Kaz Grala

For the first time in his career, Grala will go full-time racing in the Xfinity Series in the upcoming season. The 24-year-old talent competed in a 10-start schedule last season and earned just one Top-10 and two Top-20 finishes racing for multiple teams. It wasn't an ideal situation, and that will be remedied in 2023 with a full schedule in this solid race team at SHR. Grala now has 44-career starts in this division of NASCAR and a surprising 10 Top-10 finishes despite the lack of consistent seat time and varying teams. Big ovals and road courses seem to be Grala's strength and that's a fact to keep in mind when considering this driver and team for weekly lineup leagues or daily fantasy racing. Sam Hunt Racing was able to nab five Top-10 finishes last year employing a multi-driver approach. We believe they'll be even better with the consistency of Grala behind the wheel every week.

Grala made just two Xfinity Series starts in 2021. He signed late in the off-season with Alpha Prime Racing to make an un-announced number of starts for Alpha Prime Racing in the 2022 season. Grala possesses good road racing skills and good superspeedway skills, so he's a worthy consideration in weekly lineup leagues.

This driver lineup is not confirmed at the time of this writing, but it is rumored that Alfredo and Grala will split this full-time team to some extent. Richard Childress Racing fielded this team in the 33-event schedule last season with both drivers and Myatt Snider as well. The trio collected five Top-5 and 15 Top-10 finishes. While the team led very few laps, and didn't challenge for wins, they did have good equipment and decent consistency. Much of the lack of performance is due to the inexperience of the young driver lineup. However, Alfredo and Grala are gaining that experience and should improve in 2021. We don't expect any wins, but the team should pile up the Top 10's and race competitively most weeks.

Made just 5 starts last season with Richard Childress Racing and earned one Top-5 finish across those starts. 2020 plans have not been announced as of mid-January.

This team raced part-time in 2018 with Grala to good effect. In just 12 starts they collected one Top-5, four Top-10 and eight Top-15 finishes. It was a very impressive effort given the small size of this team, and limited resources. They would wish to race full-time in the upcoming season if enough sponsorship can be found. That's the good news. Veteran crew chief, Shane Wilson, was a steadying presence atop the team's war wagon, and he will likely return in 2019. If sponsorship can be found, this is the team in the bottom end of the rankings that has the most upward potential. However, funding is just a big question mark heading into the new season.

Grala gets the promotion from the Camping World Truck Series and into the Xfinity Series this season. JGL Racing wasted no time nabbing the young talent at the end of last season and assembling a team to succeed. Grala will be paired with veteran crew chief, Shane Wilson, and the two will look to challenge for Rookie of the Year in this division of NASCAR. He posted good numbers last season in the trucks, nabbing his first-career win and 11 Top-10 finishes in the No. 33 truck. Grala would end the year a very impressive seventh in the final driver standings. He will face more challenges moving up a division this season, but Grala’s talent is undeniable and can take him a long way in his first Xfinity Series season.

Grala has climbed the NASCAR ranks pretty quickly. In just three short years he has gone from relative obscurity to having his first full-time ride in the Camping World Truck Series. The 18-year-old takes over the driver's seat of the strong No. 33 Chevrolet of GMS Racing. Grala competed part-time last season for GMSR and picked up three Top-10 finishes in just nine starts. Most of those good efforts were on the smaller ovals of Dover, Gateway and Loudon. Grala will now get a full 23-race slate to show what he can do with this very capable team. He'll be paired with crew chief Jerry Baxter who comes over from Kyle Busch Motorsports. There's some exciting potential possible in this team-driver-crew chief combination.