On Wednesday, the players raced against Gragson as he simultaneously interviewed them. The Las Vegas native, who is currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a Vegas Golden Knights fan since the team’s inaugural season in 2017-18.
“They do a good job,” Gragson said of the NHL players on the simulator. “It’s definitely a different skill set than they’ve probably ever done. I think what I’m most in awe of is just how competitive they are when they get in. They walk in the room and they’re like, ‘Man, what’s going on,’ then the car starts up, they start the race and they kind of quiet down a little bit because they’re super focused. I mean, they’re just great competitors. That’s what’s great about sports is the competition side. Even though they’ve never done NASCAR stuff before, it’s awesome to see the competitive side come out.”
There might even be some fledging professional stock car drivers in the mix.
Before Gragson arrived, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin all finished in first place in their respective 11-lap races in the simulator on Tuesday.
Brady Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers had the best single-lap time on Tuesday at 48.1 seconds, but he also was the only player of the day to spin out and not finish the race.
By comparison, Gragson’s best lap time was 47.9 seconds, though he said he could break 46.
“He was good,” Coronato said after Gragson finished first in the race against him. “I feel like I got better as I went along, just listening to his advice and tips going through it.”
Gragson gave some stock car driving tips as he talked to the players, and the players countered by engaging with Gragson about his career path and how he got into stock car racing after starting in go-karts.
They spoke while simulating a 200 mph race at the Daytona International Speedway, which Gragson told Coronato is arguably the fastest track on the tour because the depth of the turns allow the driver to keep the throttle down the entire time.
New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes asked Gragson about his schedule and his record.
Gragson told him he has 13 wins in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, which is the level below the NASCAR Cup Series. He has no wins in the Cup Series as of yet.