Kaz Grala has a picture in his office, it’s full of burnout smoke and you can’t really tell what it is, unless you know what you’re looking for.
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It was his win at Daytona in 2017 in the Truck Series, when he became the youngest winner in national touring history at the World Center of Racing and it’s still his only victory to date. It’s in his office to remind him of what he is working towards, especially on days where it hasn’t been easy to put full seasons together, much less with really competitive programs.
“I think the picture serves as a reminder that wins at this level are not easy to come by,” Grala said on Wednesday during a media conference call. “You certainly shouldn’t ever take any one for granted. I feel like since then I haven’t been in as many positions to win as I’d like to be, and that’s still a work in progress, of course.”
Grala finally put together a full season in the Xfinity Series last season and finished 17th in the standings for Sam Hunt Racing and is now going Cup racing but once again in piecemeal fashion. He opened the season at the Los Angeles Clash with Rick Ware Racing, where he will make 25 other starts this year, but has entered the Daytona 500 with Front Row Motorsports.
He was unable to time trial his way into the Clash but feels really excited for the Great American Race as its with a team that won in 2021 with Michael McDowell and always brings fast superspeedway cars to the track six times a year.
Grala has also spent the past few weeks bouncing back and forth from the Ware shop to the Front Row shop.
“I’ve had seasons of my career where they’re really sparse and I’ve only got a couple of races and don’t really have anywhere to go, don’t really have a home base, so it’s been really nice being welcomed into these two organizations and knowing that I’ll have as much of a schedule as I have ever had, seven before this year,” Grala said.
“To get the chance to run 26, that’s a big difference, a big deal to me because I’ll really be able to get to learn and understand these NextGen cars far more than I have already and get to know the tracks in these cars, get to know the competitors.
“I think that’s so important. The Cup Series, people talk about how big of a jump it is and they’re absolutely right. It’s not simple to get into and it’s not simple to be successful in, so the more of a routine I can get and get used to it, certainly the better off I’ll be because those guys don’t miss a beat. If you’re coming in for a one-off or a two-off schedule, that’s hard to go up against these guys.”
Grala is an exercise in determination.
He concedes there have been times where he wondered if his career was coming to a close. It’s getting harder to gain and retain corporate partnerships. It’s harder to stay in positive headspaces when the cars he’s driven are not championship caliber cars, but he enjoys all of it and has never wavered in his optimism.
“I feel like the off track marketability, being able to talk to the sponsors, being able to understand what a sponsor wants, it’s not about pitching them on how many wins you have or how many top-5s you have because your wins and top-5s don’t translate to them selling whatever their product is,” Grala said. “You need to be able to understand, ‘OK, what can I bring to the table that helps this company based on exactly what their product is, what their marketing objectives are.’
“How do I plan to help them with that? I feel like generally my ability to talk to sponsors and there have been times I’ve only had five races of sponsorship going into the year and last year I hit 33 races of sponsorship.
“It’s not always the easiest thing and it’s not a sure fire, ‘Oh, I know how to do that, so I’m going to have millions and millions of dollars in sponsorship.’ It’s not that simple, but I think that is absolutely a big piece of it is being able to manage the off-track relationships and taking a leadership role at the shop. There’s a lot to this sport that is outside of just how fast can you make it through this corner in a race car?
“I feel like that’s what’s been able to keep me in the game as long as I have been and keep me grinding is I’ve gotten just enough to always get me to the next race a little bit, and I’ve been able to grow that and now here I am in a really exciting spot for this year and hopefully with a great opportunity ahead of me.”
Which all comes back to the picture in his office.
Grala said he is as determined as ever to get back to Victory Lane. It doesn’t have to be Cup this year, but it’s about progression.
“Those are tall orders but I think it’s all part of this process of trying to put yourself in the best possible place, what’s going to be best for your career two years from now, five years from now,” Grala said. “When you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to race for the year, what team you’re going to go with, what series you’re going to be in, you have to look years in advance as to what the potential is there.
“It’s not about, ‘Oh, where is the best team this year.’ You have to really look at the big picture and the big picture is that – winning more races, and I hope I’m in the right place to where I can make that a reality a handful of years down the road, wherever that may be, whatever that my look like, but I’m hoping every year that I’ll end up being on the right track to being able to accomplish some more of that because there is certainly no better feeling than winning.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.