Grala Avoids Last Lap Crash For Daytona Truck Victory

Kaz Grala found himself in the right place at the right time to win the biggest race of his career in Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener to becoame the youngest NASCAR winner in the history of Daytona International Speedway.

Grala managed to sneak through a last-lap melee that broke out on the backstretch and led Austin Wayne Self to the finish to secure his first-career Truck Series victory in just his 10th series start and his first ever start at Daytona.

Rookie Chase Briscoe finished third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek and Joe Nemechek.

Grala becomes the youngest NASCAR winner in Daytona history, besting the previous record held by Tyler Reddick.

“That was freaking awesome! I can’t believe we won Daytona,” said Grala. “Honestly I got lucky coming out of two there, I just didn’t lift and luckily everything went crazy around me. Hope everybody’s all right there but, oh, I’m so happy with the way that played out, I can’t even believe it.

“I didn’t know what I was doing out there. I don’t know how to do a doughnut, I don’t know how to do a victory lap like that. I just know I’m Polish, so I figured I should drive backwards.”

By the time Grala took the green flag in Friday night’s race, he had already wrote his name in the record books as the youngest NASCAR driver ever to secure a pole at Daytona after topping the afternoon qualifying session, putting him on the front row with teammate Johnny Sauter.

Grala quickly got a trial by fire just two laps into his first Daytona race when Briscoe touched off a 17-truck pileup after giving a push to Noah Gragson coming out of the tri-oval.

The wreck was the first test of NASCAR’s new “damaged vehicle” policy, as several trucks that might have been able to continue were eliminated once they returned to the garage, putting several early favorites like Austin Cindric, Ryan Truex and Ross Chastain on the back of the hauler.

Grala rallied and led until lap 13 when Christopher Bell, Spencer Gallagher and Brett Moffitt began mixing it up for the top spot. Finally, Bell and Moffitt made contact on the final lap of the first segment, ending Moffitt’s night and sending Bell to the pits.

Meanwhile, up front, Sauter sliped into the lead to win the opening 20-lap stage and earn himself 10 points. Timothy Peters, Ben Rhodes, Kaz Grala and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top five.

On the restart, Sauter was again out front and led all 20 laps to win the second stage over Grala, Gallagher, Scott Lagasse, Jr. and Timothy Peters, earning another 10 points.

Starting the third, 60-lap segment, Peters was first off pit road and led the field to the green flag and was soon duking it out with Bell – who somehow managed to stay on the lead lap after spinning at the end of the first segment – Sauter and Ben Rhodes.

Sauter finally managed to power his way back to the front and led for 25 laps as the top 10 trucks lined up single file behind him – with no one looking to break out of line to make a pass for the lead.

The final caution flag waved with four laps to go after John Hunter Nemechek spun in turn two, setting up a three-lap shootout for the win.

On the final restart, Sauter dropped down in front of Grala as Crafton began to pick up steam on the outside with help from Rhodes, who pushed Crafton to the front past Sauter.

Sauter tried to fight his way back, making it three-wide through the middle as the field came around on the white flag lap. But up front, Rhodes got turned off the bumper of teammate Grant Enfinger and turned down into Crafton, touching off a massive crash that sent Crafton’s truck on a complete barrel roll in mid-air.

Grala, who was running third after getting shuffled out of the lead, slipped right through the middle along with Self and held on to take the checkered flag.

“I saw coming out of (turn) 2 it starting to get crazy,” said Grala. “There wasn’t going to be any way I was going to be lifting (off the accelerator). I was just going to go low, cross my fingers and close my eyes a little bit. Luckily, it worked out for me. I just can’t believe it. It’s so surreal.”

Self’s runner-up finish was his career best and his first-ever top five in just his second Daytona start.

“When all hell broke loose, we were in the right spot,” said Self. “We had a long race kind of that first instant, so we were just trying to stay out of trouble for the first two segments and really just get ourselves in the best position for the third one. And we did.

“It got wild. We all knew it was. The whole race was really wild. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and fortunately I was able to find the right place and be there at the right time, and that’s why we came home second.”

Briscoe was making his first-ever Truck Series start and managed to pull off a third-place finish, but was also feeling some guilt over causing the first big wreck on lap two.

“I feel absolutely awful about it, especially that I got our teammate,” said Briscoe. “Definitely not the way I want to start off my career and kind of the reputation I wanted to build. But like I said, I hate it for everybody.”

Regan Smith finish sixth, followed by Lagasse, Jr. in seventh. Christopher Bell came home eighth despite being caught up in two crashes. J.J. Yeley and Myatt Snider made up the rest of the top 10.

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Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
NextEra Energy Resources 250 – February 24, 2017

1. (1) Kaz Grala #, Chevrolet, 100.
2. (22) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 100.
3. (16) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 100.
4. (19) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 100.
5. (9) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 100.
6. (25) Regan Smith, Ford, 100.
7. (14) Scott Lagasse, Jr.(i), Chevrolet, 100.
8. (4) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 100.
9. (27) J.J. Yeley(i), Toyota, 100.
10. (13) Myatt Snider, Toyota, 100.
11. (17) Cody Coughlin #, Toyota, 100.
12. (8) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 100.
13. (3) Spencer Gallagher(i), Chevrolet, 100.
14. (7) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 99.
15. (2) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 99.
16. (11) Grant Enfinger #, Toyota, 99.
17. (5) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 99.
18. (31) Todd Peck(i), Chevrolet, 99.
19. (28) Wendell Chavous #, Chevrolet, 98.
20. (10) Korbin Forrister, Toyota, Accident, 71.
21. (21) Bobby Gerhart(i), Chevrolet, Radiator, 41.
22. (6) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, Accident, 20.
23. (23) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, Accident, 12.
24. (32) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Engine, 11.
25. (24) Terry Jones, Ford, Accident, 4.
26. (12) Noah Gragson, Toyota, Accident, 1.
27. (18) Austin Cindric #, Ford, Accident, 1.
28. (20) Ryan Truex, Toyota, Accident, 1.
29. (15) Clay Greenfield, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
30. (26) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
31. (29) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
32. (30) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 129.72 mph.

Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 55 Mins, 38 Secs. Margin of Victory: Caution.

Caution Flags: 6 for 29 laps.

Lead Changes: 14 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Grala # 1-13; C. Bell 14-15; S. Gallagher(i) 16-17; B. Moffitt 18-19; J. Sauter 20-43; T. Peck(i) 44; T. Peters 45-46; C. Bell 47-48; J. Sauter 49-51; B. Rhodes 52-68; C. Bell 69-70; B. Rhodes 71-73; J. Sauter 74-98; M. Crafton 99; K. Grala # 100;.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Sauter 3 times for 52 laps; B. Rhodes 2 times for 20 laps; K. Grala # 2 times for 14 laps; C. Bell 3 times for 6 laps; B. Moffitt 1 time for 2 laps; S. Gallagher(i) 1 time for 2 laps; T. Peters 1 time for 2 laps; T. Peck(i) 1 time for 1 lap; M. Crafton 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 21,17,27,33,23,29,5,24,87,8

Stage #2 Top Ten: 21,33,23,24,17,27,4,51,87,22