Massachusetts NASCAR fans have long been searching for a hometown driver to root for. Kaz Grala wants to take that mantle.
By Ethan Fuller Globe Correspondent
The 25-year-old Grala, born in Boston and raised in Westborough, will attempt to qualify for Sunday’s Daytona 500 in Front Row Motorsports’s No. 36 car. It’s the third time Grala is entering, but this year is different: Following Daytona, Grala will run 25 more races in the No. 15 with Rick Ware Racing, launching his first near-full-time contract at the sport’s highest level.
After dreaming of the Cup Series and spending years on the fringes, Grala has his big break.
“It’s so hard to sit in one of these things,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to do it seven times, so to think about the number of 26 races is huge for me, and that’s really going to help me hopefully get my foot in the door. It gives me enough chances to try to prove that I belong here and have some staying power.”
New England has had its share of racing stars — two-time NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano and short-track ace Ryan Preece are Connecticut natives — but Massachusetts is a blip on the radar. Only three Massachusetts natives have combined for 10 wins in the sport’s history, and none since 1981. Dedham’s Pete Hamilton won the Daytona 500 in 1970.
Grala started racing go-karts at age 4 at the now-shuttered X1 Boston in Braintree. His father Darius owns the FURY Race Cars organization and is a former endurance racer from Poland.
As Grala’s talent blossomed, he outgrew Massachusetts and spent much of his childhood ascending the developmental ranks in North Carolina. He graduated from Worcester Academy with straight A’s as a senior despite self-teaching after missing more than half of his classes.
At 18, Grala broke through with a shocking win at Daytona in the Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR’s third division, and it seemed to signal a fast rise.
But holding down a job can be daunting in a sport where sponsor relationships matter almost as much as on-track success.
“A sponsor is not required to be able to throw a football, or catch a football, or kick a soccer ball, or hit a baseball — you can practice that every day,” Grala said. “You need to get the contract with the team in other professional sports, whereas for us, you need to land that contract with a sponsor, and then as a secondary obstacle, be able to piece that together with the team.”
Grala pinballed around NASCAR’s three national series and didn’t race a full schedule for any team from 2018-22.
In 2018, he ran an Xfinity Series race at Daytona in a 10-year-old show car barely fit for racing, got a flat tire, and still placed fifth. He made his Cup Series debut in 2020, finishing seventh after starting last on the Daytona road course as a substitute driver in the famed No. 3 once driven by Dale Earnhardt. The breakout race turned heads, but it didn’t lead to a full-time ride.
“There are probably so many drivers that could be extremely talented and be capable of running at the top level of the sport, but would never have the pieces aligned to be able to show that to anybody,” Grala said. “I’ve certainly questioned whether that’d be the case for me.”
Last year, Grala raced a full schedule in NASCAR’s second-level Xfinity Series for Sam Hunt Racing. Then he inked the Cup Series deal with Rick Ware Racing in January. Grala will be teammates with Justin Haley, one of the better young talents in the sport, and he feels he can make a more meaningful impact here than with a larger team.
“I’ve got an opportunity to try to really make a difference at one of the smaller teams that’s moving in the right direction, trying to get better,” he said. “There are times when people are able to make just as big of a name for themselves in that sort of position as you can at the top level.”
Grala’s seven career Cup starts include four at superspeedway-style tracks like Daytona and Talladega. This is the first time he’ll earn points toward the Cup Series playoffs (drivers can only earn points in one series per season). He’ll run a variety of tracks, including New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July.
But Grala’s first task is the Daytona 500, where he believes he’s in the most stressful position a NASCAR driver can find. He’s one of 42 drivers trying to qualify for the 40-car field and one of six “open” entries that aren’t automatically locked in. Two of those six won’t make the cut following Thursday’s Duels, the heat races to set the lineup.
It’s a tough race to make,” he said. “It’s one that has probably taken years off my life already in the past.”
The bright side: With Front Row Motorsports, Grala has two teammates to help him at a racetrack where teammate cooperation is paramount. Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 in a stunner in 2021. Front Row is historically adept at Daytona’s drafting style of racing, as is Grala.
Anything can happen. First, Grala has to make the race, and he’s sitting at 100-1 odds to win it. But he excels at this track and is in his best situation yet for an upset.
“This is the first time I’m going into the 500 and not being a ‘long shot’ to make it,” he said. “I feel like this is a really solid group here.”
And if Daytona doesn’t go well, it doesn’t mean Grala missed his chance. His Rick Ware Racing contract takes some of the pressure off; Grala will be back at Atlanta next week.
Now in the Cup Series, Grala has a real opportunity to help NASCAR draw Boston-area fans. He believes the lack of local connections can sometimes hold the sport back, and compares it to watching a football game without a favorite team.
“If you get a Massachusetts driver back up front winning races, I do think that will pull in more fans,” Grala said.
