victory column near the end of what’s been a topsy-turvy rookie season. Plus, his catch-fence chin-up and an upset stomach afterward may well resonate as one of the year’s most unusual post-race celebrations.
All three youngsters have benefitted from the tutelage of team namesake Kyle Busch, a former premier-series champion who has long had an eye for mining young talent. “I guess you can call him Professor Kyle at the university,” says the 19-year-old Gragson, who won in his 22nd career start.
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Busch happily pointed out that all four of his KBM teams have posted wins this year, led by series points leader Christopher Bell’s five victories. But at least for now, Gragson has the bragging rights as the organization’s most recent winner.
“I know Noah likes to egg some of these guys on somewhat, so he’ll be a handful the next few weeks riding the high that he’s got from today,” Busch said. “He’s fun, though. He’s — what’s the word — over-exuberant? But they have a friendly rivalry at least between all of them. Being at KBM, they have that opportunity to succeed with each other’s success.”
Burton and Gilliland, both 17, have already been in thick competition with each other in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Burton claimed this season’s championship by just eight points over Gilliland, and the two combined to win nine of the series’ 14 races.
That competitive streak has extended to the Truck tour, where the new generation has an opportunity to prove its worth against highly regarded veterans.
“We want it. Us young kids, we want it so bad. And they want it, too,” Burton said. “They’re not going to roll over and give it to us easy, but all the young kids that are in the Truck Series, they’re really hungry and we’ll do about anything to win a race. That’s some of it, and I think some of it’s just the kids coming up now have so much experience. … That kind of plays into it, and I think just confidence level plays into it as well. I think a lot of young kids are really confident coming in. That’s huge.”
Said Gilliland: “I think that’s the whole goal of the Truck Series is to make a name for yourself as a young kid and it was fun racing against the veterans like Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton out there. They’re tough, so it’s always fun to learn from them as you go and definitely earn their respect as you go.”