Enfinger Keeps Rolling With Miami Truck Series Score

Grant Enfinger celebrates in victory lane at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Nigel Kinrade Photography)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – There’s simply no stopping Grant Enfinger and CR7 Motorsports right now in the back half of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs.

In a game of strategic cat-and-mouse, Enfinger snagged his second straight Truck Series victory Saturday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway, taking the lead from Layne Riggs with 22 laps left and cruising home to the checkered flag in the Baptist Health 200.

It was a victory that nearly didn’t work out for Enfinger, after door-banging contact with Christian Eckes on the lap-68 restart that kicked off stage three cut a tire on the No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST and forced an unscheduled pit stop under green-flag conditions.

Enfinger went a lap down as a result, but got the free pass under the third and final yellow flag of the day with 59 to go and elected to put on a fresh set of tires at that point, hoping the race would run to the finish from there.

He got his wish, drove through the field from 21st, and made the race-winning pass of Riggs – who was among those on the same fuel and tire strategy – in turn two on lap 113.

All told, Enfinger led 32 laps, second only to polesitter and early-race dominator Corey Heim’s 68 circuits in front. Saturday marked his 12th career Truck Series win in 194 starts and his second victory this year.

“Man, we had a truck that was just as good as this one earlier in the year at Darlington (Raceway), and just had bad circumstances that kept us from winning there, so this is a little bit of redemption,” Enfinger noted after climbing from his truck. “I feel like we took a disadvantage and turned it into an advantage with the strategy. I didn’t think I did anything wrong (on the stage three restart), but Christian (Eckes) was trying to split the middle and it cut our tire a little bit. Just a racing deal.

“At the end of the day, though, (crew chief) Jeff Stankiewicz had the best truck out here and we’d be really fast after about five laps each time the run got going,” Enfinger added. “Tim (Fedewa, spotter) did a great job of managing me with the tires, and I felt like I saved at least 20 percent more than I did in the first run.

“Jeff was on me pretty hard … and it looked like the 38 (Riggs) and the 2 (Nick Sanchez) ran out there, so luckily, we did our jobs and everything worked out. Hard to beat these last two weeks.”

With wins in the first two races of the semifinal playoff round and all the momentum seemingly on his side in pursuit of a first career Truck Series championship, how good is it to be Grant Enfinger right now?

Grant Enfinger takes the checkered flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (David Rosenblum/NKP photo)

“It’s definitely good,” he smiled. “We’ve had potential all year, and I don’t feel like I’ve always executed and lived up to that. There have been a few times where we’ve had bad luck, but maybe this is the time where we get our momentum, don’t get too worked up, and use it to fuel our focus toward Phoenix (and the championship race).”

While Enfinger was making an economy run pay off, playoff rivals Ty Majeski and Heim pitted for the final time under green at laps 100 and 101, respectively. That duo hoped to use the pace of the 20-lap newer rubber to chase down and ultimately overhaul Enfinger for the win, but their play didn’t pan out.

Majeski finished a distant second, 17.516 seconds adrift of Enfinger, while Heim ended up fourth behind the career-best third place finish of Spire Motorsports’ Connor Mosack.

Tyler Ankrum closed the top five, followed by Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Eckes, and Taylor Gray.

Sanchez and Riggs, both of whom tried to stretch their fuel to the finish in the same fashion as Enfinger, ran out inside the final two laps from top-three running positions and plummeted down the finishing order.

Sanchez ended as the last car on the lead lap in 13th, barely nursing his car to the finish line, while Riggs fell to 22nd and was a lap behind at the checkered flag.

Outside of the stage breaks at laps 30 and 60, the only caution for incident waved on lap 76 after Conner Jones got into the back of Matt Mills’ truck and sent Mills hard into the outside wall in turn four.

Mills’ No. 42 caught fire briefly before coming to a stop, and he did climb out under his own power, but was later transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Jones was held for two laps under penalty by NASCAR officials for his role in the incident, which was categorized as reckless driving.

The semifinal round of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series playoffs concludes Friday night, Nov. 1 under the lights at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway with the running of the Zip ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ 200.

Heim leads the drivers currently inside the provisional Championship 4 on points, 49 above the cut line, while Caruth, Gray, Ankrum, and Sanchez are in danger of elimination from the postseason.

Broadcast coverage from the Paper Clip is slated for 6 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.