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Xfinity: Kaz Grala to drive for Big Machine Racing at Talladega, Dover

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Brandon Jones shares how his team's strategy of trying to capitalize on stage points turned into an Xfinity win at Martinsville and provides his opinion on how he manages different drivers in different cars each year.

Kaz Grala will pilot the No. 48 Chevrolet for Big Machine Racing in the next two NASCAR Xfinity Series races, Big Machine Racing announced Tuesday.

Grala replaces Jade Buford at Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway. BMR made its debut in NASCAR last season and holds an alliance with Richard Childress Racing. Buford, whom Big Machine sponsored in four races in 2020, competed in his first full-time NASCAR season last year with BMR.

Buford tied his career-best finish by coming home eighth at Circuit of the Americas on March 26 but has struggled this year, failing to score any other finishes higher than 22nd.

“We’ve made a very serious commitment to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, including our strategic partnership with RCR,” team owner Scott Borchetta said in a statement, “and at this time we need to evaluate all aspects of the team as I am determined to run up front.”

Grala has 37 career Xfinity starts, including three this season with Alpha Prime Racing. Grala has also made two Cup starts with The Money Team Racing and two Truck Series starts with Young’s Motorsports. The 23-year-old has one Truck victory at Daytona in 2019 and placed seventh in his Cup Series debut driving RCR’s famed No. 3 car at the Daytona road course when Austin Dillon was sidelined by COVID.

The Xfinity Series is off this week and returns at Talladega on April 23.