Grant Enfinger had already locked himself into the Championship 4 via a win in the Round of 8, but he decided to go out and do it again for good measure. Two weeks after his Talladega win, he captured the checkered flag at Homestead as well after a masterful fuel-save.
“I felt I saved at least 20% more than I did in the first run, but Jeff (Stankiewicz, crew chief) was on me pretty hard obviously … Hard to beat these two weeks,” said Enfinger, who drives the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet.
It’s Enfinger’s second consecutive win in this round alone (and his total for the season), heading to Phoenix in two weeks with all of the momentum. He’s getting hot at the right time as he tries to rectify last year’s tough championship loss.
“It’s definitely good (to be me right now),” smiled Enfinger. “We’ve had potential all year and there’s been some times I didn’t execute and there’s been some times we just had bad luck. But maybe this is the time we got our momentum.”
Fuel-save mastery and misery
This is Enfinger’s 12th career NASCAR Truck Series win. His status as a veteran driver was on full display as he maintained his advantage while taking every opportunity he could lift out of the throttle and draft with other trucks, saving fuel.
While several trucks ran out in the final moments of the race, the veteran Enfinger was not among them. Running second with two laps to go, Layne Riggs dropped to the apron as he was out of fuel. Playoff driver Nick Sanchez then moved into second, only to run out as well on the final lap. Riggs finished 22nd and Sanchez 13th.
Enfinger actually crossed the line over 17 seconds clear of the closest competition and still had enough fuel to do burnouts! It was a statement victory that ended with Ty Majeski a distant second, Connor Mosack third, Corey Heim fourth, and Tyler Ankrum fifth. Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes, and Taylor Gray rounded out the top-ten.
Enfinger’s comeback and the final run to the finish
It was not all smooth sailing for Enfinger, though. Contact on a mid-race restart with Christian Eckes forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop and put him behind for a bit. When the final restart occurred with 83 laps to go, he was back in 20th but was also one of a handful of drivers who had taken their final set of tires.
They all sliced through the field and luckily for them, the caution flag never flew again. With about 35 laps to go, most of the leaders not on Enfinger’s strategy came in under green for their final set of tires.
With 25 laps to go, a charging Enfinger moved into the second position. At that point, Heim was around 30 seconds back. It didn’t take Enfinger long to run down Riggs, passing him for the lead with an outside with 22 laps remaining.
Dawson Sutton and Tanner Gray ran long, saving their final set of tires while hoping for a lucky caution. It never cam and both had to pit under green. With ten laps left, Heim had stalled out and was no longer gaining large chunks of time on the race leaders.
It was game over as Enfinger managed to save enough fuel while his closest rivals fell to the wayside.
Update on playoff standings and Mills’ condition
Looking at the points standings ahead of the elimination race at Martinsville, Heim is looking very secure at +49 points above the cut-line. Christian Eckes sits at +38 and Ty Majeski is at +22. Sitting within the elimination zone are Rajah Caruth (-22 points), Taylor Gray (-24 points), Tyler Ankrum (-41 points), and Sanchez (-43 points).
During the middle of the race, there was a scary incident where Connor Jones lost his cool and punted Matt Mills into the outside wall. He quickly climbed from the truck as fire erupted while NASCAR penalized Jones two laps for reckless driving. Mills has since been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
1
G. EnfingerCR7 Motorsports
9
Chevrolet
134
6
2
T. MajeskiThorSport Racing
98
Ford
134
17.516
6
3
C. MosackSpire Motorsports
7
Chevrolet
134
0.199
6
4
C. HeimTRICON Garage
11
Toyota
134
0.949
6
5
T. AnkrumMcAnally Hilgemann Racing
18
Chevrolet
134
2.146
6
6
S. FriesenHalmar Friesen Racing
52
Toyota
134
0.403
7
7
D. DyeMcAnally Hilgemann Racing
43
Chevrolet
134
9.050
6
8
R. CaruthSpire Motorsports
71
Chevrolet
134
1.489
6
9
C. EckesMcAnally Hilgemann Racing
19
Chevrolet
134
0.439
6
10
T. GrayTRICON Garage
17
Toyota
134
1.593
6
11
M. CraftonThorSport Racing
88
Ford
134
0.824
6
12
B. RhodesThorSport Racing
99
Ford
134
7.009
7
13
N. SanchezRev Racing
2
Chevrolet
134
17.766
8
14
K. HoneycuttNiece Motorsports
45
Chevrolet
133
1 Lap
6
15
D. ThompsonTRICON Garage
5
Toyota
133
0.499
6
16
C. DayMcAnally Hilgemann Racing
91
Chevrolet
133
3.205
8
17
W. SawalichTRICON Garage
1
Toyota
133
1.098
6
18
C. ZilischHenderson Motorsports
75
Chevrolet
133
2.541
7
19
D. SuttonRackley W.A.R.
25
Chevrolet
133
10.469
6
20
T. GrayTRICON Garage
15
Toyota
133
0.532
6
21
A. LawlessReaume Brothers Racing
33
Ford
133
3.576
6
22
L. RiggsFront Row Motorsports
38
Ford
133
7.838
6
23
T. HillHill Motorsports
56
Toyota
132
1 Lap
6
24
J. GarciaThorSport Racing
13
Ford
132
2.068
6
25
C. JonesThorSport Racing
66
Ford
132
27.727
7
26
C. PurdySpire Motorsports
77
Chevrolet
131
1 Lap
6
27
S. BoydFreedom Racing Enterprises
76
Chevrolet
131
1’22.352
7
28
C. DalyNiece Motorsports
44
Chevrolet
131
11.629
7
29
N. ByrdYoung’s Motorsports
02
Chevrolet
130
1 Lap
7
30
M. AndrettiRoper Racing
04
Chevrolet
127
3 Laps
7
31
B. CurreyNiece Motorsports
41
Chevrolet
125
2 Laps
11
32
J. MondeikYoung’s Motorsports
46
Chevrolet
114
11 Laps
6
33
F. MunizReaume Brothers Racing
22
Ford
105
9 Laps
11
34
M. MillsNiece Motorsports
42
Chevrolet
74
31 Laps
7
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