TALLADEGA, Ala. — Home crowd favorite Grant Enfinger claimed victory in Friday afternoon’s Love’s RV Stop 225 Playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway — the Alabama native’s second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at the big track and the most significant since the win earns him an automatic entry into the season championship finale next month at Phoenix Raceway.
Enfinger’s No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet led a career-best 34 of the race’s 85 laps, winning Stage 2 and retaining the point on the final lap when a race-ending caution came out.
RELATED: Race results | Photos on the trail
“We knew it was going to be tough,” said the 39-year-old Enfinger of having to keep the field at bay after a restart with nine laps to go to claim his first win of the season – the first ever for the team – and his eleventh place. of Enfinger’s career.
“We didn’t make all the perfect decisions today, but we had a Champion Power Equipment Chevy that was fast enough to get it done today, so even though we opted for the outside [lane for a restart] once or twice and maybe we shouldn’t have done that. …it’s just Talladega and hopefully all the fans enjoyed it.
“There’s nothing like winning at your home track. I have my family here and I’m winning for the first time with my daughter and my son here. Plus we get to race for a championship in Phoenix.”
It was a typically wild event on the sport’s biggest circuit (4.26 miles), with the race once again decided in a last-ditch effort to reach the checkered flag – with Enfinger beating fellow Playoff driver, Tricon’s Taylor Gray Garage, carefully crossed the finish line.
Daniel Dye and Tyler Ankrum made contact while running fifth and sixth – causing a multi-car accident about 200 meters before the finish, bringing out the yellow and checkered flag to officially end the event. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver Dye crossed the line in third, while Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, also a Playoff driver, finished fourth. Reaume Brothers Racing’s Lawless Alan scored a career-best fifth place.
Christian Eckes of McAnally-Hilgemann, the regular season champion, finished sixth, followed by Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.
Playoff drivers Corey Heim of Tricon Garage and Ty Majeski of ThorSport Racing finished 11th and 12th. McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum was 14th.
“We had a fast truck and made a bad decision,” said a frustrated Majeski. “I jumped out of line and cost ourselves some points in Stage 2, so I don’t know where that puts us in the points, but I think it could have been worse if we had finished 12th. We continue to Homestead.”
Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez, who led ten laps, finished 22nd after an eventful day. He was involved in multiple incidents and was ultimately called to pit road by NASCAR during that final restart with nine laps remaining for an equipment check.
Enfinger’s win marks the first time in nine Talladega Playoff races that a Playoff driver has won the race. He was not eligible for the Playoff when he won at the track in 2016. This win gives him one of four positions in the championship race in Phoenix on November 8 – the third time the popular Alabama driver has competed for the championship trophy.
“Obviously we can focus on Phoenix right away and I think that’s a huge advantage,” Enfinger said. “The way I look at it, we don’t have to worry about the points in the next two races.” … very proud of what this victory means, but realistically we still have a lot to do to prepare for the championship.”
With two races remaining in this round of 8 to decide which three drivers will join Enfinger in the championship race, Heim leads Eckes by one point. Majeski is 25 points behind, but only five points ahead of Caruth.
Gray is 13 points behind Majeski, Sanchez 20 points back and Ankrum 23 points back. A win against any of these seven is automatically a ticket for a shot at the title.
The series will have a three-week break before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Race at Homestead-Miami on Oct. 26 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida (noon ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) . Carson Hocevar is the defending race winner.
NOTE: The post-race inspection was completed without incident in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Grant Enfinger’s victory. Nos. 9, 17 and 71 return to the R&D center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection and engine test bench.
