A native of Boston who grew up in Westborough, Massachusetts, Grala began racing go-karts at F1 Boston in Braintree at age four. By ten he had moved to Bandoleros, winning the Summer Shootout Championship in 2011 as well as the New York Legendstock and the Massachusetts Bandolero Outlaws state championships that year. In 2012 he won fifteen races and the Winter Heat Championship at Charlotte in the Legend Car Pro Division. His father Darius is a former sports car racer who competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona three times. Grala is of Polish ancestry and attended Worcester Academy, graduating in 2017. He has deferred an acceptance at Georgia Tech to pursue his racing career.
In 2013 Grala made his late model debut in the UARA-STARS series, becoming the youngest winner in series history at Hickory Motor Speedway. That same year Speed 51 named him the JEGS Rookie of the Year. In 2014 he competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, winning at Caraway and Martinsville speedways, and joined Turner Scott Motorsports for a full K&N Pro Series East schedule as its youngest driver. He also set the record that year as the youngest competitor in IMSA history, racing in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at age fifteen years and one week.
Grala made his Truck Series debut in 2016 with GMS Racing at Martinsville, earning his first career top-ten at Dover in just his second start.
Running the full 2017 Truck Series season in GMS Racing's No. 33 Chevrolet, Grala qualified on pole for the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and won the race after navigating a crash-filled event. At eighteen years, one month and 26 days, he became both the youngest pole-sitter and the youngest winner in NASCAR history at Daytona. The victory locked him into the Truck Series Playoffs. He nearly won again at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park before being tapped and spun by Austin Cindric in the final corners. A crash at Talladega eliminated him from the Playoffs before the Round of 6, and he finished the season seventh in the standings.
Grala joined JGL Racing full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018 as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, finishing fourth on debut at Daytona, but the program folded in May. He ran additional Xfinity races for Fury Race Cars, achieving a top-five at Daytona in a ten-year-old car originally destined for retirement. He raced part-time for Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 Xfinity entry in 2019 and 2020.
Grala made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in August 2020, substituting for Austin Dillon in RCR's No. 3 car at the Daytona road course after Dillon tested positive for COVID-19, finishing seventh in the Go Bowling 235. He has since made additional Cup starts for Kaulig Racing, The Money Team Racing, Big Machine Racing, Alpha Prime Racing, and Rick Ware Racing. At the 2022 Daytona 500 with The Money Team Racing he lost a right rear wheel on lap forty but finished 26th, marking the team's debut appearance.
In sports car racing, Grala won the Trans-Am Series TA/GT race at Road America in July 2022 in only his second series start, after leading the preceding race at Mid-Ohio before a mechanical failure.
From 2024, Grala joined Legacy Motor Club as simulator and reserve driver while continuing part-time Xfinity and Truck starts for various teams.
Grala's record-breaking Daytona win at eighteen established him as one of the most precocious talents in American stock car racing. His ability to generate results in underfunded equipment across multiple series — and his willingness to build a career through sponsorship relationships and team-owner partnerships rather than a single factory program — reflects the modern independent driver's path in NASCAR.
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