The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has wrapped up after a dramatic year. But hardly do we have the time to brood over Joey Logano’s jaw-dropping championship victory. Now, NASCAR’s rival series from the other side of the world is prepared to rock Las Vegas. That is also the hometown of Noah Gragson, Tony Stewart’s former driver – and the rising Cup Series star is giving a warm welcome to his Formula One guest.

The Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix promises to be an important one as Max Verstappen stands a chance to crown himself as a champion for the fourth time in a row. This iconic race will be held over 50 laps of the 6.2-kilometer or 1.5-mile Las Vegas Strip Circuit. But before that, Gragson offered a preliminary sightseeing trip of his home track to a popular and rising F1 racer.

Noah Gragson meets with F1 contemporary

Liam Lawson is a sensational racer – he is a front-runner in the highly competitive F3 and F2 championships. He won races on debut in Formula First and Formula Ford, in which he won 15 of 15 championship races. The New Zealander was keenly awaiting his F1 chance as Red Bull’s reserve driver when a twist of fate presented it. He replaced Daniel Ricciardo and flawlessly toppled some of the biggest F1 names. Now, Lawson and Red Bull are prepared to rock NASCAR’s home track – Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ahead of the F1 GP race, Lawson struck up an exciting encounter with Noah Gragson who showed him around the racetrack.

In a Ford Performance video, we can see the awe and passion glittering in Lawson’s eyes as he gets introduced to the unique features of a NASCAR race. Noah Gragson explains how pit crew members spray a bottle of soda on the road to offer that extra ‘sticky’ feeling and traction for leaving the pit road. Liam Lawson’s jaws dropped when he heard this: “Are you serious? That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.” Then Lawson asks for a demo to get a good idea. Gragson himself was super enthusiastic – he has clinched runner-up finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Las Vegas three times (September 2020, March and October 2022). This year, he clinched a 6th-place spot during the March Cup race.

Preparations for the Formula 1 race are in full swing. During the Grand Prix qualifying, Mercedes driver George Russell stormed to pole position after posting a time of 1 minute 32.312 seconds on his final lap. Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz was a tenth of a second back. Pierre Gasly and Alpine built on their sensational double podium finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last time out to deliver another eye-catching result in third place. The event was not without dramatic failures either – Franco Colapinto wrecked and littered debris all over the circuit. Then Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas wound up 19th ahead of his five-place engine-related grid penalty.

Noah Gragson’s guest will start 15th on the grid – and his spectacular past may help him clinch an impressive finish.

Springing to victory against the odds

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The final six Formula 1 races of 2024 are a shootout for next year’s Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen. And Liam Lawson did a splendid job proving his mettle. AlphaTauri racer Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in a practice crash at the Dutch Grand Prix – and this gave Lawson a chance as Redbull reserve driver. He clinched a third-fastest time in Q1 at Austin. He was three-tenths off leader Verstappen, and faster than what teammate Yuki Tsunoda could muster in qualifying. Lawson also brilliantly beat world champion Max Verstappen to a Q3 spot in Singapore. His Redbull mentor Helmut Marko called his run “sensational“.

After Liam Lawson’s third-fastest time on his Q1 lap in Austin, his race engineer patted him on the back for his rookie success. “You showed what you had to show.” Lawson enthusiastically replied, “That’s all I wanted to do.” He expertly turned a grid penalty into his advantage. “That was the goal; to make the most of Q1 to put everything together. And that’s what we what we did. It’s obviously positive, coming from yesterday into today. [The grid penalty] is just more frustrating because the performance of the car, the pace, was really strong in Q1. Obviously we’d only really improved from there, is the idea, so there were plenty of positives going forward.”

Evidently, we are in for a ‘sensational’ show at Las Vegas Motor Speedway today. F1 stars like Liam Lawson are warming up under Noah Gragson’s guidance and should enjoy the NASCAR ground thoroughly.