October 4, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Grant Enfinger wins Truck Series playoff race at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — The home crowd favorite, Grant Enfinger claimed the victory in Friday afternoon’s Love’s RV Stop 225 Playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway – the Alabama native’s second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at the big track and the most important, as the victory delivers an automatic entry into the season championship finale next month at Phoenix Raceway.

Enfinger’s No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet led a race-best 34 of the 85 laps, won Stage 2 and held the point on the final lap when a caution came out ending the race.

“We knew stuff was going to get dicey,” the 39-year-old Enfinger said of having to hold the field off following a restart with nine laps remaining to claim his first victory of the season – first ever for the team – and 11th 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 chose the outside [lane for a restart] once or twice and maybe we shouldn’t have. … it’s just Talladega right there and hopefully all the fans enjoyed it.

“There’s nothing like winning at your home track. Got my family here and first win with my daughter and my son here. On top of that, we get to race for a championship in Phoenix.”

It was a typically wild event on the sport’s biggest track (2.66 miles) with the race once again decided in a final frantic push for the checkered flag – with Enfinger leading fellow Playoff driver, Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray across the finish line under caution.

Daniel Dye and Tyler Ankrum made contact while running fifth and sixth – causing a multicar accident spinning about 200 yards before the finish line, bringing out the yellow and checkered flag to officially end the event. The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver Dye slid across the line in third, Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, also a Playoff driver, finished fourth. Reaume Brothers Racing’s Lawless Alan scored a career-best fifth-place finish.

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes, the regular season champion, finished sixth, followed by Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.

Playoff drivers, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim and ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski finished 11th and 12th. McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum was 14th.

“We had a fast truck and made a bad decision,” a frustrated Majeski said. “I hopped out of line and cost ourselves some Stage 2 points, so I don’t know where that puts us in the points, but I guess it could have been worse if we finished 12th. We’ll move on to Homestead.”

Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez, who led 10 laps, finished 22nd after an eventful day. He was involved in multiple incidents and ultimately called to pit road by NASCAR on 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 won the race. He was not Playoff-eligible when he won at the track in 2016. This win lands him one of four positions in the championship race at Phoenix on Nov. 8 – the third time the popular Alabama driver has competed for the championship trophy.

“Obviously we can start focusing on Phoenix right away and that’s a huge advantage I think,” Enfinger said. “The way I look at it, we don’t have to worry about points for the next two races.’ … very, very proud of what this win 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 join Enfinger in the Championship race, Heim leads Eckes by a single point. Majeski is 25 points back but only five points ahead of Caruth.

Gray is 13 points behind Majeski, Sanchez 20 points back and Ankrum 23 points back. A win by any of these seven is the automatic ticket for a shot at the title.

The series has a three-week break before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Race at Homestead-Miami on Oct. 26 at South Florida’s 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway (noon ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Carson Hocevar is the defending race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Craftsman Truck Series garage without issue, confirming Grant Enfinger’s victory. The Nos. 9, 17 and 71 will return to the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection and engine dyno.



NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 20
Race Results for the Love?s RV Stop 225 - Friday, October 4, 2024
Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL - 2.66 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 85 Laps - 226.1 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 10/4/2024 @ 07:15 PM Eastern

Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 4 9 Grant Enfinger (P) Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 85 2 1 59 Running 9 34 6
2 5 17 Taylor Gray (P) Place of Hope Toyota 85 9  37 Running  
3 35 43 Daniel Dye NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet 85   34 Running 1 3
4 13 71 Rajah Caruth (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 85  6 38 Running 1 2
5 16 33 Lawless Alan AUTODockit Ford 85 8 3 43 Running  
6 15 19 Christian Eckes (P) NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 85  4 38 Running 1 8
7 22 91 Ryan Reed Tandem Diabetes Care Chevrolet 85   30 Running  
8 23 75 Stefan Parsons popsells.com Chevrolet 85   29 Running  
9 19 32 Bret Holmes Golden Eagle Chevrolet 85  9 30 Running  
10 20 76 Spencer Boyd Tibbetts Lumber Chevrolet 85   27 Running  
11 9 11 Corey Heim (P) Safelite Toyota 85  7 30 Running  
12 3 98 Ty Majeski (P) Road Ranger Ford 85 7  29 Running  
13 26 52 Stewart Friesen Halmar International Toyota 85   24 Running 1 1
14 7 18 Tyler Ankrum (P) LiUNA! Chevrolet 85   23 Running  
15 21 95 Clay Greenfield Backyard Blues Pools Chevrolet 85   22 Running  
16 25 04 Cory Roper FlyAlliance/CarQuest Chevrolet 85   21 Running  
17 28 44 Danny Bohn Rust-Oleum Chevrolet 85   20 Running  
18 29 21 Mason Maggio US Off Market Real Estate Toyota 85   19 Running  
19 18 45 Kaden Honeycutt Moore's Venture Foods Chevrolet 85   18 Running 1 3
20 27 22 Jason White Powder Ventures Excavations Ford 85   17 Running 1 7
21 31 6 Norm Benning Pennsylvania Motor Speedway Chevrolet 85   16 Running  
22 11 2 Nick Sanchez (P) Gainbridge Chevrolet 85   15 Running 4 10
23 17 88 Matt Crafton Jack Links/Menards Ford 85   14 Running 1 1
24 30 25 Dawson Sutton Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 81   13 Running 1 1
25 6 77 Chase Purdy Bama Buggies Chevrolet 71   12 Running 1 1
26 24 28 Keith McGee FDNY Racing/OB Builders Chevrolet 70   11 Accident  
27 1 1 William Sawalich Starkey/Soundgear Toyota 64 5  16 Running  
28 33 38 Layne Riggs # Love's Travel Stops Ford 61  10 10 Accident  
29 10 13 Jake Garcia Quanta Services Ford 61 3 2 25 Accident  
30 34 15 Tanner Gray Dead On Tools Toyota 61 10 8 11 Accident  
31 8 42 Matt Mills J.F. Electric/Utilitra Chevrolet 61 1  16 Accident 5 14 1
32 14 5 Dean Thompson Boot Campaign Toyota 61 6 5 16 Accident  
33 12 7 Connor Zilisch(i) Austin Hatcher Foundation Chevrolet 61 4  0 Accident  
34 36 16 Johnny Sauter Aflac Toyota Tsusho Toyota 42   3 DVP  
35 2 99 Ben Rhodes Kubota Ford 38   2 Accident  
36 32 41 Bayley Currey DQS Chevrolet 17   1 Rear Gear  

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 48 Mins, 24 Secs. Average Speed: 125.148 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.041 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 42, 9, 13, 7, 1, 5, 98, 33, 17, 15
Stage 2 Top 10: 9, 13, 33, 19, 5, 71, 11, 15, 32, 38

Failed to Qualify: (2) 56 Timmy Hill, 02 Keith McGee.

Caution Flags: 4 for 25 laps; Laps: 22-27 (Stage 1 Conclusion [99]); 39-46 (#2, 7, 99, 77 incident frontstretch / Stage 2 Conclusion [17]); 63-68 (#13, 38, 15, 42, 7, 18, 17, 5 incident turn 1 [28]); 72-76 (#28, 21, 2, 19, 43 incident turn 4 [32]).

Lead Changes: 27 among 12 drivers; W. Sawalich 0; G. Enfinger (P) 1; C. Purdy 2; M. Mills 3; G. Enfinger (P) 4; M. Mills 5-9; G. Enfinger (P) 10-12; M. Mills 13-14; G. Enfinger (P) 15; M. Mills 16-17; G. Enfinger (P) 18-19; M. Mills 20-23; S. Friesen 24; N. Sanchez (P) 25-29; G. Enfinger (P) 30-32; N. Sanchez (P) 33; G. Enfinger (P) 34; N. Sanchez (P) 35; G. Enfinger (P) 36-42; M. Crafton 43; R. Caruth (P) 44-45; D. Dye 46-48; C. Eckes (P) 49-56; D. Sutton 57; J. White 58-64; K. Honeycutt 65-67; N. Sanchez (P) 68-70; G. Enfinger (P) 71-85.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: October 26, 2024 - Homestead-Miami Speedway

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CURRENT NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES STANDINGS

POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-

1 9 Grant Enfinger Chevrolet +18
2 11 Corey Heim Toyota +30
3 19 Christian Eckes Chevrolet +29
4 98 Ty Majeski Ford +5

On The Bubble

5 71 Rajah Caruth Chevrolet -5
6 17 Taylor Gray Toyota -13
7 2 Nicholas Sanchez Chevrolet -20
8 18 Tyler Ankrum Chevrolet -23