It was a relatively cool Saturday afternoon in the Midwestern circuit of World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sept. 6, and likewise, it was set to be a relatively normal night for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race set to take place.
It was the first time the series had competed at Gateway in 15 years, plus it was the final race before the division’s 2025 playoffs began. Otherwise, it was par for the course for NASCAR’s second-tier series.
But to 22-year-old Kole Raz, it meant everything.
“I feel like it’s been a dream to do it, right?” Raz told Frontstretch. “Anything in the top three [series]. I mean, really, this opportunity last year, I wouldn’t even think would have been possible.”
Raz, a part-time ARCA Menards Series driver, sat in his hauler waiting to climb into his No. 76 AM Racing Ford in what would be his first career start in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions. For somebody with only 15 ARCA starts and numerous late model appearances under his belt, it was a big leap into the next stage of a racer’s career.
“It’s excitement,” Raz continued. “It’s nerves. I want to throw up, but (there’s) also just a lot of learning to be had, which excites me because I feel like we’ve gone to a lot of new places this year — so you still have a learning curve — but this is just so much to take in a rather short time. My pit stops and all the things that the regular guys do 22 weeks already, the small things are just going to be a lot to learn, so I’m pumped up.”
But one of those 15 starts is exactly the reason his debut came to be. In 2024, Raz won the ARCA Menards Series West race at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway after a long grueling side-by-side battle with series regular Trevor Huddleston.
His win raised the eyebrows of potential partners Cyclum Next Gen Travel Centers and full-time ARCA and Xfinity team AM Racing. It took over a year and some additional ARCA starts for the Oregonian, but it finally led to a Xfinity debut.
“That’s how Cyclum Next Gen Travel Centers found me, and we talked on the phone for a couple months and things progressed, and we got to do an ARCA race at Phoenix in November,” Raz recalled. “Then we had a rough game plan of what we want to do between ARCA stuff and potential Xfinity, and we were hoping to do some Xfinity starts earlier in the year, and just the timing of it all didn’t really work out. And obviously, we’ve been off with AM for about three months now since Michigan. … With the playoffs starting, this was the last possible chance for us to do anything the rest of the year.”
It may have been known for some time, but it didn’t make the start any less special for the young racer. Especially when taking into account his hometown. Historically, most NASCAR stars are native to the Southeastern end of the United States, and those few that are from the West Coast are California natives.
So, when you think of NASCAR drivers from Oregon, very few will likely come to mind.
“It’s just different from the East Coast in the sense of we don’t have as deep of a competition level for super late models,” Raz said. “There’s a lot of talented guys out there that don’t get the spotlight that I feel like they deserve just because we are out West that’s so disconnected. But, going back home, it always still kicks my ass here in the area of running. So, there’s a lot of guys out there that I think deserve an opportunity, and it’s just an honor for me to be one to represent a West Coast guy because there is so little.”
In fact, when he took the green flag on Saturday, Raz became the first Oregonian to make a NASCAR start that was born in this century. Additionally, he’s now one of only 50 Oregon drivers to make a start in NASCAR’s national divisions, joining the likes of NASCAR Hall of Famer Hershel McGriff and Mike Bliss.
“The West Coast guys just don’t have the same chance to go secure that kind of funding unless it is family related,” Raz said. “That limits a lot of it, but to have the opportunity to be one to do it, it’s pretty humbling.”
With all of this pressure and anticipation, Raz did what he felt he needed to do to get ready. A short track veteran, the 22-year-old had not been on a 1.25-mile track like Gateway before. Plus, to a driver that has raced ARCA cars and late models his whole life, getting used to the versatile Xfinity car was a must.
“It’s quite a bit different, especially from the late model,” Raz said. “I prefer the Xfinity car over the ARCA car. I feel like you can actually drive through a certain condition better. Like, the ARCA car was stuck. It’s more fun as a driver in this series.”
Additionally, leading up to his debut, Raz relied on the guidance of his AM Racing teammate and Xfinity playoff driver Harrison Burton, also. In fact, it got to the point where the young West Coast racer was worried he may be annoying him.
“[Burton] helped, yeah,” Raz recalled. “I was flying to Pensacola, and I was just blowing his phone out. I was like, ‘You cut me off whenever you want. I’m not trying to wear you out. This is a big enough week for you already. The last thing you need is just a rookie to be asking you stupid questions, right?’ But it’s been a huge help, and he explained that this allows him to think it through in a different way as well. So, it actually kind of evened out for both of us, but it’s been really great to have somebody to lean on like him.”
After everything, Raz had the hope that a top-20 finish was in the works.
Unfortunately, despite his preparation, the positivity of his first start floundered shortly after that green flag. Raz and the No. 76 team had a brake issue early in stage one and had to bring the car to the garage to make repairs.
“We fired off actually pretty well,” Raz reported. “We maintained, gained a little bit of track position and was happy with where we were at. Pedal started getting a little soft, and, obviously, with me not being accustomed to these things, I didn’t know if it was temperature related like if I overcooked them early on, so I backed that off and got off into turn 3 and it went to the floor.”
The young West Coast racer rejoined the circuit later but finished 15 laps down in 34th.
It wasn’t the debut he wanted, but nonetheless it was enough to get used to a car he had never run before. Perhaps, despite the poor result, it’s enough to grant him more NASCAR starts in 2025 and beyond.
“At that point it was just trying to make a day out of learning for me, right?” Raz said. “I mean, we’re not going to get anything position wise, (I’m) trying to learn and get the rest of the year of whatever we can do. The last stage there, I was actually really happy with our balance, like, we had good top-15 speed, and that’s that was going to be my goal, right?
“Hopefully, we can come back for more.”
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, 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 Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT