As Kaz Grala prepares for his 11th race of the Xfinity Series season with his newest team, the youngster looks back at achievements and looks ahead to more accomplishments with FURY Race Cars.
Kaz Grala will be a part of history this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway when the Xfinity Series becomes the first to compete on the Roval course, which includes most of the oval track and an infield course.
Grala started the 2018 season driving for JGL Racing before team owner James Whitener was forced to close the team after 10 races. The former NASCAR Next driver and his crew chief Shane Wilson then moved over to FURY Race Cars where they quickly scored a top-10 finish in their first start in the car, incidentally, at Charlotte in May.
“The environment is laid back at FURY Race Cars and that fits my personality,” said Grala. “We’re a small team that has to work really hard and get the best we can out of our equipment and the results we’ve had show how dedicated this team is to having success on the track.”
The results Grala has produced speak for themselves. In addition to the 10th-place finish in May, the team has also scored a top-five and another top-10, in addition to eight finishes of 16th or better in the 10 starts.
“While the team is small and laid back, they don’t need to push me because I’m my own worst critic,” Grala said. “The team is calm and collected and that helps me out a lot.”
While Grala and the team want to compete fulltime, they also understand they don’t have the funding and resources to do that, so they have adjusted their goals.
“By cutting back to focusing on running part time, it gives us more time to prepare our car between races,” Grala said. “We’re a one-car team and there are no politics involved, as everyone is focused on the same goal.
“Shane Wilson has been a big part of that, as he does a great job of thinking things through and always seems to make good decisions with the car and making any changes at the track.”
Also having just one car means Grala has to be careful on the track and the team has to prepare the car to be ready for each race.
“We kind of have to play it safe sometimes with our limited resources,” Grala said.
As FURY Race Cars prepares to compete on the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time this weekend, Grala is ready for the opportunity.
“I think everyone is anxious to see how things play out this weekend,” said Grala. “We’ll be a little behind the teams that are affiliated with Cup teams, as they will have some notes from the tests the Cup cars have already done.
“I’ll be going at it cold, and I might be at a disadvantage for the first two hours. Driver ability should help even everything out between the teams.”
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