Noah Gragson and the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports team head into Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway desperately needing to find some momentum. Gragson, who enters this weekend’s race 32nd in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, will kick off a new primary sponsorship partnership with Rural King.
The team and sponsor also revealed the paint scheme that Gragson will pilot on Sunday at Bristol along with the partnership announcement on Wednesday.
Rural King is proud to dip its toe into the NASCAR sponsorship space and believes the partnership will allow it to better connect to its customer base and employees alike.
“Our partnership with Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR is an exciting new chapter for Rural King,” said Steve Barbarick, President & Chief Executive Officer, Rural King. “Many of our customers—and our associates—are loyal NASCAR fans, and this is a great way to connect through something they feel passionate about. With a Rural King store just down the road in Bristol, this race feels especially meaningful to us. We’re proud to see our brand on the car and can’t wait to cheer on Noah Gragson as he hits the track representing our community.”
Gragson is pumped to return to Bristol, where he finished 12th in the Night Race last Fall, but he’s even more stoked for the new three-race partnership with Rural King.
“I’m excited to head back to Bristol, but I’m even more pumped to welcome Rural King to the team,” said Gragson. “It’s always great to bring a new partner into the sport. We’re kicking off the partnership with a store visit, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know the Rural King community. It’s going to be a fun weekend all around.”
In addition to Sunday’s race at Bristol, Rural King will adorn the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27 and at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 18.
Gragson has been snakebitten this season as he has five sub-25th-place finishes through the opening eight races of the season. The 28-year-old driver knows danger lurks around every corner at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway, but he’s ready to tackle the challenge.
“Bristol is definitely one of the most intense tracks we go to,” said Gragson. “Even though it’s one of the slowest in terms of speed, it feels like the fastest because everything happens so quickly—you’re side-by-side, sometimes three-wide, and constantly in traffic. It’s wild. You think the car’s not going to grip, but somehow it sticks. It’s a real rush every lap. You’ve got to be disciplined, but not necessarily patient. From lap one, it’s go time. If you don’t make moves early, you’ll get swallowed up. You can go in with a game plan, but you don’t really know what you’ve got until you hit the track and see how the grip and traction compound are working—whether the bottom’s fast or if it moves up.”
