DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — For every Kaz Grala who races their way into the Daytona 500 starting lineup, there is a B.J. McLeod — a driver who looked good for most of his qualifying race only to suffer disappointment at the end.
McLeod’s No. 78 Chevrolet had the second slowest qualifying speed on Wednesday night, but he was able to push it as high as third place halfway through Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel 2.
On lap 49, however, McLeod was one of the drivers involved in the big crash on the front straight that brought out the red flag. His car was able to continue in the race, but in the final eight laps he was not able to finish ahead of Grala — the one car he had to place in front of to make the Daytona 500.
Grala finished 12th in the No. 36 Ruedebusch Ford for Front Row Motorsports. McLeod finished 14th in the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet.
“I feel like, yeah, we missed this race,’” McLeod said. “But we learned so much moving towards the future for the Cup team, being an open team and trying to come out of our little bitty shop with no help whatsoever. My guys literally set this car up with just them. There’s no manufacturer help, there’s no nothing.
“We’re here on our own, and to come that close, for real, it felt good.”
McLeod took the disappointment like a pro.
A few pits down, Grala was able to celebrate the next step in his Daytona 500 quest.
“That was a whole lot more intense than I hoped when it comes down to the end,” Grala explained. “Certainly, a lot more intense than I wanted it to be coming down to the end. We had really good track position there after the caution. Just got shuffled out a little bit. Of course, end up racing the two open cars right there for the last two laps.
“I’m glad we were able to come out on the right end. It was pretty tough to beat those guys tonight. The 78 ran a great race. The 60 car was pushing hard, too. I was glad that he helped me out a little bit. He picked my line there on the closing laps, which definitely worked in my favor against the 78. I appreciate the help there from David Ragan.
“Yeah, just really proud of the Front Row Motorsports guys because the last 24 hours were pretty stressful, a lot of hard work to get the car repaired and ready for today. I felt like it had good speed in it. The driver needed to pick up on some things. Did a little learning tonight. I feel like I know a lot more going into Sunday than I did going into this one.”
Grala was able to overcome adversity from Wednesday’s single-lap pole qualifications when a bolt came lose on his shifter, putting it into first gear and it blew up the engine.
“It was a really weird situation,” Grala explained. “Just a bolt backed out where the shifter rod actually connects to the transmission. After my first shift, I went to grab the second shift and the shifter no longer worked. I tried to unjam it. It grabbed first gear, over-revved the engine.
“Really weird situation there, haven’t season that. As a result, we ended up having to do an engine swap for today. That felt great tonight. I think we’re all set engine-wise. We got the bolt in the transmission and we’re ready to rock ‘n roll now.”
That put Grala in a very tense position because he had to race his way into the starting lineup, instead of assuring himself of a starting position based on speed. But he was able to meet the challenge.
“Once you actually get to today (Thursday), knowing the position that we were in because of last night, it was no less stressful,” Grala said with a smile. “Honestly, I think the biggest impact it had there was after the green-flag pit stop when we lost touch with the pack, normally you’d be down and out and not feeling too good about it.
“I’ve been in enough of these Duels to know that anything can happen. You’re never really out of it completely. I just kept focused and confident that hopefully something would work out. Sure enough, things played into our favor there just enough, just by a couple of spots to get there.
“I hope someday to maybe have better Wednesday luck here because I have not locked in any of my three tries. I’ve had stressful Thursdays. I look forward to a relaxed Thursday someday in my life, I hope.”
Grala gets the chance to race for another day, and that day is the biggest race of the year in NASCAR, the 66th Daytona 500.
It’s going to be intense.
“I’m sure for the 500, everything is just going to ratchet up in intensity and more aggression,” Grala said. “I feel like the most important thing I learned tonight was track position is key. You can’t just decide to move your way forward when you’re ready to go like you can in Xfinity.
“I think where you’re lined up is critical, and therefore you’re going to have guys pushing even early in the race just because you have to. It doesn’t seem like the right time yet, but I see why they do it now, so…
“I’m sure the race here for the 500 is going to be exciting.”