BBC cameras will be at Elland Road on Saturday for a meeting of two promotion contenders as Leeds United meet Nottingham Forest, with both looking to make up ground on Norwich City in second place.
Grayson told the Yorkshire Post: "There was more pressure on us to get out of League One, mainly because we had been down there so long.
“This year, our sole target was to still be in the Championship for 2011-12. As a result, the pressure is off us."
“There is more pressure on teams like Forest, Cardiff City and the others because of where they were last year. They also started the season as favourites for the division.
“They probably need to get in the Premier League more than we do. The gulf in terms of finances is huge and can make your club for many, many years to come. So, as others have spent more than us in terms of transfer fees and budgets maybe the pressure is on them to go up.”
Forest boss Billy Davies meanwhile may throw defender Julian Bennett into a white-hot atmosphere at Elland Road for his first start in over two years as Paul Konchesky is out and Joel Lynch is struggling with injury.