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  • Kaz Grala to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Daytona

    Kaz Grala to make 100th NASCAR national touring series career start at Daytona

    The 2023 NASCAR season is set to mark a new beginning for Kaz Grala, who will be competing as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for the first time in his career with Sam Hunt Racing. This season will also mark his eighth season with at least one start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, in which he is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, Grala will achieve 100 national touring series career starts.

    A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Grala, whose racing career started with go-karts at X1 Boston at the age of four before moving up to Bandoleers, legends cars and stock cars, made his inaugural presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series at Martinsville Speedway in April 2016, where he campaigned on a part-time basis in the Truck Series for GMS Racing. By then, he was coming off two full-time seasons in the ARCA Menards Series East, where he finished in seventh place in the standings during both seasons. During his Truck debut at Martinsville, Grala started 19th and finished 31st after being involved in an early single-truck incident. He proceeded to make eight additional Truck starts between GMS Racing’s Nos. 24 and 33 entries, where he recorded a total of three top-10 results and a season-best result of seventh place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September. His final start of the season occurred at Phoenix Raceway in November, where he started 11th and finished 28th after being involved in a late incident.

    The 2017 season produced Grala’s first and only full-time campaign to date within NASCAR’s top three national touring series as he was assigned to a full-time driving role of the No. 33 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado in the Truck circuit. He commenced the season on a high note by becoming the youngest competitor to win a pole position and a race at Daytona International Speedway in February at age 18 years, one month and 26 days. The victory occurred after Grala dodged a final lap multi-truck wreck to claim his first NASCAR Truck career victory and claim a guaranteed spot to the 2017 Playoffs. He went on to claim five additional top-10 results throughout the 16-race regular-season stretch, including a runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June and a third-place result at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in September despite getting bumped and spun out of the way for the lead by Austin Cindric on the final lap. At the start of the Playoffs, however, Grala was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 10th, fifth and 29th during the Round of 8. Nonetheless, he went on to finish in the top 10 in three of the final four scheduled events before finishing in seventh place in the final drivers’ standings.

    Coming off a strong Truck Series campaign, Grala graduated to the Xfinity Series for the 2018 season as he started the season as the driver of the No. 24 JGL Racing Ford Mustang. Despite commencing the season with a fourth-place run at Daytona in February, the Boston native was left without a ride after JGL ceased his entry following the first 10-scheduled events. A few days later, however, Grala managed to secure a part-time Xfinity ride in the No. 61 Ford Mustang for FURY Race Cars, beginning at a Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. Making a total of 12 starts with FURY for the remaining 23-scheduled events, he finished in the top 10 four times, which included a strong fifth-place result at Daytona in July.

    In 2019, Grala made only five national touring series starts, all occurring in the Xfinity Series behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing. His first start with RCR occurred at Texas Motor Speedway in March, where he finished 18th. He went on to finish 14th during his next three scheduled starts at Richmond Raceway in April, Dover in May and at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. He then capped off his five-race run with RCR by finishing fifth at Road America in August.

    The 2020 season witnessed Grala competing in a total of seven national touring series events: one in the Cup Series, five in the Xfinity Series and one in the Truck Series. His first start of the season occurred in the Xfinity circuit at Kansas Speedway in July, where he returned for a second part-time stint with RCR and finished 13th. He went on to post his best result of the season at Road America in August, where he finished fourth, followed by back-to-back ninth-place results during a Richmond Raceway doubleheader feature in September. His final Xfinity start of the season occurred at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October, where he ended up in 31st place due to a suspension issue despite winning the first stage. In August, Grala served as an interim competitor for Austin Dillon in RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE entry in the Cup Series at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in August. The news of Grala substituting for Dillon came after Dillon tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the event as Grala made his first career start in NASCAR’s premier series. During the event, the Boston native recorded a strong seventh-place result. For the Truck Series, he made his lone start at Talladega in October, where he piloted the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado to a ninth-place result.

    For the 2021 season, Grala competed in a total of three Cup events, two Xfinity events and three Truck events. In the Cup circuit, he competed on a part-time basis for Kaulig Racing that commenced by making his Daytona 500 debut after earning a transfer spot for the main event based on his qualifying speed. During the 500, he led 10 laps before falling back to 28th place in the final running order due to being involved in a late incident. He then went on to post a strong sixth-place finish at Talladega in April and a 35th-place result at Daytona in August after being involved in a late multi-car wreck. In the Xfinity circuit, Grala made a total of two starts for Jordan Anderson Racing, where he finished 18th at Road America and 15th at Texas Motor Speedway, respectively. In the Truck circuit, he made a total of three starts for Young’s Motorsports, all of which occurred on road course venues, as he finished in the top 12 during all his starts. The highlight of his three-race Truck effort occurred during the inaugural event at Circuit of the Americas in May, where he finished second after overtaking Tyler Ankrum in the closing laps.

    This past season, which marked his third consecutive season of making select starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala made three starts in the Cup Series, nine in the Xfinity Series and 12 in the Truck Series. His best result in the Truck circuit was a seventh-place result in the series’ inaugural event at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in July, with all of his scheduled starts occurring with Young’s Motorsports. In the Xfinity circuit, he competed between Alpha Prime Racing, Big Machine Racing, Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and Sam Hunt Racing, with his best result being fifth at Watkins Glen International in August. In the Cup circuit, Grala teamed up with the newly formed Money Team Racing and embarked on a part-time campaign that commenced in the 64th running of the Daytona 500 in February. After earning a transfer spot for the main event through the first Bluegreen Vacations Duel, he ended up in 26th place in the 500 despite losing his right-front tire on Lap 40. His other two Cup starts were at Circuit of the Americas in March and in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, where he finished 25th and a season-best 23rd, respectively.

    A month after the 2022 NASCAR season concluded, Grala was announced as a full-time competitor of the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing, which he competed for and finished 23rd at Phoenix in November, for the 2023 season as he will contend for the series’ championship for the first time in his career.

    Through 99 previous starts across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Grala has achieved one victory, one pole, 11 top-five results, 30 top-10 results and 75 laps led while competing for 12 different organizations.

    Grala is scheduled to make his 100th NASCAR national touring series career start in the Xfinity Series season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 18. The event’s coverage is slated to occur at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Almirola wins second Bluegreen Vacations Duel in a wild finish; Daly rallies to make Daytona 500 field

    Almirola wins second Bluegreen Vacations Duel in a wild finish; Daly rallies to make Daytona 500 field

    After spending a majority of the night engaged in side-by-side battles for the lead, Aric Almirola managed to pull away and beat the field of 21 to win the second of two Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 16.

    The 38-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led five times for 17 of 60-scheduled laps and managed to fend off late charges coming from Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland in the closing laps to capture his second checkered flag in a Daytona Duel event and commence the 2023 campaign on a strong note after going winless during the previous NASCAR Cup Series season.

    The second Duel victory awarded Almirola a handful of championship points and a starting spot on the second row in fourth place for this year’s Daytona 500 as he will contend for his first victory in his 13th career start in the Great American Race.

    Prior to the event, Kyle Larson, who claimed a front row starting spot for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Wednesday night, started on the pole and was joined on the front row with Aric Almirola. Meanwhile, BJ McLeod dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry.

    When the green flag waved and the first Duel event commenced, Larson and Almirola dueled for the lead until Larson received a draft from Chase Briscoe to break away from the pack and have both lanes to his control through the backstretch. As Briscoe moved up to second, Almirola was left to battle Kyle Busch for third place on the outside lane as Larson proceeded to lead the first lap.

    During the second lap, the outside lane led by Almirola’s No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang gained ground on Larson entering the frontstretch as Almirola led the following lap by a hair. While Almirola was leading the competition, he could not control both lanes as a pack of competitors led by Larson on the inside lane fought back.

    With the event reaching its first five-lap distance, Larson reassumed the lead ahead of a hard-charging Almirola followed by Briscoe, Cindric and Busch while Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. were in the top 10.

    A lap later and as Larson and Almirola continued to duke for the lead, the first caution of the event and between the two Duels flew when a side window from Justin Haley’s No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 came off and laid on the backstretch. During the first caution period, nearly the entire field led by Almirola and Larson pitted amid mixed strategies while Haley and BJ McLeod remained on the track. Haley and McLeod would eventually pit prior to the restart and give the top-two spots back to Almirola and Larson. During the caution period, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick, who stalled his car while trying to exit his pit stall, returned to pit road to top off on fuel.

    When the race proceeded under green on Lap 10, Larson and Almirola dueled for the lead once again until Larson managed to break away far from the pack after receiving a push from Kyle Busch exiting the backstretch. Shortly after, however, Busch launched his challenge for the lead on Larson as the competitors towards the front battled in a tight pack within two lanes.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Busch, who engaged in a series of side-by-side battles against Larson for the lead earlier, was out in front by a hair over Suarez followed by Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Chase Elliott, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland, Truex and rookie Noah Gragson were in the top 10. By then, 19 of 21 starters were separated by two seconds. In addition, Austin Hill was running in a transfer spot to make the Daytona 500 in 16th place while Conor Day, another competitor who was trying to make the 500, was in 20th behind Travis Pastrana, who holds a guaranteed spot to make the main event based on Wednesday’s qualifying speed.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 30, Busch continued to lead ahead of Suarez, Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Elliott, LaJoie, Gilliland, Truex and Gragson remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Haley was in 11th followed by Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Reddick while Hill, Riley Herbst, Pastrana, Briscoe, Daly and McLeod rounded out the 21-car field.

    With less than 25 laps remaining, Busch retained the lead ahead of a bevy of competitors that included Suarez, Larson, Almirola and Cindric while Elliott, LaJoie, Gilliland, Truex and Gragson were running in the top 10. Meanwhile, Hill remained in position to make the Daytona 500 in 15th in between Preece and Reddick while Daly, who lost the draft earlier, was mired back at the rear of the field in 21st place and a lap down.

    Then with 20 laps remaining, the caution flew when Suarez bumped and turned Kyle Busch’s No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which was leading, into the outside wall on the backstretch and with heavy damage. Busch’s wreck ignited a multi-car crash that also collected Haley, Preece, Herbst, Pastrana and Hill, who limped his No. 62 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 back to pit road but was unable to continue as his hopes of making the Daytona 500 came to an end. With Hill out, Daly, who was a lap down, now found himself in prime position to make the 500.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Suarez pitted mainly for fuel while Briscoe remained on the track, though he eventually pitted after the field did. During the pit stops, Suarez slid through his pit stall as Larson reassumed the lead followed by Almirola and Brad Keselowski.

    Down to the final 14 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Larson and Almirola battled for the lead with Keselowski, Cindric and the rest of the field keeping the two leaders within reach amid a tight two-lane pack.

    With 10 laps remaining, Almirola was leading by a hair over Larson followed by Keselowski, Cindric and Truex while Gilliland, LaJoie, Gragson, Elliott and Hamlin were in the top 10. Soon after, Cindric ignited his bid for the win as he contested against Almirola and Larson for the lead along with Gilliland.

    Down to the final five laps of the event and with the competitors towards the front beginning to jostle through two tight-packed lanes, Cindric was out in front by a hair over Almirola followed by Gilliland, Larson and LaJoie as 14 of 21 starters were separated by more than two seconds. By then, Daly was back in 17th place, a lap down but in position of making the Daytona 500.

    Then with three laps remaining, Gilliland moved into the lead followed by Almirola, Larson and Cindric as the intensity towards the front crescendoed.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola, who gained a run to the outside of Gilliland, was leading by a nose over Gilliland as both competitors battled dead even in front of the pack. Then in Turn 1, Gilliland, whose car was shaking and getting loose, slipped sideways towards the apron following a bump from Larson. Miraculously, Gilliland kept his car straight and continued. He, however, lost his momentum as Almirola pulled away through the backstretch followed by Cindric and LaJoie. While the front-runners formed a long single file line behind Almirola through Turns 3 and 4, they could not gain a draft nor a final lap charge on Almirola as the Floridian managed to cycle back to the finish line and beat Cindric by 0.122 seconds to win and cap off the Duels on a high note.

    The second Duel victory marked Almirola’s second career Duel win, his first since 2021 and the fourth Duel victory overall for Stewart-Haas Racing. It also marked his first checkered flag in NASCAR’s premier series since winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July 2021 as he aims to rebound following a disappointing 2022 campaign where he missed the Playoffs.

    “I did have my hands full,” Almirola said on FS1. “[Crew chief] Drew [Blickensderfer] said this Smithfield Ford Mustang was going to be fast, but he said I’d probably have my hands full. We kind of went for it from qualifying, put all the speed in the car and kind of sacrificed some handling. As you could see tonight, it was a handful, but man, this is so cool. Daytona’s such a special place to me. I want that [Daytona 500 win] on Sunday. I know Sunday’s the big one. We’re gonna keep focused on that one. The job’s not finished.”

    Cindric, the reigning Daytona 500 champion, settled in second behind Almirola in the final running order while Chase Elliott, Keselowski, Corey LaJoie, Larson, Gilliland, Truex, Denny Hamlin and Preece earned top-10 finishes on the track.

    Meanwhile, Conor Daly, who came into the Duels with a “one in a million shot” of making the Daytona 500 after failing to post a qualifying lap on Wednesday, crossed the finish line in 17th place, a lap down, and raced his way into the main event. Daly’s accomplishment will enable him to make his second career start in the Cup circuit on Sunday and his first in the Great American Race as the Money Racing Team will compete in the Daytona 500 for a second consecutive season.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “We were inherently lucky for the last 36 hours, but we got luck,” Daly said. “I wished I could’ve said that I drove [the car] in on pure pace, but it was crazy. When we went out there, the car was bouncing around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drive train was broken and [crew chief] Tony [Eury Jr.] just made it better every time we got lucky with the yellows [flags] to try to get some experience. It is pretty crazy. This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so much crazy stuff can happen. Thankfully, we were on the right side of the craziness.”

    With Austin Hill and Beard Motorsports failing to qualify for the 500, Travis Pastrana, who was eliminated late in the event due to the multi-car wreck that involved Kyle Busch, will implement his qualifying speed set on Wednesday to make the main event.

    There were 15 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured two cautions for nine laps.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 17 laps led

    2. Austin Cindric, three laps led

    3. Chase Elliott

    4. Brad Keselowski

    5. Corey LaJoie

    6. Kyle Larson, nine laps led

    7. Todd Gilliland, one lap led

    8. Martin Truex Jr.

    9. Denny Hamlin

    10. Ryan Preece

    11. Noah Gragson

    12. Daniel Suarez, two laps led

    13. Tyler Reddick

    14. Justin Haley

    15. Chase Briscoe

    16. BJ McLeod

    17. Conor Daly, one lap down

    18. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident

    19. Kyle Busch – OUT, Accident, 28 laps led

    20. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

    21. Travis Pastrana – OUT, Accident

    With the starting lineup for the 65th annual running of the Daytona 500 set, the main event is set to commence on Sunday, February 20, which will also mark the start of NASCAR’s 75th season of premier series competition. The coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

  • Conor Daly sets Daytona 500 bid with The Money Racing Team

    Conor Daly sets Daytona 500 bid with The Money Racing Team

    The Money Racing Team will attempt to compete in this year’s 65th running of the Daytona 500 by fielding the No. 50 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 throughout this year’s Daytona Speedweeks with Conor Daly set to pilot the entry.

    The news comes as the organization owned by former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is coming off its first part-time campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series by fielding the No. 50 entry in four events. Kaz Grala debuted the team’s presence in the Cup circuit by qualifying for the 64th running of the Daytona 500, where he went on to finish 26th. Grala then finished 25th at Circuit of the Americas and 23rd in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, respectively before Daly made his debut in NASCAR’s premier series with the organization in the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course last October, where he finished 34th.

    For this upcoming season, the 31-year-old Daly from Noblesville, Indiana, will attempt to make his debut in the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway with the Money Racing Team, which will compete as a non-chartered organization, as BitNile will sponsor the team’s entry. The season opener at Daytona is the first of select planned events for Daly and the team to compete in for the 2023 campaign. Daly is also set to return as a full-time competitor in the NTT IndyCar Series for Ed Carpenter Racing, where he has accumulated a single pole, a single podium, 136 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5 in 97 career starts.

    Daly and the Money Racing Team’s bid to compete in this year’s Daytona 500 commences next Wednesday, February 15, during Busch Light Pole Qualifying followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duels that will take place next Thursday, February 16, as they attempt to secure a starting spot for the main event.

    The 65th running of the Daytona 500 is scheduled to occur on February 19 and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.