The youngest. Always the youngest.
The most intelligent? That too.
Assist: Not something Kaz Grala was quick to achieve. His sports career closed the way for him.
At Armstrong Elementary School, not far from Route 135 and downtown Westborough, Grala’s grades as a fifth-grader ranked among the best in the class. But trips to weekend races, mostly in the Southeast, kept him away from school long enough to draw the ire of administrators.
“Up until the point where I had missed enough days to compete, the principal had to tell us that legally they would have to make me repeat the grade if I missed more days,” Grala, 25, said with a laugh in a phone interview Monday. with the Daily News.
He enrolled at Worcester Academy, which allowed him to submit schoolwork online and complete assignments on the go via a laptop. Her grades were not affected: Graza made the Principal’s List and earned a perfect score of 800 on the math portion of the SAT.
While living in Westborough (he graduated from Worcester Academy in 2017 before moving to North Carolina), Grala participated in many sports: swimming, tennis, little league, soccer and go-karting.
His transition to short track racing at age 9 immediately put him at the front of the pack, winning rookie season championships at the Bandoleros (generally for kids ages 8 to 14) and Leyenda (ages 10 and up) levels. He won his first starts racing late model stock cars at age 14 and super late model cars at age 16.
Since 2012:The Westborough Speedway
“It seems crazy at some ages when I was doing these things,” Grala said. “I drove a full-size race car with a manual transmission at 140 miles per hour when I was 13 years old. Honestly, what I did in a race car happened before I had a Massachusetts driver’s license; It seems crazy. But everyone gets into this from a very young age. “That wasn’t out of character with some of my peers.”
Leaving those teammates behind, he became the youngest winner (18 years, 1 month, 26 days) in the history of Daytona Speedway (as part of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) and the youngest to reach the NASCAR playoffs. (that same year ).
Grala is a rookie again, racing for Rick Ware Racing in the No. 15 Mustang in NASCAR’s highest level: the Cup Series. He’ll race Sunday at the Series’ only stop in New England, New Hampshire Motor Speedway , on USA Today 301. (USA Network, 2:30 pm).
“For me, it’s really my home race,” said Grala, one of three New England runners in the field along with Connecticut’s Joey Logano and Ryan Preece. “It will be fun to race in front of the New England crowd.”
Competing against his hero, Jimmie Johnson
Grala inherited his love for racing from his father, Darius, a native of Poland who raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2003, shortly after Kaz began karting at age 4. The young man’s favorite driver was Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“I grew up watching NASCAR back in the day when he was winning absolutely everything,” Grala said. “He was absolutely unbeatable for years.”
Johnson’s last season as a full-time driver, in 2020, coincided with the debut of the Grala Cup. Austin Dillon had tested positive for COVID-19 and Richard Childress Racing tapped Grala to drive the No. 3 car made famous by Dale Earnhardt.
Further:Boston’s Kaz Grala impresses in unexpected Cup debut at Daytona
With just 24 hours to spare, Grala finished seventh, becoming the first Cup driver since Carl Edwards in 2004 to debut in the top 10. Johnson placed fourth.
“I could see it right in front of me, which was very, very cool,” Grala recalled.
Johnson still races occasionally and is 36th in the Cup standings, one spot behind Grala.
“We have found ourselves competing with each other quite a bit. I don’t know why, but we have found each other along the way,” Grala said. “I’ve spent a good amount of time this year wrestling with Jimmie. “I’m sure my younger self would have loved that.”
Grala missed Westboro Speedway, rooted in Celtics
Grala, who was born in Boston, said moving to the Central Mass. city that was once home to the Westboro Speedway for nearly 40 years was a coincidence. The track closed in 1985, 13 years before Grala’s birth, and is the site of RK Speedway Plaza along Route 9.
“I heard people loved it,” Grala said. “I guess running shopping carts down the aisles at Stop & Shop is the closest thing you can get now.”
Stop & Shop closed its Speedway Plaza location three years ago.
But Grala hasn’t wasted Boston’s place at the top of the sports world this century. He said he has attended many Red Sox and Patriots games and that he was a fan of the Boston Blazers indoor lacrosse team that played its games at TD Garden more than a decade ago.
During Monday’s interview, which took place a few hours before the Celtics won their 18th NBA championship at the Garden, Grala said: “I’ll be watching to see if they’re able to close it out. That would be a big deal going forward.” local NASCAR weekend. That would be a great start.”
Grala’s goals include finishing in the top 10 and a long sporting career
When asked if this week was different compared to the rest of the season (with increased media attention, ticket requests and text messages from supporters), Grala responded, chuckling, “yes to all that.” .
He has raced at New Hampshire Motor Speedway three times, including last year’s Xfinity Series race where he placed 13th.
“This weekend I will have a larger cheering section than usual,” he said. “I’m hoping to have a good weekend this weekend, probably more than any other.”
The rookie, with all his previous accolades on smaller circuits, has something to prove. He calls Rick Ware Racing the “underdog team in this series. “We’re trying to punch above our weight, so to speak.”
Grala has five top-20 finishes this season, with a high of 11th at the NASCAR All-Star Open on May 19. His goal is to be in the top 10 this year and the ability to “run close to the front” on a consistent basis.
“Those are lofty goals, but we’ve gotten closer and I feel like we’re on the path to achieving them. That’s the goal: try to keep impressing and if you do, you’ll be here for a long time. And that’s the ultimate goal: to be a Cup contender for his entire career.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at attdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
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