JUSTIN HALEY | KAZ GRALA
Darlington Advance
Event Overview
● Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 26 of 36)
● Time/Date: 6:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 1
● Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
● Layout: 1.366-mile
● Laps/Miles: 367 laps/501.32 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 115 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 137 laps
● TV/Radio: USA / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR), returns to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway looking to build on a solid performance in the May 12 Goodyear 400 at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. His ninth-place finish was his first of two top-10s this season, his third top-10 at Darlington, and it marked RWR’s best finish at a non-superspeedway-type track.
● Haley backed up his May Darlington finish with another ninth-place result two weeks later at the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval in Madison, Illinois. The strong runs continued for the No. 51 team, which last Saturday night led 21 laps at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway before being caught up in a multicar wreck while running third with just nine laps remaining in the race.
● In seven starts at Darlington, Haley has a best finish of third, earned in May 2022. He’s completed 2,265 of 2,275 total laps available (99.6 percent) at the track and has an average finish of 16.6.
● On Monday, April 29, 2024, law enforcement officers from the U.S. Marshals Task Force and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police department (CMPD) were attempting to serve a felony warrant when a suspect opened fire from inside the house. Four heroes were mortally wounded – CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer, NC Department of Adult Corrections Investigators Samuel Poloche and William “Alden” Elliott, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks, Jr. – while four additional officers were injured. Haley and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #9 Foundation represented the fallen in the May 12 Goodyear 400 at Darlington. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #9 has provided the families of the four fallen officers with monetary assistance thanks to the donations made in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and will continue to collect donations for future assistance. Additional details, including donation information, can be found at NCFOPLodge9.com.
● With 25 races complete this season, Haley is ranked third among drivers in laps (6,550) and miles (8,688.26) completed, and sits first among Ford drivers in both categories.
Kaz Grala, Driver of the No. 15 Meat N’ Bone Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Kaz Grala returns to the No. 15 Meat N’ Bone Ford Mustang Dark Horse for his second Cup Series start at Darlington after earning an 18th-place finish in his Darlington debut in May.
● In two NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Darlington, Grala has a best finish of ninth, earned in the May 2023 race.
● Grala’s last outing in the No. 15 Ford Mustang Dark Horse was a 26th-place effort in his first Cup Series event on the Chicago Street Course on July 7.
● Meat N’ Bone returns to the No. 15 RWR Ford Mustang Dark Horse after debuting with Grala at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on June 23. Meat N’ Bone is an online butcher shop offering premium quality meats delivered locally and shipped nationally. Customers can order from over 300 products, including USDA Prime and Wagyu A5, and have it delivered fresh to their door. Meat N’ Bone also offers local pickup and a personalized retail experience in its boutiques.
Rick Ware Racing Notes
● The Progressive American Flat Track (AFT) series enters the penultimate weekend of the 2024 season with a doubleheader at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The 2019 Mission SuperTwins champion and RWR rider Briar Bauman sits third in the standings, just 12 points out of first. Singles rider Kody Kopp has the opportunity to clinch an early championship after securing his sixth win of the year at Sturgis TT. He currently holds a 34-point lead and would need to score just 26 more throughout the weekend to claim his third consecutive title.
● The Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series heads to Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway Park this weekend. RWR Top Fuel driver Clay Millican sits sixth in the championship standings as the series enters the final race of the regular season.
● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.
Justin Haley, Driver Q&A
You’re heading back to Darlington, where the No. 51 team had a strong showing in May. How do you feel about returning to the Lady in Black?
“I’m really excited. Outside of our superspeedway performance, I feel like Darlington is where we’ve run the best. I think we’ve continued to build on what we learned that weekend and are in a great position to have another top-10 race.”
This is the first time you’ll be running the Southern 500 as the regular-season finale. Do you expect this to be a more contentious race than what it typically was when it was the first race in the playoffs?
“You never know. Darlington is always a crazy race, especially once we get to September and the night race. There’s a reason the Southern 500 is a crown jewel, it’s not easy to win. I don’t know if it necessarily gets any crazier than it usually is, but I think it’ll be like any cutoff race. We’ll just be on our toes and ready for whatever comes.”
Kaz Grala, Driver Q&A
For the first time this year, you’re returning to a track where you had a solid performance earlier in the year. Are you more prepared now for the challenge that comes with the Cup Series at Darlington?
“Definitely. I knew going into Darlington in May it would be a challenge. We came out with a great finish and I think we can absolutely improve on that, especially when you look at how well RFK Racing and the No. 51 team ran. It gives us more to work with in the preparation for this one and I feel a lot more comfortable with what I should expect from the car.”
It’s been a few weeks since you’ve been in the No. 15 car, but you’ve been at the track working with the team. How has that helped you for your return to the seat?
“I’ve been itching to get back in the car, but the No. 15 team has done a great job the last few weeks. I’ve been at the track, looking at data, and working with my teammates every week, so I feel just as prepared as I would be if I had just been in the car. The No. 15 team is coming off a top-five at Daytona, which gives us a lot of forward momentum to work with.”
