NASCAR Cup Series team Legacy Motor Club has suspended driver Noah Gragson indefinitely for conduct on social media. Gragson will be replaced by Josh Berry for the weekend's race at Michigan.
Legacy Motor Club's release refers only to "actions that do not represent the values of our team," but NASCAR has confirmed that the suspension is the result of a public "like" of an Instagram post making fun of the 2020 killing of George Floyd. Gragson apologized on Twitter, saying "I am disappointed in myself for my lack of attention and actions on social media. 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."
While Gragson's initial suspension is at the team level, NASCAR has additionally placed the driver under its own indefinite suspension for violating its stated "Member Conduct" policies. this is the same guideline that NASCAR cited when suspending Kyle Larson for use of a racial slur during an iRacing event in 2020.
Gragson is a Cup Series rookie, but he has run full-time in NASCAR's national-level feeder series since 2017. Two Truck Series wins and 13 more in the Xfinity Series over six years make a decent lower-level resume, but that success was often undercut by both his on-track habit of wrecking people and his occasional off-track outbursts. He has struggled in his first season at the Cup level, securing just two top-20 finishes over 21 starts. Earlier this week, a report from the Athletic's Jordan Bianchi suggested that Legacy Motor Club was already planning to replace Gragson with Xfinity Series standout John Hunter Nemechek for 2024.
