Indianapolis NXS Race Report
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Race 20 of 33 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 2.439 mi Road Course
Format: 62 Laps - 151.218 Miles
Kaz Grala’s Finish: 32nd
Speedway, Indiana - Kaz Grala rejoined Big Machine Racing to try his hand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this past weekend for the Pennzoil 150. Grala made his debut with the team earlier this season competing in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Super Speedway and at Dover Motor Speedway for the A-Game 200.
The weekend began with practice on the 14-turn, road corse, with qualifying immediately after. Practice was ultimately cut short with nearly 2 minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock, so track crews could retrieve a car stuck in the gravel. Kaz was able to run several laps and ended practice 28th fastest with a lap time of 1:33.540. During practice Kaz was having issues upshifting out of the corners - this lead to the team needing to swap out the transmission before Saturday’s Pennzoil 150. Kaz qualified 24th fastest with a lap time of 1:31.97.
Saturday’s race was enough to keep you on the edge of your seat for the near 2-hour run time of the event. It didn’t take long for Grala to find his rhythm on the track as he began making his way up through the field. The first caution of the day came at lap 15. Kaz was heard on the radio telling Crew Chief, Patrick Donahue, that the car was a little snug entering and exiting turns. Donahue opted to not make any changes at that time, citing that Kaz was running his fastest laps of the day.
By the end of Stage 2, Kaz had made his way into the top-3. In the final stage of the race, Grala informed Donahue of an issue with the right front - possibly a flat spot in the tire from over-braking. The issue with the right front ultimately led to the tire going down and Kaz needing to bring the No. 48 Chevrolet back to pit road where the team opted for 4 fresh tires and fuel, but left them a lap down. Kaz Grala ended the day with a p32 finish.
Results:
Qualifying - p24
Stage 1 - p16
Stage 2 - p3
Final - p32