Fans need a serious question answered: How much to rely on a journalist’s lens to get insights on a matter? But even journalists have to stand their ground in their neutrality. Bob Pockrass favors five racers to be crowned the Champion this year, “My Cup pick for today at COTA: Cindric … top-5: Cindric Reddick Zilisch SVG Elliott … longshot: Wallace.” In a similar breath, Jeff Gluck favors Chase Elliott, and dislikes Joey Logano. The reason people wait patiently for their opinions is because of their honesty. At least they do not have to be in the good books of all racers, unlike a few other podcasters/sports experts! But, it comes with its own repercussions in case of new faces, who are sharper and more aggressive than their previous generation drivers.

Front Row Motorsports’ forerunners, Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland are that rare childhood friends pair who became co-workers later. And recently they brought their mischief to the show ‘Rubbin’ is Racing.’ Things were going really smoothly until Gragson changed the air of the entire room by calling out the uneven behavior of one of its hosts, demanding answers for a specific question.

Noah Gragson isn’t letting things go easily

Let’s set up the premise for the attack. Gragson and Gilliland sailed in a stormless sea through the questions of the show. Dan “Spider” DiOrio, the multi-sport commentator and Barstool influencer, one of the show’s hosts, was about to ask them the last question, and the former of the racers unleashed the storm on him. Noah Gragson didn’t let Spider off the hook during a lively Barstool Sports chat, playfully grilling the host over his favorite driver.

Spider dodged the question at first, claiming, “I only have least favorites,” before relenting under Noah’s persistence answering, “Dale Earnhardt Jr.” Gragson pressed him further, asking for Spider’s favorite current driver, and Spider admitted, “It’s between Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland.” This made Gragson fire back with his own favorite Barstool influencers—Large, Jersey Jerry, and Todd the Smokes—to give Spider a taste of his own medicine.

The real zinger came when Noah recounted a cringe-worthy moment at Christian’s Condo near Charlotte Motor Speedway. Sitting between Spider and driver Sheldon Creed, Noah watched Spider fumble. “Spider looks over at me and goes, ‘Hey, is that Sheldon Creed next to you?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He reaches over me, ‘Bro, Sheldon, I’m a big fan, bro. Dude, it’s so good to meet you, bro,’” Noah recalled, laughing. “I’m like, ‘Come on, dude.’” Spider scrambled to defend himself, pleading, “Large, help me out here. Are we not massive Sheldon Creed fans?” Large abandoned him, quipping, “You’re on your own, Spider.” Spider gave his reasons, “I couldn’t recognize him with his street clothes,” but Noah Gragson’s callout stole the show, exposing Spider’s fanboy slip-up with relentless glee.

Well, the name Large and Spider do ring some bells from 2023. It was when Denny Hamlin was considering operating on or buying the Southside Speedway in Virginia for operations of 23 XI Racing. The veteran spoke about it on his podcast Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin, where he said, “My place with it was that, you know, they [the government] bought it [Southside Speedway] for a certain amount of money, the county did, I don’t even know. I said, I’ll run it but I need ‘x’ amount of dollars to enhance the place. And when I say enhance, I mean we need to tear the place down and build anew. To get that track back to top shape and be a place where you can bring touring series, maybe the CARS Tour or ARCA, something other than just a weekly show, that’s the tough part.”

Large and Spider clashed on this opinion. Where Large believed that this could hamper his performance as a racer. Taking a sly dig, he said, “He’s part owner of 23XI, which is building its new headquarters, and it seems like he’s very hands-on with the construction of the headquarters and now he’s perhaps taking on owning a track itself. Is that stretching yourself too thin? I don’t know anybody in any other sport that has done this.” That’s a fair assumption to have when one of the sport’s most favored drivers takes to business. Hamlin finished 4th that season.

But, Spider came out in support of Hamlin’s plans saying, “I think he’s definitely got an entrepreneurial mindset. I mean we’ve had him on the podcast before, saying he doesn’t need money. He’s made some great investments in the past so I’ll take his word for it. To me, this is really the epitome of what it means to be a successful athlete.” Well, this should clear a lot of current air. Dan DiOrio’s definition of a successful athlete roots from prosperity and the way that a sportsman could connect to the sport, and contribution is not important. The man has also played Pick 6 for the first time in DraftKing on March 6, so maybe we should give him a free pass! But, Noah Gragson took a playful dig, and things did not seem like they were escalating. That’s great because NASCAR does not let its athletes get off with such incidents without PAYING UP.

Remember how NASCAR had once suspended former Sprint Cup champion, Kurt Busch from the upcoming Pocono race back in 2012? This was after he unleashed a fiery outburst at reporter Bob Pockrass following the Dover event. The confrontation erupted when Busch, irritated after finishing 24th, snapped at the media member probing his on-track struggles.

NASCAR slapped him with a one-race ban for breaching its conduct rules. “I accept NASCAR’s decision,” said Busch. “I put them in a box, they had to take action and it’s my fault for putting them in this position. I apologise for the comments I made to Bob Pockrass.” Racer-journalist altercations are nothing new to witness in the sport. And, about the incident where Spider talked to Sheldon Creed, that does not seem problematic.

Sheldon Creed was third in the NASCAR Xfinity championship standings after the first three races of the season. He had one top-10 finish, placing third at Daytona. That is a perspective issue if a fan does not relate to it. As a sport journalist, the responsibility is to enable a fan to build their own perspective by providing insights rather than making them believe in your own.

But love them or hate them, the dynamic between racers and journalists is what makes racing even more insightful. But, to watch this dynamic FR Motorsports duo was a treat of its own off the field.

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Front Row Motorsports is betting on friendships to conquer the 2025 season

Front Row Motorsports’ 2025 NASCAR Cup Series drivers—Noah Gragson, Zane Smith, and Todd Gilliland— are doing great. This is not just their grip over racing, but because their camaraderie goes way back. They’re from the West Coast and have known each other for years. Gragson finished eighth and Gilliland took tenth place at Circuit of The Americas. Smith got 11th at Atlanta. These results show they’re strong drivers early in the season.

Zane Smith explained to NASCAR.com, “Todd and Noah were racing K&N (now ARCA West) and I was on the ARCA side, so in that time, they would do some ARCA races. And I knew Todd because we were in friend group chats.” Now, they race together.

“At first, we were all at times in different series, which is weird to look back on. At one point, Noah and I were teammates — I was part-time and Noah was on the Xfinity side. Todd was in trucks a year before me, and then I was in trucks for four years, and joined Todd there. Then obviously, at that point we’re all pretty much hanging out together every weekend. And now we’ve found each other all teammates on Sunday, which is super cool.”

General Manager, Jerry Freeze liked their appeal. “All three guys bring along with their significant driving talent a marketability with their own unique personalities,” he said. They grew up with social media and use it well. “Their being of roughly the same age, having grown up in the social media era, they each have a comfort in using their platforms to create content and get their message out to the fans,” Freeze added.

NASCAR heads to Phoenix Raceway this week and Las Vegas next for the West Coast Swing. This part of the schedule brings the three back to their roots. Their friendship helps the team. Gragson, Smith, and Gilliland work together, race together, and now they wish to win races for Front Row Motorsports together.