“It's never gonna hurt me”: Noah Gragson’s crew chief pushes for horsepower boost in Cup cars to highlight driver’s ‘skillset’
NASCAR Cup Series driver Noah Gragson's crew chief, Drew Blickensderfer, was recently featured in a podcast with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90 on X. During the interview, Blickensderfer gave his take on increasing the horsepower of the Cup Series cars on short tracks to unlock the driver's full potential.
Blickensderfer began his career as a mechanic for Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s #1 car. He then transitioned into a crew member at Roush Racing in 2003 for the #60 car in the Busch Series. After years of hard work, he landed his first seat as a crew chief in 2007 for the #17 Busch Series car. A year later, Blickensderfer became the crew chief of NASCAR legend Carl Edwards.
The crew chief then joined Stewart-Haas Racing in January 2022 and was assigned the #10 Ford Mustang driven by Aric Almirola. Noah Gragson replaced Almirola in 2024, and the duo has been together since then. After departing from the now defunct SHR, Blickensderfer and Gragson united at Front Row Motorsports.
Recalling his experience, Blickensderfer claimed that the current setup with big tires and limited power makes it easy for the driver to maneuver the car and hides one's skill set. He explained, citing NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick's example.
"You've heard Kevin Harvick say you've heard a lot of these race cars; these are Cup drivers; they're the best stock car drivers in the world. And we have them limited to a point to where some of the skill sets that they have aren't being able to be shown. And I've had great race car drivers. I had an advantage because they could handle it. They could do it better. than the guy next to them with all that horsepower, and it's kind of equal to field a little too much." [00:22 onwards]
"I'm a big fan of more horsepower, especially when I know I'm in a Ford and I've got Doug Yates behind me. I know he's gonna give us everything, so it's never gonna hurt me, the mole horse part, I it or you give us. So I'm a fan of that, especially beyond the shortcuts," he added.
Under Drew Blickensderfer's command, Noah Gragson wrapped up the 2024 season in 24th place on the leaderboard. He secured one top-five and seven top-ten finishes in 36 starts.
"It’s gonna be a fun time": Noah Gragson got candid about his reunion with former crew chief
Before Stewart-Haas Racing ceased its operation after the 2024 season's Phoenix race, Noah Gragson drove the #10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the team under Drew Blickensderfer's lead. However, Gragson went through a major change after joining Front Row Motorsports for the 2025 season.
FRM, which was on the lookout for a crew chief for the 26-year-old's new ride, eventually hired his former crew chief for the 2025 season. Notably, the team had a partnership with Ford since 2016, and Gragson drove the same manufacturer's cars for his previous team. Reflecting on the union, the #4 Ford Mustang driver told NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass (via X):
"There’s a lot of comfort being with the same crew chief and same manufacturer, but there’s some newness to it too, moving over to Front Row Motorsports here for the season. It’s gonna be a fun time. I’m excited for it. We still have our standards, and we’ve upped our standards from where we were last year."
Noah Gragson ranks 28th in the Cup Series points table with 213 points to his credit. He has secured three top-ten and one top-five finish in 13 starts this season.