RICHMOND, Va. — Grant Enfinger nearly ended his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winless streak on Saturday night (Aug. 10).
Instead, the 10-time Trucks winner left Richmond Raceway with a fourth-place result, with his winless streak growing dangerously close to a year. His last win was at the Milwaukee Mile on Aug. 27, 2023. The next race on the Trucks’ schedule is Milwaukee on Sunday, Aug. 25.
Enfinger led a career-high 98 laps on Saturday, but lost the lead for good to Ty Majeski with eight laps to go. He had already lost control of the race to Majeski on a restart just over 20 laps to go when the two made contact with the No. 98 truck emerging ahead.
Enfinger was none too pleased with the contact from Majeski.
“[I needed] a clean restart there,” Enfinger said. “Got ran over with just kind of Truck Series chaos there. You got a restart with 25 [laps] to go or whatever, line up on the top, you know that can happen, right?
“I thought I gave him [Majeski] plenty of room for whatever may have transpired down there to have us enough room, and still I got ran over and killed the left side of our truck. That kind of took our chances away. After that, just super loose.”
Enfinger led one more lap on the night when he beat Majeski to the line on the final restart with eight laps to go, but the No. 98 cleared the Fairhope, Ala., native coming off turn 2 and never looked back.
Had Enfinger held on for the win, it would’ve been the first win for his team, CR7 Motorsports, who he just joined up with this season. Still, Enfinger notched his fifth top five of the season, and he was already locked into the Truck playoffs on points entering Saturday’s race.
The No. 9 truck was solid all night, but it wasn’t a winning truck when the race started. Enfinger never led until lap 116 of the 250-lap event.
“Overall, I felt like Jeff [Stankiewicz, crew chief] unloaded with a really good Grant County Mulch Chevrolet,” Enfinger said. “I felt like we weren’t where we needed to be to win the race the first stage. Jeff wasn’t scared to work on it.”
Once Enfinger got the lead, he held it for the 96 of the next 105 laps.
“I do think we were a truck capable of winning after our second pit stop,” Enfinger said. “From that point on, I felt really good about our truck.”
Unfortunately for Enfinger, the caution flag kept coming out as the laps closed down. That allowed Corey Heim to pit for 30-lap fresher tires than the No. 9 truck, and the TRICON Garage driver eventually tracked Enfinger down for the lead on lap 221.
But Enfinger was given new life when the caution came out again four laps later, as then most of the field could pit for tires fresher than the scuffs that Heim’s crew put on. Enfinger and Majeski quickly got around new leader William Sawalich, but that’s when the two made contact, with Majeski coming out ahead. Enfinger gave Majeski one last charge on the final restart with eight laps to go, but to no avail.
“In even conditions, on even tires, on even restarts, I felt really good about our chances,” Enfinger said. “An even restart didn’t happen tonight. Part of it, I hadn’t even seen a restart, just part of the chaos on a restart with 25 to go.”
Yet CR7 appears to be getting closer and closer to winning for the first time in Trucks competition. Enfinger has three straight top fives and has led over 70 laps in two consecutive races. All five of Enfinger’s top fives on the year have came in the last seven races. He only has one finish worse than sixth in that span: a 17th at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
“From a speed standpoint, the last eight races or so — really since we unloaded at Darlington — we’ve had speed capable to run up front,” Enfinger said. “And I think Jeff has continued to push the gas pedal down at the shop, make our trucks better and better. I feel like we’re bringing stuff to the table and getting stuff from the table at [McAnally-Hilgemann Racing] and our partners at Chevrolet.
“So all that’s clicking really good, but our chemistry for this No. 9 truck is clicking. I feel like we’re peaking where we need to be. I just felt like we really kind of let loose and went for a checkered flag today [Saturday]. I feel like we’re capable of doing that.”
But standing on pit road after the race, Enfinger wasn’t thinking about the team’s recent uptrend. He was more disappointed in a race that got away.
“The stars just didn’t really line up,” Enfinger said. “I don’t know, replaying the race, if I [should’ve] made any different decisions. Maybe I should have. I’ll have to rewatch the race.”
About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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