Race Weekend Central

Kaz Grala Replacing Jade Buford for 2 Races at Big Machine

Kaz Grala will drive the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Team Chevrolet for two NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season, the team announced April 12.

The 23-year-old will be behind the wheel of the team’s car at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 and Dover Motor Speedway on April 30, when the series visits the venues in the coming weeks.

Grala replaces Jade Buford, the team’s full-time driver, for the two events. Buford has earned one top-10 result in the first eight races of the season, coming at Circuit of the Americas.

See also
Big Machine Racing Team Partnering With RCR in 2022

“We’ve made a very serious commitment to the NASCAR Xfinity Series,” team owner Scott Borchetta said in a release. “Including our strategic partnership with [Richard Childress Racing], and at this time we need to evaluate all aspects of the team as I am determined to run up front.”

Grala has made three Xfinity starts in 2022, all with Alpha Prime Racing in the No. 45. His best finish so far this season is a 23rd-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The No. 48 team currently sits 24th in the owner standings.

About the author

Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a First Lieutenant in the US Army.

Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneLT

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TiminPayson

If you really want to evaluate your program put a veteran like Biffle in the car. Greg was a chassis builder and has lots of knowledge.

JD in NC

Exactly! I like Grala, but he doesn’t provide nearly the kind of benchmark that someone like Biffle would.

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