By: Zach Catanzareti
Starting tail-end of Saturday’s LTi Printing 250, Kaz Grala had lots of work to do but only one direction to do it at Michigan International Speedway.
And with a new restrictor plate package for the XFINITY Series, who knows where he could end up.
The day ended 12th, a solid finish for Fury Race Cars, who ran just their third race in the series Saturday. Additionally, Grala earned stage points, led the race for five laps and put on a show near the front until the race was rain-shortened on lap 91.
“I wish the rain came a little earlier,” Grala said. “I think, either way, the outcome could’ve been different.”
Grala and his No. 61 Fury Race Cars Ford rallied quick from the green flag, ending the race’s first stage eighth on lap 30. The stage points were the team’s first in their third race and Grala’s first since ISM Raceway in March.
But the improvement got kicked back a few yards, as Grala was penalized for an uncontrolled tire on his No. 61. From there, it was another fight toward the front.
“To come from the back twice, you could tell every last person on this team is firing on all cylinders,” he said. “We’re doing the best to prove what we got here. I’m not biased but I think what we got here is pretty good.”
With plate racing and pack running throughout the 91-lap race, Grala brought his past drafting experience, including a Camping World Truck Series win at Daytona in 2017, to the track this weekend. And it paid off.
“It’s like Daytona or Talladega when it gets single-filed out,” he said. “But when it’s double-file, it’s pretty similar. I think my Truck experience here at Michigan also helped me because if you combined a plate race with the Truck race at Michigan, that’s what we got out there.
“I don’t know how it looked from TV but I thought it looked like a pretty exciting, fun race. I’d say it was a successful change for us here.”
Losing his ride with JGL Racing in May, Grala quickly found himself with Fury, finishing 10th in their first race at Charlotte. Now with three races and laps led, Grala is proud of the team’s ambition to rise to the challenge.
“For what we’re trying to accomplish as a small team trying to prove our worth and get some sponsorship, a win, obviously, would’ve really helped,” he said. “Even a strong showing like that will pay off a lot for us in the long run.”
Grala hopes the recent performances entice sponsors to turn the team into a full-time organization for the remainder of 2018. Grala will run his fourth race with Fury next weekend at Iowa Speedway.
“It’ll be cool to see us run more races here,” he said. “Honestly, I feel confident if we were to run full-time, we’d have a very realistic shot at making the playoffs. We can overcome that but we need a little bit of sponsorship to allow us to do that.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj0ozJBFTRY/?taken-by=kazgrala