{"id":21395,"date":"2017-02-25T10:43:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T15:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=21395"},"modified":"2017-02-26T10:44:22","modified_gmt":"2017-02-26T15:44:22","slug":"rookie-kaz-grala-avoids-last-lap-incident-wins-nextera-energy-resources-250","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2017\/02\/rookie-kaz-grala-avoids-last-lap-incident-wins-nextera-energy-resources-250\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Kaz Grala Avoids Last-Lap Incident, Wins NextEra Energy Resources 250"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Rookie Kaz Grala Avoids Last-Lap Incident, Wins NextEra Energy Resources 250<\/strong>
\n\u00b7 Grala Becomes Youngest Daytona Race-Winner in NASCAR National Series History
\n\u00b7 David Ragan, Kyle Busch Top DAYTONA 500 Practice Sessions
\n\u00b7 PowerShares QQQ 300 Opens NASCAR XFINITY Series Season on Saturday<\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2017) \u2013 Rookie driver Kaz Grala guided his truck through, then past a last-lap incident involving 13 trucks to win an action-filled NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Friday night at Daytona International Speedway, to open the season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.<\/p>\n

Grala, an 18-year-old who started on the pole in the No. 33 Kiklos Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil Chevrolet, emerged from the backstretch incident that ruined a dominating effort by Grala\u2019s teammate, defending race champion \u2013 and reigning series champion \u2013 Johnny Sauter (No. 21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet). Sauter led 52 laps of the 100-lap race, in the process also winning the race\u2019s first two \u201cstages\u201d \u2013 in the debut of NASCAR\u2019s new national-series format that divides races into three stages and awards points for each stage. Friday\u2019s stages were 20, 20 and 60 laps.
\n<\/p>\n

Sauter was passed for the lead by former series champion Matt Crafton at the start of the final lap. Crafton was slightly ahead on the backstretch when multi-car contact sent his No. 88 Goof Off\/Menards Toyota airborne, into a full flip \u2013 but then landing upright. Sauter, caught up in the incident, finished 15th.<\/p>\n

Grala is the youngest Daytona International Speedway winner of a NASCAR national series race \u2013 18 years, one month, 26 days. He was followed to the flag by Austin Wayne Self (No. 32 AM Technical Solutions Toyota) and another rookie, Chase Briscoe (No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford).<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw coming out of Turn 2 it was getting crazy,\u201d Grala said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t going to be any way I was going to be lifting. I just went low, closed by eyes and crossed my fingers and luckily it worked out \u2026 it was pretty hectic.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were two practice sessions on Friday for the 59th annual DAYTONA 500, set for Sunday. The starting grid for the DAYTONA 500 had been finalized Thursday night via the Can-Am Duel, the annual pair of 150-mile qualifying races for \u201cThe Great American Race.\u201d Chase Elliott (No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet) and two-time DAYTONA 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet) qualified 1-2 in the DAYTONA 500 Qualifying Presented By Kroger on Feb. 19 to lock in front-row positions. The Can-Am Duel established the field beyond the front row.<\/p>\n

David Ragan (No. 38 Camping World Ford) posted the fastest lap in the first practice, 194.898 mph. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe\u2019s Chevrolet) \u2013 a two-time DAYTONA 500 champion and seven-time champion of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series \u2013 had the best average speed for 10 consecutive laps on the 2.5-mile tri-oval, 192.731.<\/p>\n

The second practice was led by a 197.265-mph lap from former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M\u2019s Toyota). Series rookie Erik Jones (No. 77 5-hour Energy Extra Strength Toyota) led the 10-consecutive lap averages at 195.933.<\/p>\n

Final practice for the DAYTONA 500 is scheduled for Saturday from 12:30 p.m.-1:55 p.m.<\/p>\n

Also Friday, two practices were held for Saturday\u2019s PowerShares QQQ 300, the season-opening event for the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Justin Allgaier (193.890 mph) and JJ Yeley (187.005) had the respective fastest laps. Qualifying for the event is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, with the race at 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

CHASE BRISCOE \u2013 No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150 (Finished 3rd) \u2013 TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE TONIGHT? \u201cIt was hectic. This kind of racing will make your hair go white. An up and down night. I felt that I had something to do with that first wreck and I feel bad about that. Overall, to have my first start in NASCAR in the Camping World Truck Series with the Cooper Standard Ford and BKR, it was awesome. Hopefully we can go to Atlanta and get a win now.\u201d TAKE US THROUGH THAT LAST RESTART: \u201cIt was nuts. I thought that I was in good position, fell all the way down to 10th and got some positions after the last wreck. My spotter TJ Majors was incredible.\u201d HOW DID YOU GET THROUGH THE LAST BIG WRECK? \u201cI have no idea. The Lord blessed us on that one for sure. It was hairy. The whole race was wild. Just watching past truck races you know how it is. I felt like we were in really good position on the last restart. We restarted third and kind of got bottled up on the bottom. I just stayed tight to the line and missed the last wreck.\u201d WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT SECOND LAP WRECK? \u201cI just feel awful about it. I got a huge run. I felt like I was out of the tri-oval and just trying to get going when we kind of all checked up and got in the back of them. I hate it for everyone involved. It\u2019s not the way that I wanted to start off my career and the reputation to have.\u201d WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW SEGMENT FORMAT? \u201cI feel like this place is going to be so intense the entire time. I didn\u2019t get to run the old format. I think the new format added a whole new dynamic as far as strategy goes. I thought it was an improvement and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing it again in Atlanta.\u201d YOU HEAD TO ATLANTA NEXT WEEKEND, A TRACK THAT YOU TESTED AT EARLIER: \u201cI felt really good in Atlanta. I felt that our truck and entire team was happy in Atlanta. I feel like we had pretty good balance and had a lot of speed. I\u2019m just not sure how the right-side tires are going to play out and where it\u2019s going to stack us up speed wise. I feel like we have a really good Cooper Standard F-150. I\u2019m really excited to go there. It\u2019s one place that I always wanted to race. It\u2019s really going to fit a dirt guys\u2019 style of how much you\u2019ll have to search for grip.\u201d WAS THE DRIVABILITY OF YOUR TRUCK WHAT YOU ANTICIPATED? \u201cHonestly, it moved around a lot more than I anticipated. With my ARCA experience we have aero you have to deal with but not near the extent of the truck. That was the only thing that I struggled with tonight was how much we actually moved around behind guys. Atlanta is a deal where you\u2019re going to have be able to move around, guys getting on your door and getting you loose. I feel like in practice I\u2019m going to have a real good run. At the test we only had four trucks and didn\u2019t have an opportunity to do that. I\u2019m looking forward and getting there and see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

AUSTIN CINDRIC \u2013 No. 19 Draw-Tite\/Reese Brands Ford F-150 (Finished 27th – Crash) \u2013 YOU TOOK A BIG HIT, HOW ARE YOU? WHAT HAPPENED? \u201cYes, I\u2019m fine. It was definitely the biggest hit that I\u2019ve ever taken. It\u2019s one of those things, just superspeedway racing and guys are too aggressive on the first few laps. We definitely had the rookie stripes showing early in the race. The BKR guys worked hard during the offseason and we have Atlanta next week to go at it again. I\u2019m disappointed, we had a lot of people here from Draw-Tite and PIRTEK to support us. It was really tough to only be able to run one lap for them. We\u2019ll go to Atlanta and see what we\u2019ve got.\u201d WALK US THROUGH THE LAP BEFORE THE ACCIDENT: \u201cOur No. 19 Ford F-150 was crucial in getting the outside line moving. I sat back a little bit to try and get the high line. We had a great run and then a bunch of guys started to get into each other, got collected in and took some guys behind me.\u201d WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM TONIGHT? \u201cI was really excited for my second superspeedway race because I spent a lot of time preparing for this weekend. I really want to be a student of the sport. I spent a lot of time with Joey (Logano) to watch and understand how the aero works here. I was really looking forward in applying what I learned, we just got caught up in the wreck and that\u2019s disappointing. We\u2019ll learn more at Talladega in a few months and look forward to Atlanta next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rookie Kaz Grala Avoids Last-Lap Incident, Wins NextEra Energy Resources 250 \u00b7 Grala Becomes Youngest Daytona Race-Winner in NASCAR National Series History \u00b7 David Ragan, Kyle Busch Top DAYTONA 500 Practice Sessions \u00b7 PowerShares QQQ 300 Opens NASCAR XFINITY Series Season on Saturday DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 24, 2017) \u2013 Rookie driver Kaz Grala guided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21395"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21397,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21395\/revisions\/21397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}