Kaz Grala will seek to qualify for next month’s Daytona 500 for Kaulig Racing, the team announced Wednesday.
Grala will pilot the No. 16 Camaro ZL1 1LE for the team, which seeks to make its second career Cup race. The team does not have a charter and is not guaranteed a starting spot. Kaulig Racing stated that sponsorship would be announced later.
Kaulig Racing announced earlier this month that it is “anticipating” running a limited Cup schedule this season, focusing primarily on road courses and superspeedways. The team stated that Kaulig is set to run several of those races.
Team owner Matt Kaulig said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio earlier this week that the team plans to have a Cup team next season.
Grala made his Cup debut last year on the Daytona road course. He finished seventh driving for Austin Dillon, who was out after testing positive for COVID-19.
“This is a huge opportunity for me both personally and professionally,” said Grala in a statement from the team. “I’ve grown up dreaming of reaching the NASCAR Cup Series, so it will be really special to get more chances to race against my heroes, with Kaulig Racing being the perfect team to take that next step with. I can’t thank Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice enough for trusting me in their Cup program, as well as RCR for helping shape my career the past couple seasons. I have already worked with many of the Kaulig team members before, so hopefully that will help us hit the ground running next month. Bring on the Daytona 500!”
“We’re super excited to have Kaz join our team in 2021, and we can’t wait to get started with him at Daytona,” said Rice, President of Kaulig Racing, in a statement from the team. “He has had some great success in different series and layouts at Daytona, so we think he will be a great addition to our team beginning with the Daytona 500.”