by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Kaz Grala picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway when his #15 Meat ‘n Bone Ford fell out with steering issues after 296 of 500 laps.

The finish came in Grala’s 26th series start. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 29th from steering issues, the 33rd for the #15, and the 752nd for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 38th from steering woes, the 53rd for the #15, and the 1,052nd for Ford.

The last decade has seen the Boston-born driver take a long and winding path up the ranks of professional stock car racing. His Truck Series debut came with GMS Racing in 2016, when he finished 10th in just his second series start, then won the 2017 opener in Daytona to kick off his first full-time campaign. He nearly won again at Mosport, only to be spun from the lead on the final lap by Austin Cindric. Grala still earned 7th in points that year, allowing him to jump to the XFINITY Series with JGL Racing. But JGL closed at mid-season, forcing Grala to help build a team from scratch in Fury Race Cars, LLC. Ironically, this team’s #61 Ford performed even better, taking 10th in its series debut at Charlotte, then 5th in a former “show car” at Daytona.

A pair of part-time efforts with Richard Childress Racing’s XFINITY program followed, which kept Grala on speed-dial in 2020, when RCR called upon him to make an unexpected Cup debut on the Daytona Infield Road Course. When Austin Dillon was sidelined under COVID-19 protocols, Grala climbed aboard the #3 and finished an impressive 7th. This earned him a few more Cup starts with both Kaulig Racing and upstart program The Money Team as NASCAR phased in its current NextGen car. In between, he ran piecemeal efforts in both XFINITY and Trucks before landing a full-time effort last year with Sam Hunt Racing. He finished a season-best 4th at Richmond and 5th on the Charlotte “Roval,” securing 17th in the season point standings.

This leads to the current year, where Grala secured what at first appeared to be a full-time Cup Series effort with Ford. He began the year with Rick Ware Racing in the #15 for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, then qualified Front Row’s “open” #36 entry into the Daytona 500. From the second race at Atlanta onward, he’s since competed in Ware’s #15, but finished no better than the 14th he earned that day. He had also finished under power in every one of those races after his Front Row ride in Daytona was swept up in a Lap 6 accident. But starting with the 10th race of the season in Talladega, Cody Ware and Riley Herbst have become the team’s most frequent choice as driver. Heading into Bristol, he’d only started two of the previous eight races.

Grala would race at Bristol, where he earned one of his best finishes of the year during the chaotic spring race, which yielded a 19th-place finish. He began the weekend 35th of the 37 entries, then qualified 18th and last in Qualifying Round 1A, securing him 36th on the grid with a lap of 15.717 seconds (122.084mph).

Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Josh Bilicki, who rejoined Motorsports Business Management with new sponsorship from Arby’s. Bilicki struggled for speed all weekend, anchoring the charts in both practice and qualifying with laps a half-second off 36th in practice and just over four-tenths off Grala’s lap in qualifying.

With no drivers sent to the back of the field, Bilicki lined up behind Daniel Suarez’ #99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet as the last car on the inside line. At the end of Lap 1, Bilicki was already 0.703 behind Suarez, 4.686 seconds back of the leader. The gap stabilized to 0.676 on Lap 4, when he was 5.422 behind the leader. Moments later, John Hunter Nemechek bounced off the outside wall in his #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, then dropped to 34th when he spun directly in front of Suarez, Grala, and Bilicki. All three narrowly avoided colliding with Nemechek as he spun to the apron, dropping him to last place on Lap 5.

Under the ensuing caution, Nemechek lost multiple laps as the crew replaced a broken toe link and also inspected the rear diffuser flap. He returned to the track on Lap 11, now five laps down, and as the only driver off the lead lap. Back under green, Nemechek was told he was pulling away from the leader, but on Lap 29, Bilicki went a lap down in 36th, taking away the “Lucky Dog.” Nemechek was caught by race leader Kyle Larson by Lap 43, when Nemechek came off the outside wall and bounced off Larson’s right-front. Nemechek lost his sixth lap in the process, and 35th-place Grala was lapped on Lap 47. By Lap 64, Bilicki was three laps down, then four down on Lap 90. Meanwhile, last-place Nemechek remained six laps down, so he steadily closed the gap on Bilicki. By Lap 110, both were on the same lap, and on Lap 120, Nemechek passed Bilicki on the high side entering Turn 3, dropping the #66 to last. Soon after, the caution fell on Lap 126 to end Stage 1.

Under the Stage 1 caution, Bilicki radioed he needed a moment to relay what was going on with the car. “I think I’m tight,” he said, then, “But I think I’m also in a four-wheel slide. I feel like I’m getting killed from throttle off.” He also called for a little more turn in the center of the corner, so team owner Carl Long relayed he’d take a pound-and-a-half out of the right-rear. Still under yellow on Lap 130, Bilicki then radioed, “The steering wheel is doing something kind of funky - it doesn't want to turn to the right now under caution. I didn't feel anything weird under green.” A moment later, he followed Nemechek onto pit road, but the crew didn’t have enough time to address what appeared to be a power steering issue.

Back under green, Bilicki radioed on Lap 139 that the steering issue had worsened, reporting, “It almost feels like there’s an air bubble or something.” Long radioed back, telling him to try and hang on as long as he could, but if it became too much, to come down pit road for more power steering fluid. Bilicki continued on track, and steadily lost ground to Nemechek. By Lap 158, he was eight laps down to Nemechek’s seven, and on Lap 189 was stuck in the high lane as two-wide traffic raced to his inside.

As it turned out, the same issue plagued Playoff contender Harrison Burton, whose #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford slipped to 34th on Lap 230, two laps down. Just seven laps later, Burton slowed and pulled behind the wall at the entrance to Turn 1. Burton stopped just behind the wall, where the crew looked under the hood. Burton, too, had lost power steering and tried to keep up his pace, but it soon became unmanageable. On Lap 246, under a caution for Joey Logano’s spin, Burton dropped to last place, taking the spot from Bilicki. Burton’s team determined they had to replace the steering rack and power steering pump. One crew member suggested using the power steering rack Burton ran in Michigan, but they appeared to install another. If Burton remained in last, it would have been the first for the #21 in a Cup race at Bristol, and the first for the Wood Brothers since 1986, when Kyle Petty ran the Wood’s #7 7-Eleven Ford.

Back on track, Bilicki continued to struggle. On Lap 251, by the end of the two-lap sprint that ended Stage 2, he trailed the field by open track. On Lap 294, he was caught speeding on pit road in Section 5, and was now 20 laps down. That time by, NASCAR also monitored Grala, who was already in 34th, five laps down, and had now bounced off the outside wall. On Lap 299, as Burton was told to fire his engine and move the steering wheel back and forth, Grala came down pit road for an extended stop. By Lap 302, when Burton shut off his engine, Grala was still in his pit stall, now with the hood up. By now, Grala dropped to 35th, and was now 13 laps down ahead of Bilicki and Burton. On Lap 307, Burton returned to the track 74 laps down while Grala was still in his stall, now 20 laps down to the leader.

On Lap 316, Grala returned to the track to feel out the crew’s adjustments, and was told to roll along the apron. He’d also incurred a penalty for too many crew members over the wall during his long stop, so he’d have to serve a pass-through. But on Lap 318, Grala radioed “I’m gonna bring it to the garage. It’s the same thing, something’s broken in the front end.” So, while serving his pass-through, Grala made a hard left turn at the same Turn 1 entrance Burton had used. He then took the long way through the infield and parked behind the team’s hauler. This was done on Lap 320, when he was now 23 laps down in 36th, 50 laps ahead of Burton, who was still on track. The team discovered it was the same issue as Burton and Bilicki – the car’s steering.

Bristol happened to mark Corey LaJoie’s final start with Spire Motorsports before an announced team swap with Grala’s teammate Justin Haley at Rick Ware Racing. Just one week after LaJoie joined both his teammates in the Top Ten at Watkins Glen, LaJoie was on his way to another strong finish, running 11th on Lap 330. But contact battling Josh Berry’s #4 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford sent LaJoie into the backstretch wall, snapping the right-front toe link. He made it to pit road, only to run out of time on his “Crash Clock,” leaving him the first car out of the race. With that, the battle for last place fell to LaJoie, Grala, and Burton with only Burton still on the track.

Back in the infield, time was running out for Grala’s crew. “There's nothing loose, there's nothing broke,” said a member of his team. “But I'm not sure if I can replace the (steering) rack in time to get back out.” Grala said he couldn’t get out of the way for faster traffic, and didn’t want to go back out if the steering issue repaired. “If we send it out the way it is, we'll be in the highlight reel but not the way we want to,” said Grala’s team. By Lap 335, the decision was made to change only the power steering pump, and to try and stretch the steering rack for the rest of the distance. But on Lap 354, as LaJoie’s car was pushed to its own hauler, someone said, “We don’t have what we need – we can’t do it,” indicating a missing replacement part.

On Lap 357, NASCAR declared LaJoie out, his car still 35th ahead of Grala and Burton. On Lap 374, Burton climbed past Grala, dropping the #15 to last place. Six laps later on Lap 380, NASCAR declared Grala out of the race, citing steering issues. Burton climbed past LaJoie on Lap 408, but couldn’t catch Bilicki, who managed to finish the race without going to the garage. Bilicki crossed the stripe 33 laps down in 34th. Nemechek rounded out the Bottom Five, nine laps down. He lost just three more laps after his early incident.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked just the second time the #15 finished last in a Cup race at Bristol. The only other occasion was on April 16, 2018, when Ross Chastain crashed after 3 laps driving Premium Motorsports’ #15 Low T Centers Chevrolet.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

37) #15-Kaz Grala / 296 laps / steering

36) #7-Corey LaJoie / 330 laps / crash

35) #21-Harrison Burton / 422 laps / running

34) #66-Josh Bilicki / 467 laps / running

33) #42-John Hunter Nemechek / 491 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Penske Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (4)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Spire Motorsports (3)

3rd) Rick Ware Racing (2)

4th) Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (15)

2nd) Chevrolet (9)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP