Younger NXS drivers Custer, Grala are ready for Iowa 250

Sunday is Father’s Day. Two of the younger NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers — 20-year-old Cole Custer and 19-year-old Kaz Grala — would love to give their fathers, who are both in the racing industry, a Victory Lane celebration at Iowa Speedway.

Custer, who is second in the Xfinity Series points standings, will make his second Xfinity Series start and Grala, who is out to attract a full-time ride opportunity, is a rookie in the series. The two are driving in the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Iowa 250 presented by Enogen at the Newton racetrack.

“I feel we’ve started to hit our stride as a team. We started the year with fast cars but weren’t getting the finishes we wanted. Now, we still have fast cars and getting more of the finishes we want,” Custer said after finishing third at Michigan last weekend.

Custer is the son of Joe Custer, who is the executive vice president at Stewart-Haas Racing and chief executive officer of Haas F1 Team. Custer drives the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang in the NXS.

The Iowa 250 is slated to start at 4 p.m. on Sunday with Xfinity driver introductions starting at 3:30 p.m. The Xfinity Series practices are at 2:05 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Qualifying runs are at 1:35 p.m. on Sunday.

For Grala, it has been a wild ride in 2018. He earned his full-time Xfinity Series opportunity late in 2017 when it was announced he would drive the No. 24 car for JGL Racing. Grala had a fourth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway in his NXS debut, but 10 races into the season things changed.

“The owner of my car team became ill and JGL had to shut down the team because of the lack of sponsorship,” Grala said. “I was fortunate that Fury Race Cars stepped in and gave us a four-race sponsorship deal. Now, I’m driving to find a sponsors and a full-time opportunity again.”

Grala’s father is Darius Grala who is a part owner of Fury Race Cars along former NASCAR crew chief Tony Eury Jr., and Jeff Fultz. Fury Race Cars, based out of Mooresville, N.C., builds chassis mainly for modified and super late model stock cars.

So, Custer and Grala grew up around racing. It is the competition they love about the sport, and the speed on the track. They both have the ultimate goal of reaching the elite level of NASCAR racing — Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Iowa is the final confirmed race of the four-race deal with Fury Race Cars driving the No. 61 Grala said it has been a good stretch run for the team, which is led by crew chief Shane Wilson. JGL did not leave the rookie Xfinity Series driver high and drive as Wilson and several of the JGL No. 24 crew came to Fury Race Cars’ team.

“They (JGL) provided us with some of the cars we are using and of course, having Shane with me is great,” Grala said. “We’re accomplishing what we set out to — we have had two really good showings at Charlotte and last week at Michigan. At Pocono, we had some struggles with speed and strategy, which is part of the sport.”

NXS points leader is veteran Elliott Sadler with a41-point lead over Custer coming into the Iowa race weekend. Daniel Hemric is just eight points behind Custer in third place. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell sit in the fourth and fifth spots on the points list.

As Custer and Grala finally were afforded their opportunities to compete at the Xfinity Series level, Justin Haley will make his Xfinity Series debut in the GMS Racing’s No. 23 at Iowa Speedway this weekend. Haley is one of several drivers who will pull double duty at Iowa.

Haley is a full-time driver for GMS Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He along with last year’s NCWTS Iowa M&M’s 200 winner John Hunter Nemechek, who is a full-time Xfinity driver this season, will compete in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.

And how’s this for a Father’s Day weekend story — Nemechek and his father Joe Nemechek are entered to drive in both races. J.J. Yeley, an Xfinity driver, and two-time NASCAR Next class member Riley Herbst, who is a full-time driver in the ARCA Racing Series, will compete in the NCWTS race.

“I’m looking forward to racing at Iowa. It is a place I’ve had success in the past driving the K&N, ARCA and truck series races,” Custer said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence going into the weekend. Iowa’s track has a lot of character and you can really move around a lot, running the top and bottom.

“The track has a lot of bumps which makes it a little more difficult as a driver, but we like it to be more difficult. You have more options.”

Custer pointed out the Iowa 250 is a race when the Xfinity Series is in the national spotlight as the Cup Series has an off weekend. He said it is good to race against the Cup Series drivers when they run in a NXS race such as last weekend’s Michigan race.

“You have to drive against them and learn what they do on the track to be successful It makes you a much better driver. But it’s nice to have some races in which no Cup Series drivers are running and we get a the time to shine,” Custer said.

That’s at Iowa Speedway this weekend. There are no MENCS drivers entered in the Iowa 250.

“We’re pumped after our 12th-place finish at Michigan last week. I believe we had a solid top-5 car there,” Grala said. “I love to race at Iowa and I’ve had quite a few laps on that track racing in K&N and truck races. As a rookie you take any bit of experience you have going in and use it to your advantage.”

Grala said his crew chief Shane Wilson told him he like Iowa a lot. Wilson has had success at Iowa Speedway.

Custer and Grala are set to take their opportunities at Iowa Speedway this weekend and move forward chasing their dream of making a living as NASCAR drivers.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com