Sam Hunt Racing - RACE REPORT: Darlington Raceway

On Saturday, May 13 at Darlington Raceway, for the first time in the organization's history, Sam Hunt Racing collected two Top-10 finishes in a single race. Kaz Grala, who made his first career national touring series start at Darlington Raceway, finished ninth after starting 26th. Corey Heim, who competed in his second NASCAR Xfinity Series race, finished 10th after a 24th-place qualifying effort. Out of seven starts at the 1.36-mile track, Sam Hunt Racing has secured four top-10 finishes.

EVENT INFORMATION

• Date: May 13, 2023
• Event: Shriners Children's 200 (Round 11 of 33)
• Location: Darlington Raceway
• Format: 147 Laps (Stages 45 laps / 90 laps / 147 laps)
• Qualifying Results: Heim, P24 | Grala, P26
• Finishing Positions: Grala, P9 | Heim, P10

QUOTES

"It was a big day for us. Today was a major milestone for our organization. Having the first double Top-10 finish for the company is something to be proud of and something I can cross off of my bingo card for the organization. That was really cool. Really proud of Kaz with it being his first time here at Darlington and what a challenge this track is. [Grala] just got better all day and was so disciplined, and he was there when it counted. For Corey to hang in there and drive it to the front to be racing with those guys in only his second start in the series was really special too. So proud of our drivers and this organization as a whole. We put a complete weekend together and got the finishes we deserved. We're definitely excited to go to Charlotte."

- Sam Hunt, Owner of Sam Hunt Racing

"A bit of a slow start for us today, but we got our Fire Department Coffee GR Supra sorted out after the first stage and got it pretty good moving forward. I’m sure a little bit of attrition helped us, but we ran right with and ahead of some of the most competitive cars in the series from some of the big teams. We just had a solid day, did what we needed to do, executed well just like we did at Dover all day. We made the most of it. Proud of everybody at Sam Hunt Racing. This was a fun first time at Darlington. This place is wild and I can’t wait to come back to this place later on."

- Kaz Grala, Driver of the No. 26 Fire Dept. Coffee GR Supra

"I think we had an up and down day. We avoided a lot of carnage there in the early portion of the race. We just kind of played in conservative. I feel like this 24 group just needed kind of a base hit today. I feel like we had the potential to run better than we did, but we kind of jumped the fence early on and got caught up in a couple things. Then we made it back at the end there. Big thanks to Sam Hunt Racing, Toyota Racing, GEARWRENCH and everyone on this GR Supra for all they do."

- Corey Heim, driver of the No. 24 GEARWRENCH GR Supra