In A Nutshell
Grant Enfinger held off Taylor Gray on the final lap as the field wrecked behind them to win his first race of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season at Talladega Superspeedway.
With the win, Enfinger becomes the first driver to cement his spot in the Championship 4 as he seeks redemption for the one that got away last year. Enfinger’s first win of the year comes at his home track, and it comes at the same track where he won his very first truck race in 2016.
Enfinger’s triumph also marked the first ever win for CR7 Motorsports. Headed up by team owner Codie Rohrbaugh, the team has spent the last decade or so as an underdog in both the ARCA Menards Series and the Craftsman Truck Series. After all these years, it all paid off with the signing of Enfinger.
The Top Truckers at Talladega Superspeedway
Winner, Stage 2 Winner, Most Laps Led (34 of 85 laps): Grant Enfinger
Polesitter: William Sawalich
Stage 1 Winner: Matt Mills
Biggest Mover: Daniel Dye (started 35th, finished third)
Rookie of the Race: Ryan Reed
Top Storylines of the Race
- With 38 drivers on the entry list, that meant two would be sent home. Shockingly, they were two full-time trucks; the No. 02, driven by Keith McGee, and the No. 56 of Timmy Hill. However, McGee ended up taking over the No. 28 FDNY Racing truck that Bryan Dauzat was supposed to drive. McGee ultimately got caught up in a crash and finished 26th.
- Bayley Currey was the lone retiree of the race via mechanical issues. According to the final results, a rear gear problem forced the No. 41 behind the wall just 17 laps into the event.
- Despite most of the field getting caught up in accidents, 23 of the 36-truck field still managed to finish on the lead lap.
Championship Rundown
Enfinger began the Round of 8 on the outside looking in, 11 points below the cut line. Now, he’s the first driver to punch his ticket into the Championship 4.
A bunch of playoff drivers found trouble throughout the afternoon, but everyone rebounded nicely, with the worst playoff driver finishing 22nd. That was Nick Sanchez, who was wrecked from the lead twice, but rebounded both times. However NASCAR made Sanchez pit coming to the green on the final restart to fix his spoiler, ending any shot at a good finish.
Gray and Tyler Ankrum were involved in a crash earlier in the race, but rebounded to have a shot at finishing 1-2 with momentum on the top. Ankrum got turned in the tri-oval, however, killing the outside lane’s momentum. Gray had to settle for second while Ankrum finished 14th.
Aside from Sanchez and Ankrum, every other playoff driver finished in the top 12, though nearly every playoff driver was collected in the final lap crash.
Here are the points as they stand leaving Talladega.
Rookie Report
Not bad for a one-off.
Ryan Reed returned to NASCAR competition, driving the No. 91 for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series winner at Daytona International Speedway was able to avoid trouble all day, something the other rookies cannot say.
Reed finished a very solid seventh despite getting caught up in the last-lap crash when he turned teammate Christian Eckes. His performance earns him this week’s Rookie of the Race. It’d be interesting to see what Reed could do with a full-time Truck Series opportunity. He could actually turn some heads.
No. 7 – Connor Zilisch (33rd)
No. 25 – Dawson Sutton (24th)
No. 38 – Layne Riggs (28th)
No. 91 – Ryan Reed (seventh)
Thad Moffitt Update: The Young’s Motorsports No. 46 was originally entered but has since withdrawn. Lack of funding continues to keep Moffitt out of the seat, and it’s unclear if he will even return by season’s end.
Conner Jones Update: The No. 66 is also not entered, as this was a planned absence for Jones and ThorSport Racing. Jones will return for two more races this season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Phoenix Raceway. This is just the fourth race (and second straight) the No. 66 has missed, as Cam Waters and Luke Fenhaus have also made starts in the truck.
Both Moffitt and Jones are part of this year’s rookie class, leaving Rookie of the Year Riggs as the only member of the 2024 rookie class in the field.
Talkin’ Truckers
Enfinger on the win:
Gray (second) describes the feeling of coming so close to his first win:
Dye (third), Reed (seventh) and Corey Heim (11th) break down what they saw in the last lap crash:
Here from Rajah Caruth (fourth) and Lawless Alan (fifth) after both scoring top fives:
After qualifying, Clay Greenfield (finished 15th), Cory Roper (16th) and Norm Benning (21st) described their feelings about making the field on speed:
Sanchez (22nd) upset with NASCAR for forcing him to pit to fix his spoiler:
Riggs (28th), Jake Garcia (29th), Mills (31st) and Zilisch (33rd) break down what happened in the first Big One that took them all out.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Dean Thompson traded in his normal black and blue Toyota for a red, white and blue one this week.
Thompson and sponsor Thompson Pipe Group partnered with the Boot Campaign, a non-profit for veterans and their families. The resulting paint scheme strayed away from Thompson’s normal No. 5, creating a beautiful patriotic-looking design.
Thompson qualified 14th, but was caught up in a crash and finished 32nd.
Next Stop
We’re taking our talents to South Beach.
The Craftsman Truck Series has another two weeks off before heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 26, as part of a doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Carson Hocevar won last year’s edition of the event, but will not be able to defend his win on account of being a Cup Series driver.
Coverage for the Baptist Health Care Center 200 begins at approximately noon ET on Saturday, Oct. 26. FOX Sports 1 continues its television coverage of the Truck Series playoffs, while Motor Racing Network continues its season-long radio coverage of the Truck Series.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter, among many other duties he takes on for the site. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.