Kaz Grala has agreed to compete in a three-race deal with Sam Hunt Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The 26-year-old will run three road course races later this year, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for the team.

Grala’s first race will be the Chicago Street Course on July 5th. He will also run at Watkins Glen on August 9th and the Charlotte Roval on October 4th. Overplay Games will serve as the primary sponsor, fully backing the effort.

Through the first part of the 2025 season, Grala has been absent from the grid, but he has plenty of experience. Grala ran 24 of the 36 Cup races on the schedule in 2024, running most of those races with Rick Ware Racing.

He last raced in the Xfinity Series in 2023 where he ran full-time with Sam Hunt Racing, so this is a bit of a reunion for the two. Along with 31 career Cup starts and 77 career Xfinity starts, he also has 51 starts in the Truck Series. He actually won the 2017 NASCAR Truck Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway (where he became the youngest winner in Daytona history), which is his only win in one of the three national levels of the sport.

Grala is a solid road racer, earning a top ten in his Cup Daytona as a fill-in driver for Austin Dillon, which came at the Daytona Road Course. Of his seven top fives in the Xfinity Series, four of them also came at road courses.

Ten races remain before the playoffs as the NASCAR Cup Series goes to Pocono Raceway this weekend.

Four organizations have won the last 10 Pocono Cup races: Joe Gibbs Racing (six wins), Hendrick Motorsports (two), Penske (one) and Stewart-Haas Racing (one).

Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers heading into Sunday’s race at Pocono.

23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has finished runner-up in two of the last three Pocono races. … Reddick’s average finish of 3.3 at Pocono in the Next Gen era (since 2022) is the best among all drivers. … Bubba Wallace has three consecutive finishes of 12th or better. Bad news: Reddick has finished 13th or worse in seven of the last eight races. … Riley Herbst is one of three drivers without a top-finish who have started every race this season, joining Ty Dillon and Cody Ware.

Teams must make request to Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals by Thursday.

Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Todd Gilliland has finished 18th or better in six of the last 10 races. … Zane Smith has five top-20 finishes in the last seven races. Bad news: Noah Gragson has finished 27th or worse in each of the last three races.

Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer finished a season-best eighth last weekend at Mexico City, earning his first top-10 result of the year. Bad News: Custer ranks 35th in the points.

Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Chase Elliott is coming off a season-best third-place finish in Mexico. … Elliott has scored the most points of all drivers at Pocono in the Next Gen car (since 2022). … Elliott has run all but one lap this season. … William Byron’s average finish of 9.36 at Pocono is the best all-time there. … Byron’s 604 points scored through 16 races is the most at this point in the season in the Next Gen era (since 2022). … Alex Bowman finished fourth at Mexico, ending a streak of three consecutive finishes of 29th or worse. … Bowman has four top-10 finishes in his last six Pocono starts. … Kyle Larson’s nine top-five finishes this season are the most in the series. … Larson has led a series-high 851 laps this year. Bad news: Elliott has gone 43 races since his last Cup victory.

Alex Bowman scored just his third top-10 finish in the last 10 races.

Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has five top-20 finishes in the last seven races. … Stenhouse has made 380 consecutive Cup starts to rank third on the active list. Bad news: Stenhouse had his second incident with Carson Hocevar in the last three weeks and confronted the driver after the Mexico race.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s comments were caught by Carson Hocevar’s in-car camera after the race.

Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin returns after missing last weekend’s race in Mexico after the birth of his son. … Hamlin finished second last year at Pocono. … Hamlin’s seven Pocono wins are the most all-time at the track. … Hamlin has won three of the last eight Pocono races. … Christopher Bell has seven top-three finishes in 16 races after his runner-up showing in Mexico. … Chase Briscoe has three finishes of fourth or better in the last eight races. … Ty Gibbs has been top five in speed and long run speed in each of the last two Pocono races. … Gibbs started a season-best fourth last weekend in Mexico. Bad news: Briscoe has never finished better than 15th in five Pocono starts.

Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has scored four consecutive top-20 finishes, his longest streak of the season. Bad news: Ty Dillon has not finished better than 17th in 12 Pocono Cup starts.

Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones has four top-15 finishes in the last six races. … Jones has five top-five finishes in 13 Pocono starts, tied with Darlington for his most at any Cup track. … Jones has two top-10 finishes in the last three Pocono races. … John Hunter Nemechek’s sixth-place finish gives him three top 10s in the last six races and also a career-best five on the season. Bad news: Nemechek has three finishes of 27th or worse in the last six races.

Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has four wins and four poles at Pocono. Bad news: Austin Dillon has finished 19th or worse in the last five races. … Busch finished last and fell from tied for the final playoff spot to 50 points behind with Shane van Gisbergen’s victory moving the cutline up. … Busch’s average finish of 29.7 at Pocono in the Next Gen car (since 2022) is the worst among drivers who have started all three Pocono races in that time.

Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware has a best finish of 25th in five Cup starts at Pocono. Bad news: Ware ranks last among the 36 full-time drivers in the points.

RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher holds the final playoff spot with 10 races left in the regular season. … Buescher is the only driver to have finished in the top 10 in each of the past two races this season. … Brad Keselowski has finished in the top 10 in 11 of the last 16 Pocono races. … Ryan Preece has three top-10 finishes in the last five races. Bad news: With Shane van Gisbergen winning and taking a playoff spot, Preece fell out of a playoff spot and is 19 points from the last playoff position. … Keselowski has failed to finish three of the last seven races.

Spire Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell placed a season-best fifth in Mexico. … McDowell has two top 10s in the last four races. … Carson Hocevar has scored points in 12 of the last 17 stages. Bad news: Justin Haley has not finished in the top 20 at Pocono in four Cup starts. … Haley has gone 157 races since winning a Cup race, the longest streak among active drivers who have won in the series. … Hocevar has five finishes of 24th or worse in the last seven races.

Spire Motorsports also requiring Carson Hocevar to take cultural-sensitivity and bias-awareness training.

Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney won last year’s Pocono race. Bad news: Austin Cindric’s Talladega win is his only top-10 finish in the last 11 races. … Joey Logano’s average finish at Pocono is 17.5, worst among non-drafting ovals.

Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen put himself in a playoff spot with his victory last weekend in Mexico. … Ross Chastain has finished seventh of better in six of the last 10 races. Bad news: Chastain has never scored a top-10 finish at Pocono in nine starts. … Chastain’s average finish of 28.6 at Pocono is his worst among active tracks. … Daniel Suarez has one top 10-finish in his last eight Pocono starts.

Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has finished in the top 12 in three of the last five races. Bad news: Berry has finished outside the top 25 in six of the last 10 races.

The only sounds heard off Long Pond Road on Tuesday were a trickling waterfall and chatty Pocono Raceway employees getting ready for the weekend.

Come Friday, the area around the track in Monroe County will transform into a small city of NASCAR fans and drivers and their crews. The roar of Chevy, Ford and Toyota stock cars tackling the infamous “Tricky Triangle” will be heard from 1.5 miles away.

“We are just this little small family business, which always sounds really funny to say, right, when you think about a global, you know, an international sport,” said Ben May, president of the track in Blakeslee. “The reality is, it’s who we are, and so we think it’s just really special that the show that we put on here and the support we get from our fans and partners is just massive for this region.”

NASCAR’s Pocono Race weekend begins Friday at the track. This is the raceway’s 52nd year on the NASCAR Cup series circuit. Over 100,000 people will visit the racetrack over the weekend to cheer on drivers in three event, and 60% of those fans will come from the 49 other states and 13 countries, said May, adding that the NASCAR weekend infuses $100 million into the local economy.

“They’re staying in our hotels. They’re at our restaurants, they’re at our bars, they’re shopping at the Crossings [now Pocono Premium Outlets]. They’re doing everything that comes with that,” he said.

What makes the triangle tricky? 

The track is one of three independently owned raceways in the country that are part of the NASCAR circuit, May said. The raceway is also the only track in the circuit with three turns. That’s where it gets its “Tricky Triangle” nickname. The middle of the triangle will be full of RVs and infield parking for fans.

Each turn has a different degree of banking and each straightaway is a different length, he said. The turns are also designed after different racetracks.

“So the challenge of it, which is why it’s the Tricky Triangle, is … that you’re not going to be fast everywhere, right? You’re going to pick and choose,” May said.

Stock cars can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour.

May said the track tends to favor veteran drivers.

Denny Hamlin drives the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the all-time wins leader at Pocono. In 2023, he beat the record of NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.

Ryan Blaney drives the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske. He won the Great American Getaway 400 at the raceway in 2024.

Both Hamlin and Blaney are scheduled to be back in the Poconos this weekend.

Drivers do not race in all three events.

‘A dentist and a podiatrist from Philadelphia’ invested in the Pocono Mountains

The Pocono Raceway is a Pennsylvania story.

May said NASCAR made the Pocono Raceway what it is today. The first race on the Tricky Triangle was in 1971.

“The history of it is, is that a dentist and a podiatrist from Philadelphia invested in the Pocono Mountains and in this region and in businesses and over time … their families built this place to what it is today, and it’s still family owned and family operated,” he said.

He’s talking about Drs. Joseph and Rose Mattioli, who turned the former spinach farm into a 2.5-mile track in 1968.

It’s still a family business. Dr. Joseph Mattioli was 87 when he died in 2012. His grandson Brandon Igdalsky is now CEO and his daughter is chair of the board.

Sunday’s 400-mile race is presented by VISITPA.com. This is the second year Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has partnered with the raceway.

“Our agreement with those two partners is to make sure we use our platform and our, you know, our database and everything, to make sure people know what’s happening in Pennsylvania and what they can do while they’re here,” May said.

The winners of each race will take home trophies that pay homage to the region’s history. An eagle, wings outstretched, perches on top a pile of coal. Behind the bird is an American flag encompassed by the track.

Tricky weekend

May said with thousands of people visiting the track this weekend, expect traffic. Pennsylvania State Police partners with the raceway to help with the flow of vehicles.

Stock car racing is dangerous, and the raceway has its own fire department. NASCAR provides medical personnel and Lehigh Valley Health Network also partners with the raceway. Two care centers are set up throughout the weekend for drivers and their crews and fans.

While the three races may be the main attraction, there also are driver appearances, practice and qualifying events plus a fan fair with live music, vendors and displays. There also will be a kids’ zone and carnival rides.

May has worked at the track since 2001. He said the sport saw growth in the late ’90s and early 2000s but there was a dip in interest and sponsorships for drivers after the 2008 financial crisis.

Then the pandemic happened. For most sports, it was detrimental, but with NASCAR pit crews were able to stay separated. The sport is outside and drivers are alone, suited up and wearing a helmet in their cars.

“And NASCAR saw a lot of growth from that, from being the first one back,” he said.

May added that NASCAR has done a great job at evolving.

“I think NASCAR is in as good of a place as I’ve ever seen it,” said May.

Since the departure of long-time partner FedEx, Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing have welcomed several new partners to the No. 11 Toyota. Of note, Progressive signed on in a major deal that will have the insurance company back Hamlin in 18 races this year.

JGR has now announced the addition of Bob’s Discount Furniture, a U.S.-based furniture store with its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. They have roughly 150 stores across the country, primarily in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and West Coast regions.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is adding another title to his NASCAR resumé.

Earnhardt Jr. will serve as the crew chief for Connor Zilisch in the Xfinity Series race at Pocono on Saturday. Zilisch’s crew chief Mardy Lindley is serving a one-race suspension for loose lug nuts on Zilisch’s car at the end of the race in Nashville earlier this month.

Junior is the co-owner of Zilisch’s JR Motorsports car and his team fields four cars in NASCAR’s second-tier series. Zilisch’s teammate Justin Allgaier won the 2024 Xfinity Series title for the first NASCAR championship of his career.

Advertisement

Zilisch, 18, already has one win over 14 races this season in the Xfinity Series. The road course ace won the third race of the season when he led 26 laps at Circuit of the Americas for the second victory of his career. He missed the 12th race of the season because of a back injury sustained in a hard crash late in the race at Talladega. He returned at Charlotte and has finished second, second and fifth in the last three races.

Pocono could be a race filled with strategy based on how the cautions fall on Saturday. The 2.5-mile track allows drivers near the front of the field to pit under green without losing a lap. If there are long green-flag runs during the first two stages, you’ll likely see many drivers in the top 10 forego stage points to pit before the end of the stages and cycle back toward the front of the field during the stage break.

After he crew chiefs for Zilisch on Saturday, Junior will be in the booth for Amazon Prime again on Sunday. The NASCAR Hall of Famer is the lead analyst for Amazon and TNT’s NASCAR coverage this season. Amazon has two more Cup Series races left in 2025 before TNT takes over for five races ahead of NBC’s portion of the schedule.