Grala Stays at RCR for Select Xfinity Series Races

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Kaz Grala will continue to run for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, piloting the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for a select amount of races that’ll commence this summer.

Friday’s announcement confirms that Grala rounds out the 2020 lineup as Myatt Snider and Anthony Alfredo will also run the No. 21 machine.

The 2017 Daytona Truck Series winner commented that last year’s stint at RCR was a learning curve and is excited on helping the team compete for the Xfinity Series car owner’s championship as RCR’s No. 2 team (driven by Tyler Reddick) won it last year.

“I learned a lot as a driver working with RCR last year, so I feel confident that our existing chemistry as a team will lead to even better results in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season,” Grala said in a press release. “RCR’s Xfinity Series program is top-notch, and with the No. 21 car running all year, I am excited to be a part of the team chasing yet another owner’s championship. I’m very grateful to Richard Childress for giving me this opportunity to further my career.”

Grala’s tenure in NXS has been up-and-down he only ran five races for RCR last year after spending 2018 running 22 races for two teams no longer competing the series (JGL Racing, which shut down mid-season and Fury Race Cars).

In those five races, a fifth at Road America marked his only true high point as his other races consisted of three 14th place finishes (Richmond, Dover and Loudon) and a season worst 18th in his team debut at Texas.

However, the Massachusetts racer was able to run all but three laps (892 of 895 laps) in those races which resulted in a 99.7% race completion percentage.

Due to his strong race completion percentage in his five starts, Childress commented that Grala has potential of doing even better this season.

“Kaz showed quite a bit of speed and promise in the No. 21 car last year for RCR,” Childress said. “I’m confident the results will show in 2020, especially after a year under his belt in our proven Xfinity program.”

Grala’s season debut is expected to be announced at a later time. Snider will be the first to run the No. 21 Chevy at season opening NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona International Speedway Saturday, February 15.