NASCAR on TV this week

Kaz Grala Will Attempt Daytona 500 For Kaulig Racing

Kaz Grala will attempt to compete in the 2021 Daytona 500 in the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, the team announced on Wednesday, Jan. 13.

Grala is also set to run in select road course and superspeedway races for Kaulig as they expand their Cup Series footprint this year.

Grala subbed for Austin Dillon and earned a seventh-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway road course last summer. He drove for Richard Childress Racing part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the last two seasons, with his best finish of fourth coming at Road America.

Since debuting in NASCAR’s top three series in 2016, Grala has experienced Daytona success. He snagged top fives in both NXS Daytona oval events in 2018 and won the Camping World Truck Series season opener at the superspeedway in 2017.

“This is a huge opportunity for me, both personally and professionally,” Grala said in a team release. “I’ve grown up dreaming of reaching the NASCAR Cup Series, so it will be really special to get more chances to race against my heroes, with Kaulig Racing being the perfect team to take that next step with. I can’t thank Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice enough for trusting me in their Cup program, as well as RCR for helping shape my career the past couple seasons. I have already worked with many of the Kaulig team members before, so hopefully that will help us hit the ground running next month. Bring on the Daytona 500!”

“We’re super excited to have Kaz join our team in 2021, and we can’t wait to get started with him at Daytona,” added Chris Rice, President of Kaulig Racing. “He has had some great success in different series and layouts at Daytona, so we think he will be a great addition to our team beginning with the Daytona 500.”

Justin Haley competed in the 2020 Daytona 500 for Kaulig Racing, crossing the line in 13th place.

Grala’s other Cup races are yet to be announced.

The 2021 edition of the Great American Race is set to run on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Joy Tomlinson

Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.