Grant Enfinger has turned up the momentum heading toward the championship race at Phoenix Raceway.
Enfinger won his second 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in a row, taking the win in the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway by 17.516 seconds over Ty Majeski. Enfinger led 32 laps en route to the win.
“We’ve had potential all year,” Enfinger told FOX Sports 1. “There’s been some times I haven’t executed. There’s been some times we’ve just had bad luck, but maybe this is the time we get our momentum. Like I told the guys, let’s not get too worked up over this one, just focus on Phoenix.”
Majeski passed a couple of drivers who ran out of gas in the last two laps, such as Layne Riggs and Nick Sanchez, to finish second.
Connor Mosack, another driver who saved fuel to the end, finished a career-best third. Corey Heim led the most laps with 68 on the day but finished fourth. Tyler Ankrum completed the top five.
Stewart Friesen, Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth, Christian Eckes and Taylor Gray rounded out the top 10.
Sanchez was the lowest finisher of playoff drivers, coming home 13th.
Enfinger recovered from a tire rub after he made contact with Eckes on the stage three restart, contact that forced him to pit road under green.
Matt Mills was the only caution for incident after a hard impact with the turn 3 wall after contact with a frustrated Conner Jones. Mills’ No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet caught fire as it slid into the infield grass, and Mills was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Jones complained over the radio about how he was raced by Mills. Shortly after, NASCAR served him a two-lap penalty for reckless driving.
The caution set up strategy with Riggs, Sanchez and Enfinger among the drivers who stopped for new tires. Riggs took the lead from Heim, and after the No. 11 truck hit pit road later in the run, the race turned into a battle between frontrunners like Riggs saving fuel and drivers like Heim trying to run them down on fresh rubber.
Enfinger, also saving fuel, would take the lead from Riggs with 22 to go as Heim continued the rundown.
Heim dominated early from the pole and scored 19 stage points, but he didn’t have enough power to pass Enfinger, who completed the impressive fuel save to win by more than half a lap over the competition.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results from Homestead
The final race of the Truck Series Round of 8 will take place at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, Nov. 1, at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage will be provided by FOX Sports 1.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
Conner Jones gets a two lap penalty for intentionally wrecking Matt Mills. What an absolute joke! He should have been immediately parked! I hope there is further action taken since Mills ended up in the hospital.