While sometimes a change of scenery can open doors for a driver, Grala attributes his surge in performance to the people that are surrounding him at Fury Race Cars since the move.
“The speed that we’ve had, the quality of runs and the execution we’ve showed just speaks to the level of talent that the people at Fury Race Cars have who have been working tirelessly for this program to be a success,” Grala explained. “Yes, this was Fury Race Cars’ first time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, but most of the guys on my team have anywhere from five to 20 years of experience at the national level … it was just never all together as a part of this group until recently.
“We’re not lacking for personnel, by any stretch, but what I feel has made this run even more special was the motivation we all shared to make it happen,” added Grala. “Everyone on this team has their own reason for wanting to prove themselves, work their butt off and put their best foot forward to make this program as good as it can be. Everyone is all hands on deck, pulling in the same direction and that’s why we’re doing so well right now. At the end of the day, this sport is all about people.”
While the people may have played the biggest part in Grala’s early-summer success, his equipment hasn’t hurt either.
The Fury team got a handful of Roush Fenway-built Fords from JGL when Grala left and has pulled “a ton” of potential out of them every time out, according to the driver.
“All four races so far, I’d consider us to have been a top-10 car,” noted Grala. “We finished in the top 10 twice and the Michigan race where we were just out of the top 10 was darn near a win. That day was 10 minutes shy of being something incredible. For any team, that’s an accomplishment, but for a brand new team especially … it’s not something that you commonly see and I’m very proud of everyone at Fury Race Cars for banding together and making that uncommon occurrence a reality for us.”
With an off weekend before the Xfinity Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for its next event on June 30, Grala and Fury Race Cars have a bit of an extra buffer to find the sponsorship dollars necessary to continue forward.
It’s a situation where, even though Grala isn’t hitting the panic button yet, he certainly is thinking often about the gravity of where he’s at in his career.
“We’re working on things. (Finding sponsorship) is a tough process and I think everyone in the sport knows that it’s no easy task, but we are actively trying and I’m optimistic about the direction things are headed,” said Grala. “I don’t have anything to announce just yet, but everything is going in the right direction.
“It’s a really unique situation that we have right now and I hope we can pull all the right pieces and people together to make some more magic happen going forward,” Grala continued. “I’m having so much fun with these guys right now and can’t thank them enough. Just to do what we’ve done already is a privilege and I couldn’t be happier.”
