DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Decade-old hand-me-downs certainly aren’t the norm on the race track, but the Fury Race Cars team that fields cars for Kaz Grala had to scramble after securing sponsorship for Friday night’s Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
The No. 61 Ford Grala drove to a fifth-place finish at the 2.5-mile track was one of the last cars built by NASCAR Hall of Famer Ray Evernham during his stint as a car owner. The car then went to Richard Petty Motorsports, the successor to Gillette Evernham Motorsports.
Biagi DenBeste bought the car four years ago and ownership transferred to Stewart-Haas Racing, which was set to turn the car, and had served as a backup but never raced, into a show car. But circumstances gave the Ford a chance on the race track on Friday night, and Grala made the most of it.
“We just acquired this car on Thursday of last week, this superspeedway car,” Grala said. “I wish (team co-owner and former Dale Earnhardt Jr. crew chief) Tony (Eury Jr.) had gotten more time with it, but I feel like he’s used the time he had with it wisely.”
Indeed, the car only enhanced its credentials as a survivor by carrying Grala to the fifth-place finish. But sponsorship is an ongoing issue for the team, and future races are still in limbo.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
