DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In one of the most thrilling finishes in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history at Daytona Int’l Speedway, 18-year-old Kaz Grala ended up as the last man standing during Friday night’s season opener.
Contact between ThorSport Racing teammates Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes ultimately turned leader Matt Crafton around in front of the field on the last lap, but Grala snuck through the chaos to assume the lead as the caution came out, freezing the field as the Massachusetts native raced to turn three.
Grala then came around at reduced pace to collect the checkered flag and win his first-career race in just his 10th series start, setting a record as the youngest Daytona winner in any of NASCAR’s three national series.
“That was freakin’ awesome! I can’t believe we won Daytona!” said Grala, who started on the pole and led 14 laps en route to the win. “I didn’t know what I was doing out there … I don’t know how to do a donut, I don’t know how to do a victory lap like that … I just know I’m Polish, so I figured I should drive backwards (to celebrate)!”
“I got lucky coming out of (Turn) 2 there, I just didn’t lift and luckily everything went crazy around me. I’m so happy with the way that played out! I can’t even believe it. This completely changes our season and the way that we can play it. It’s so huge for our organization and for myself. ”
The win marks the second-consecutive victory for GMS Racing at Daytona, following on from Sauter’s win in last year’s season-opener.
It was Sauter who actually dominated the night, leading a race-high 53 laps and scoring the maximum of 20 bonus points by being the leader at the end of each of the first two stages.
But when the final lap crash broke out, it opened the door for a host of new players to sneak into the picture at the checkered flag.
Austin Wayne Self, who hung back the entire race to stay out of trouble, found a way through the smoke by following Grala and finished as the runner-up, notching a career-best for both he and his AM Racing team.
Chase Briscoe came back from his involvement in the night’s opening caution to record a third-place effort, just ahead of John Hunter Nemechek and his father, Joe Nemechek.
Regan Smith, Scott Lagasse Jr., Christopher Bell, J.J. Yeley and Myatt Snider were the rest of the top 10.
Crafton, who led at the white flag, was scored 14th after flipping halfway down the backstretch, while Sauter was credited with 15th and left wondering what more he could have done to defend his position on the final lap.
“When it’s calm like that the whole race, you don’t really know what to expect at the end,” Sauter said. “I was watching on that restart … the 88 laying back probably more than I thought was allowed, but regardless of that, (Kaz and I) tried to play the team strategy like we had been doing all night long.”
“I looked in my mirror when I pulled down to the bottom and (Kaz) was way back and the outside line was hooked together and had a hell of a run coming. I went up to block the 88, and I thought once I went up to block him that I would unlatch those two and get back to the bottom … and I just screwed up. I’ll go back and watch to see what I could’ve done different, but we had a dominant truck. What a great truck. It’s disappointing.”
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