THE MODERATOR: We're take questions for Kaz.
Q. Kaz, your thoughts here on an up-and-down Duel? You're out, you're in, you're out, you're in. What were your emotions?
KAZ GRALA: I tried to keep my emotions as checked as possible. I like to think of myself as a pretty calm driver. I'll tell you, that was the most stressed I've ever been in a race.
I think as a driver, naturally you're most calm when you feel like you have something in your control. Superspeedways are already stretching that as far as what all is in your control. Then when we're a lap down and we've got damage from an incident that started behind us, then you're really out of control and you're hoping for something to work out in your favor.
I knew who we were racing against. I knew what happened was possible, so I tried to keep everybody boosted up in high spirits to know we weren't out of it yet, and evidently that was in fact the case.
Really proud of everybody at Kaulig Racing. They brought an excellent car that has gotten a little bit beat up tonight. I'm sure we'll be able to get it fixed or pull out an equally good car for Sunday.
Yeah, the Chevy was good. Did everything I asked it to do early in the race before the incident. I'm really optimistic about our chances for Sunday.
This wasn't how we wanted to get into the race. Obviously we wanted to be able to go up there, finish up front, do it that way. We'll take it however we can get it. We'll have to do the up-front part on Sunday.
Q. When you're involved in the wreck, what is going through your mind? That's it? We're done? Are you trying to get the car repaired?
KAZ GRALA: Well, what was going through my mind was just try not to hit anything. Now that I think of it, that was the very first time I've been involved in an incident here at Daytona. I didn't really know what walls were going to be coming at me from where. I was focused on locking down the brake pedal, trying to minimize the damage.
We had a lot of flat tires, we limped it around to pit road, went a lap down. That was just part of it.
Like I said, I'm an eternal optimist, that's just how I am, even right till the last second. I knew we still had a shot. I knew things needed to come our way a little bit. I certainly didn't count us out. I still knew to execute to the best of our ability with what we could control, hope that that ended up putting us in a position to make the race. Here we are, I'm thrilled.
Q. You said the car basically was doing anything you wanted it to do. You know how to win at Daytona. How did you feel in the draft? How do you think it's going to translate to Sunday?
KAZ GRALA: I felt good. I mean, I certainly have a lot to learn. These Cup guys are top-notch out here on the superspeedways. They probably got about a hundred times as many races under their belt as I do on a superspeedway. I was definitely learning a lot out there.
Felt like the car maneuvered well, did what I needed it to do. On Sunday, if we can survive till the end of the race, which is a tall order in itself, I feel like our Kaulig Racing machine will do what I need it to do, be able to go up there and contend.
Q. You say you're the eternal optimist. Did David Ragan's name pop into your head because you needed him to be the highest-finishing guy to guarantee your spot in there? Is David Ragan getting a fruit basket from you before Sunday?
KAZ GRALA: I always have been a David Ragan fan actually. The very first NASCAR race that I was able to get into the infield for was back in I want to say about 2011 in New Hampshire. David Ragan gave my parents and I pit passes. I actually got to sit on his No. 6 Roush Fenway box. That was the coolest experience of my life. First time I got to see up close from the infield a NASCAR race.
He and I have known each other for a long time. I talked to him before the race. He kind of knew the situation. Obviously he has to do what's best for his team and his manufacturer.
I can tell you from behind the pack when I couldn't hold the draft, I was rooting for David to get up there and see if he could make some waves and beat those other two guys. Ultimately in a roundabout way with some action in between, that is what ended up happening.
Super pumped for David to be in the race. Definitely thrilled for us and our team to be in. I think it's an unbelievably strong group to race against on Sunday. This was probably the hardest year to make this race in recent history. I'm really proud to be a part of that, excited to see what we can do from here.
Q. You mentioned the tough competition. How gratifying is it to make it and start at the back row beside your buddy Cindric?
KAZ GRALA: It's great. Obviously we knew coming into it this was going to be a really hard year to make the race. Excellent competition, great teams, great drivers try to make this race without charters. We knew it was a tall order.
But I will say now being able to breathe a sigh of relief that we are in, it makes it that much sweeter knowing that we beat some really incredible teams and drivers to get into this race. This was absolutely an accomplishment to get to Sunday. I'm already satisfied with that.
We're starting last, so we have only one direction to go. So from here to me personally, on a personal note, everything from here is a bonus. That's the way I like to race. The last couple years, as you guys know, I've been racing part-time. Really want a full-time opportunity eventually. For me just to be at the racetrack, everything I'm able to do from there is a bonus.
Watching too many races from my house has definitely made me that much more grateful when I'm at the racetrack. To now be at the racetrack and to be there on a Sunday for the Daytona 500, it doesn't get much better than that.
I know I'm going to be having a lot of fun no matter how it goes. We'll certainly put our best foot forward, see if we can do something incredible from there. That's how I approached the only other Cup race I've done before last year here on the road course. I was just thrilled to be there, honored to be chosen to drive the car. I figured let's see what I can do from here. It was a pretty good day.
Hopefully we can have a little bit of a reenactment of that on Sunday. It would be really cool.
Q. It looked like there was a lot of damage to your car. Are you going to a backup?
KAZ GRALA: That's a great question. I would love to know the answer to that right now. Honestly in the excitement I got out of the car and talked to Chris Rice and Matt Kaulig. I didn't even go look at our car. I'm not quite sure what we're working with. I'm going to find that out tonight.
Either way Kaulig Racing certainly brought a good backup car, are more than capable to fix this car if that's what they choose to do. I feel like we're going to have a good piece on Sunday to be able to race with no matter what. I'll leave that up to the guys who know what they're doing on the car.
Q. How important is this race and getting that part-time program for Kaulig Racing off on the right foot?
KAZ GRALA: Really important. I mean, not only just important for me career-wise, sponsorship-wise, opportunity-wise, but it's big for Kaulig. They're planning on running a handful of Cup races this year, not just this one race like they did last year.
Being able to get in, especially now with the format as far as which cars are able to enter each race when there isn't qualifying, this is a huge day for us, a huge day for that organization as a whole.
I think it's been the worst-kept secret that they have aspirations to get to the Cup Series, racing it full-time down the road, try to be a multi-car team down the road. This is the first small step towards a big picture. I know it's a victory for everybody at the team.
Q. Does this open the door for you possibly to run some more races?
KAZ GRALA: I mean, I absolutely am going to run more races beyond the 500 with them. As far as how many, that's still up in the air. We can add as many as we want as a part-time team in the Cup Series. That's the beauty of it.
This definitely goes a long way I would think for helping market our team and hopefully be able to attract sponsorship, be able to run as many of these races as we can. We got A.J. in the car for a few car starting next weekend. This is good for all of us as a whole.
Q. Last year you talked about how great it was to run the Daytona road course, how honored you were. Was there anything you could have taken from the road course event to play into the superspeedway event tonight?
KAZ GRALA: The biggest thing, and it matters a lot on a plate track, is confidence. I would say a year ago I'm not sure how I would have felt about going out there in the Cup field, feeling like I deserved to be there, feel like I'm not going to get pushed around out there.
So not only did it definitely boost my confidence, but I'm sure it definitely gained some respect of the competitors out there. I now feel like, all right, on Sunday we raced our way in, we deserve to be here. I feel like I can go out there and race with a clear head knowing us as a team and me personally, we deserve to be doing this here. That's big.
Frankly, towards making the moves that need to be made late in the race to get a good finish, confidence is key. I do think that's the biggest thing I'll take from it.
In terms of the road course driving, it's not going to help me much for Sunday.
Q. Does your mind shift now focusing on race setup, looking at past race history now?
KAZ GRALA: Definitely. I'm excited that we'll get the opportunity to practice on Saturday. That will be really helpful for us. I mean, tonight was my very first time feeling this package in a Cup car in general on a superspeedway. I definitely learned a lot already and will continue to learn on Saturday when we practice drafting.
We can now shift our focus to a race setup. I've tried not to up to this point in the weekend think too much about Saturday practice, race trim because I knew we had to get past a hurdle just to get to Saturday practice. I didn't want to jinx it by thinking about it or talking about it of the.
Now that we're over the hump with the Duel, now we can shift our focus to race trim on Saturday. Matt and the whole crew have great ideas for what to do for the race. Like I said, I already liked our car tonight. I feel like they'll be able to build more comfort into it to be raceable, allow me to make the moves I need to make late.
Q. Were there particular drivers you felt you were working well with for drafting?
KAZ GRALA: Yeah, I mean, I was really pleased with all the Chevys that I was around. Definitely worked well with me. I felt like I worked well with them. We all jumped in a chat earlier today and kind of discussed our game plan for the race. That was the first time I've ever been a part of anything like that. I unmuted my mic and turned on my camera and jumped into the conversation, introduced myself to everybody.
I'm sure there's a couple guys out there that know me, but there were far more that didn't know me. I was hoping that they'd be my ally and that I'd be able to be theirs. I started with an introduction to them. It definitely seemed like everybody worked well together tonight.
I feel like we can take that into Sunday, hopefully have some more of that working well together, as many of us as possible to be undamaged and be around at the end of the race so we can hopefully get a bowtie in Victory Lane.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you and congratulations again.
KAZ GRALA: Thank you very much.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports