It was a nearly full-moon Friday night for the first-ever NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series night race at Martinsville Speedway, and the action did not disappoint.
At the end of the day, it was Grant Enfinger who survived a wild NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 to claim his first career win at Martinsville in the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200.
With crashes, problems, and tempers wreaking havoc throughout the night, Enfinger kept the nose of his No. 98 Ford clean to grab the holeshot on a final two-lap sprint to the finish. The result was even sweeter for ThorSport Racing as it scored a one-two finish with Enfinger’s teammate Ben Rhodes finishing second.
“It was tough,” an exhausted but jubilant Enfinger told Fox Sports 1. “We knew this one was [a race] we would have to take the gloves off and fight for but we had a just good enough Champion Power Equipment Ford F-150 to get it done. It’s been an up and down season for us but we’ve tended to have peaked when we have needed to.”
The win held even more significance for Enfinger as he earned a coveted spot in the championship four for next weekend’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The problems were dramatic and frequent throughout the night, beginning with a bizarre lap 13 dust-up which turned the frontstretch into a parking lot. Tanner Gray, Trevor Bayne, Tate Fogleman and Ray Ciccarelli were among those involved.
We … haven't exactly seen this before ?.
Follow live scoring as we sort this out: https://t.co/g7Y6GfZVw6 pic.twitter.com/XxSaJCEkPZ
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 31, 2020
It was not a good night for Gray, as he would be involved in two more incidents throughout the night. Fogleman’s night would come to an end after a collision involving Carson Hocevar just after the final stage went green.
While many playoff drivers avoided the early wrecks, the same could not be said for mechanical gremlins, the biggest of which belong to Austin Hill‘s Toyota. Hill, who many considered to be one of the favorites to win the 2020 championship, fought major engine issues all night.
On the same day in which he announced he would return to the series next season, Hill’s suffered through a disaster as his No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises entry ran sour all night before finally dying under a lap 117 caution period. Because of his 35th-place finish, a heartbroken Hill was stunningly denied a spot in the championship four after previously winning the regular-season championship.
Although he is already locked into the season finale, Sheldon Creed led early but was forced to pit under green with a flat tire. Despite losing a lap, Creed scratched and clawed back into the top spot.
But it lasted just one straightaway, as Enfinger sent him for a late spin that took him out of winning contention.
.@sheldoncreed drove through the field, but gets spun while battling for the lead with @GrantEnfinger! pic.twitter.com/woeJde7pkI
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 31, 2020
Creed’s teammate Brett Moffitt, who is also locked into the championship four, had his night end with nine laps to go after triggering a crash with Rhodes and Raphael Lessard.
.@raphael_lessard gets spun in front of the entire field!@Brett_Moffitt had nowhere to go and gets caught up ?. pic.twitter.com/Owi74XjdUm
— NASCAR Camping World Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 31, 2020
Todd Gilliland, an eliminated playoff driver, fought overheating and electrical issues. The 20-year-old and defending Martinsville winner even needed a push from a tow vehicle after the No. 38 stalled under caution. Gilliland finished 32nd.
After the dust settled, Zane Smith‘s third-place finish solidified his points cushion well enough to claim the final spot in the championship four alongside Moffitt, Creed, and Enfinger.
Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton rounded out the top five finishing positions. Crafton, Hill, Rhodes, and Tyler Ankrum were the four drivers eliminated from the playoffs following the contest.
2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 Results
A champion will be crowned after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. The Lucas Oil 150 is set for Friday, Nov. 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
Never at a loss for words, Zach Gillispie is a young, talented marketing professional from North Carolina who talks and writes on the side about his first love: racing! Since joining Frontstretch in 2018, Zach has served in numerous roles where he currently pens the NASCAR 101 column, a weekly piece delving into the basic nuts and bolts of the sport. Additionally, his unabashedly bold takes meshed with that trademarked dry wit of his have made Zach a fan favorite on the weekly Friday Faceoff panel. In his free time, he can be found in the great outdoors, actively involved in his church, cheering on his beloved Atlanta Braves or ruthlessly pestering his colleagues with completely useless statistics about Delma Cowart.