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Rick Ware Racing on Wednesday (January 17) announced that the organization signed Kaz Grala for the majority of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. He will serve as the anchor driver of the team's second full-time entry.
Grala, who competed full-time in the Xfinity Series last year with Sam Hunt Racing, will drive the RWR’s #15 Ford in 25 races, starting with pre-season Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 4. He will pair with crew chief Billy Plourde this season.
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Team owner Rick Ware is happy to have Grala behind the wheel of the #15 car in the 2024 season. Ware said in a statement:
“Kaz Grala is a talented and tenacious driver who brings a lot to our race team. He has an incredible work ethic and leverages every opportunity to its full potential. He’s an asset inside and outside of the car who will help make our program better.”
“Kaz is another crucial piece of our organization and for the same reasons we brought Justin Haley on board, we feel Kaz can also contribute immediately. Kaz wants to make a difference and, above all, he wants to perform. That’s the kind of drive and determination all of us have at RWR.”
Kaz Grala ended the 2023 Xfinity Series season in 17th place in the championship standings along with nine top-10 finishes. His best finish of the P4 came at the Richmond Raceway.
Kaz Grala spoke about joining Rick Ware Racing for 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season
The 25-year-old driver has made seven starts in NASCAR's top-tier series, with a pair of two top-10 finishes from 2020 to 2022. He finished seventh in his Cup debut at Daytona’s Road Course in 2020 and the following year clinched the series best finish of P6 at Talladega Superspeedway.
In a team release, Kaz Grala said:
“I’ve gotten the chance to race in the Cup Series a handful of times already, so I know how big of a jump it is from the Xfinity Series. The depth of talent in Cup is steep. It really is the highest level of motorsport in the U.S., with both the quality of teams and the drivers. Last year, the Xfinity Series had a particularly deep field of fulltime competitors, so I feel like 2023 was the right year for me to gain experience ahead of this next step in my career.
Kaz Grala’s first regular-season start at Rick Ware Racing will come in the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday (Feb. 25).
