Taking over for Austin Dillon, Kaz Grala enjoyed an incredible weekend in substitute duties at the NASCAR Cup Series level.
This weekend, stock car driver Kaz Grala took over one of NASCAR’s most iconic rides, competed against his childhood hero, brought the vehicle home in one piece, finished in the top ten (seventh, to be precise), and even led some laps at one of the sport’s most hallowed grounds.
How was your weekend?
Grala, 21, is used to setting landmarks in the realm of racing, especially at Daytona International Speedway. At 18, Grala became the youngest NASCAR winner in the history of the track when he won the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (now Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series) opener.
That win allowed him to begin the youngest participant in a NASCAR postseason session en route to a seventh-place finish in the final standings. Grala is also the youngest driver to compete in the Daytona-based International Motor Sports Association. Currently, he works as a part-time driver on the second-tier Xfinity Series for Richard Childress Racing, primarily running their road course endeavors. His No. 21 Chevrolet came home fourth in last week’s Xfinity race at Road America, moving up one spot from a visit last season.
Thus, Grala was an ideal choice to fill in for RCR’s Cup ride: the No. 3 Chevrolet for the Go Bowling 235 on Sunday afternoon. Originally scheduled for Watkins Glen International in Schuyler County, the race was the first NASCAR Cup Series race held at Daytona’s 3.6-mile road course.
Best known for hosting 17 years of Dale Earnhardt’s finest NASCAR endeavors, the vehicle is currently piloted by Austin Dillon, Childress’ grandson. The 30-year-old Dillon has been forced to temporarily vacate the car after self-reporting a positive test for COVID-19. Dillon will be allowed to resume racing once he receives two negative tests. He’s locked into the NASCAR playoffs thanks to a win at Texas Motor Speedway last month.
In the meantime, it was Grala that took over the ride at Daytona. He is the first driver other than Earnhardt or Dillon to drive the No. 3 since Ricky Rudd in 1983.
The numeral has significant meaning to Grala beyond Earnhardt. He has worn the numeral in several forms of racing as a tribute to his father Darius, who is primarily known as an endurance racer. The elder Grala has run the 24 Hours of Daytona three times.
“It’s certainly been overwhelming,” Kaz Grala said in a postrace Zoom call. “I took my time on the grid and on the pace laps to really soak it in and understand the gravity of that moment. It’s unbelievable to be racing in the Cup Series under any circumstances but to do it in the No. 3 car was just incredible.”
“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought my Cup debut would come in it, but I’m so grateful to Richard and everybody at Richard Childress Racing for believing in me and trusting me behind the wheel of one of their Cup cars because that’s their main business right there, so it was an honor to know that they trust me behind the wheel.”
Because of the late driver change, the No. 3 had to start at the back of the field for the start of the 65-lap event. Thanks to NASCAR’s new starting lineup formula, Dillon was originally slated to start 10th before the adjustment was made.
Grala wasn’t expecting miracles in his first Cup Series start. No driver, after all, has ever won in their Cup debut and some of the greatest have struggled mightily in their freshman races. For Grala, merely completing all 65 laps would’ve been enough of a win. Thus, he wasn’t expecting to make it back to the top ten after he was sent to the rear of the field.
Had the No. 3 remained in the fifth row, Grala would’ve started directly in front of his idol and favorite driver Jimmie Johnson. Grala was an avid viewer of NASCAR during Johnson’s heyday, when he captured an unprecedented five consecutive NASCAR Cup Series titles. Johnson is set to retire from full-time racing at the end of the 2020 season.
“I’ve always looked up to him. I thought coming into this year I’d never get a chance to race against him before he retired,” Grala said. “Already going into this race, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world just to know that he’d be on the track at the same time as me, and of course because of Austin’s run last weekend in Michigan the car was scored as starting P10, even though we had to drop to the back, so we did the pace laps in 10th and I think Jimmie was 11th or 12th or something. My moment was in the pace laps looking in the mirror and seeing that 48, thinking that was the coolest thing ever.”
Once the green flag flew, Grala mostly bided his time toward the back of the field. No driver had run laps in a stock car prior to Sunday’s endeavor, but he kept the No. 3 as clean as he could. Working on a different pit strategy, pitting toward the end of the two 15-lap stages to open the race, Grala was staying out of trouble and moving up the field.
He admitted that a 31-minute delay for lightning was instrumental to his success. Drivers had trouble dealing with heat and exhaustion on a hot, humid, Daytona afternoon. One driver, JJ Yeley, had to vacate his ride, leaving Bayley Currey to finish things off.
Only adding to Grala’s woes was the fact that the car wasn’t prepared for him, leaving him more uncomfortable than normal in Dillon’s seat.
“I hate to admit how much the lightning delay probably did help me kind of reset, refresh,” he said. “These Cup cars are hot, they’re physical. Road courses are physical in general, and these races are long.  It’s the real deal out there for sure, and you’re racing guys that are really, really good. From a mental and physical standpoint, you are really extending yourself as much as possible.”
Once things got back underway, he was racing at the outskirts of the top ten. His endeavors assisted by the drivers ahead of him pitting, Grala wound up navigating the inevitable: at lap 50, Grala was scored at the race leader.
The No. 3 Chevrolet wound leading three laps before it visited pit road for its final stop of the day. Grala credited crew chief Justin Alexander, Dillon’s regular crew chief, for creating a strategy that allowed him to pace the field, if only for a short while.
“That was pretty cool to get to lead some laps in my first Cup race. I wouldn’t have thought that would be the case, but it definitely was a lot of fun,” Grala said of his time upfront. “Justin Alexander called an excellent strategy. I thought we made the right moves. There were a few other guys with us on that strategy. We weren’t the only one, but I definitely think it was the way to go. It helped me out, and for me personally, I like to be on attack, and being a rookie in the series, there was no doubt guys were pushing me around on restarts a little. To put ourselves in position for most of the day to try to be on as good or better tires than the guys around us was a really good thing and helped me from getting shoved around too much.”
After an accident involving Kyle Busch with about five laps to go, Grala restarted ninth against some experienced drivers with fresher tires. In the midst of the shuffling over the final stages, the No. 3 Chevrolet actually moved on his position from both the start and lap one, creating his final posting of seventh. He was unable to beat Johnson but was nonetheless all smiles at the end of the day.
“To find out we actually finished three spots even better than we ran on the pace lap, that was pretty cool,” Grala said. “Still didn’t beat Jimmie! I wish. That would have been really cool, but I could see him. That’s great enough.”
Grala made it clear that his situation with the No. 3 is meant to be temporary. He wished Dillon well and happily revealed that the 2018 Daytona 500 winner was experiencing only mild symptoms and that Dillon’s wife Whitney and son Ace were healthy. AJ Allmendinger is, in fact, RCR’s standard backup driver, but he was barred from competing in the Cup race because of his participation in Saturday’s Xfinity event. Thus, it’s unknown if Grala will be back for a doubleheader at Dover International Speedway that starts on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
Nonetheless, Grala is excited to see what the future holds. First on his list is hopefully securing a full-time ride that will allow him to compete for an Xfinity title.
“It was an amazing experience getting to run this weekend, but we certainly all hope that Austin is back in the car and competing again next weekend,” he said. ”
 It would be a huge advantage for me to be able to run full-time.  I would love to be able to run and chase an Xfinity Series championship with them, and certainly, the ultimate goal is to make it to racing on Sundays every weekend.”
“Hopefully, you’ll see me back here on a Sunday someday in the future.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags