Kaz Grala

Kaz Edward Grala (born December 29, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver from Boston. He is the youngest NASCAR winner in the history of Daytona International Speedway and the youngest person to ever compete in an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) event. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing.

Early career
Grala started racing go-karts at F1 Boston in Braintree, Massachusetts when he was four years old. When he was ten, he began racing Bandoleros, winning the Summer Shootout Championship in 2011. That same year, he won the New York Legendstock and the Massachusetts Bandolero Outlaws state championships. In 2012, Grala won 15 races and the Winter Heat Championship at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Legend Car Pro Division.

Stock car racing
In 2013, Grala made his late model debut in UARA-STARS, becoming the youngest winner in series history at Hickory Motor Speedway, followed by setting the record as the youngest driver to lead laps in the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach Speedway where he finished second to Lee Pulliam. That same year, he was named by Speed 51 as the 2013 JEGS Rookie of the Year. The following year, he joined Turner Scott Motorsports to compete full-time in the K&N Pro Series East as the youngest driver in the series. During that year, he competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and won at Caraway Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. The next season, he joined Ben Kennedy Racing to race full-time in the K&N Pro Series East once again.

In 2016, Grala made his NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series debut at Martinsville for GMS Racing, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet. Grala would get his first career top-ten finish at Dover International Speedway in just his second start in the series. With Ben Kennedy joining the team, Grala moved over to the No. 24 truck to compete in seven more races that year.

He joined GMS full-time for 2017, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet. After avoiding all the crashes at Daytona International Speedway, he won his first race in the series after starting on the pole, making him both the youngest driver to win a NASCAR pole at Daytona and the youngest driver to win a NASCAR race at Daytona (18 years, 1 month and 26 days). It was Grala's first win in NASCAR and essentially locked him into a spot in the Playoffs for the Truck Series in 2017. Grala almost won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September, after leading the closing laps and then in one of the final corners he was tapped and spun around by Austin Cindric. Grala was eliminated from the Playoffs prior to the Round of 6 due to an early crash in the cutoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, which ultimately resulted in him finishing the season 7th in the Truck Series standings.

On November 15, 2017, it was announced that Grala would join JGL Racing full-time in the Xfinity Series as a 2018 Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, driving the No. 24 Ford. Grala finished fourth in his debut at Daytona. However, on May 15, the team shut down the No. 24 program, leaving Grala without a ride. Three days later, Grala announced he would run the next four Xfinity races for Fury Race Cars, driving the No. 61 Mustang beginning at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Grala drove to an impressive 10th-place finish in FURY's debut as a team. With sponsorship support from IT Coalition, DMB Financial, Kiklos and HotScream, Grala was able to add another eight races to his schedule beyond the original four. Grala's best finish with the organization was a top five at Daytona International Speedway, which he achieved in a 10-year-old borrowed car slated to be retired as a show car.

In 2019, Grala joined Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 Xfinity car for a part-time schedule. He was originally going to run part-time with FURY with the amassed sponsorship, but Grala took the sponsorship to RCR to lower costs. He stayed with the team for the 2020 season.

Sports car racing
In 2014, Grala ran in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, where he became the youngest driver ever to compete in an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) event at the age of 15 years and one week old. In 2016, Grala competed in his first Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona for Change Racing alongside former Rolex 24 winners Spencer Pumpelly and Justin Marks, in addition to race newcomer Corey Lewis; at the age of 17, Grala was the youngest driver in the field.

Personal life
Grala's father Darius is a former sports car racer, competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona three times. Grala attended high school at Worcester Academy, graduating in 2017 as a Senior. Grala lives in Mooresville, North Carolina. Grala has been accepted to Georgia Tech, to major in engineering, but has deferred his admission to pursue his racing career. Grala is of Polish ancestry.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

Pinty's Series
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ARCA Racing Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
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