June 3, 2023 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Grant Enfinger scores Truck Series win at St. Louis

MADISON, IL --  Taking advantage of Ty Majeski‘s and Zane Smith‘s wreck at the front of the field, Grant Enfinger grabbed his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the season in Saturday‘s Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

During a two-lap overtime that took the race two laps past its scheduled distance of 160 laps, Enfinger held off Christian Eckes to claim his first win at WWT Raceway and the ninth of his career.

Enfinger crossed the finish line 0.256 seconds ahead of Eckes and collected a $50,000 bonus for winning the second event in the Triple Truck Challenge.

“I forgot about that, to be honest with you right now,” Enfinger said of the Triple Truck Challenge bonus. “It’s just so hard to win these races. And if it was about money, we’d have quit a long time ago… It’s been a rocky year. But these last five races, I feel like we’ve come to our own.

“(Crew chief) Jeff Hensley made great calls and overall just a just a great day, and the stars aligned.”

Enfinger likely would have settled for third place, had Majeski and Smith not wiped out in front of him on Lap 155. Smith held the lead at that point, even though he had made his last pit stop on Lap 90.

On older tires, Smith held an advantage of nearly 1.5 seconds when Lawless Alan‘s spin on Lap 150 necessitated the 10th caution of the race.

After the subsequent restart on Lap 155, Majeski, the pole winner, charged into second place and ran side by side with Smith until Majeski spun sideways in Turn 2, destroyed his own truck and knocked Smith into the wall in the process.

The wreck sent the race to the overtime, with Enfinger in the lead and Eckes beside him for a restart on Lap 161. Enfinger cleared Eckes on the first overtime lap and pulled away to win by a truck length.

WATCH: Enfinger reacts after big win

“I don’t know if we were just kind of living right there the end or whatever, but Ty kind of did what I did last year… and Ty just got loose underneath him. It’s hard to make those moves here. But I’m just so proud of these guys…

“It‘s as good as time as they need to announce that we’re expecting another baby, so I’ll be home tonight to see (my wife), so life is good.”

Stewart Friesen ran third, followed by Carson Hocevar and Chase Purdy. Matt DiBenedetto, Ben Rhodes, Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love and Jake Garcia completed the top 10.

Love was making his first start in the series, substituting for Corey Heim, who was sidelined by illness.

The Truck Series will return to action on June 23 with the running of the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection is clear in the Truck Series garage, confirming the No. 23 of Grant Enfinger as the race winner. The No. 19 of Christian Eckes had one lug nut not safe and secure, resulting in a monetary fine to be announced in the weekly penalty report.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race Number 12
Race Results for the Toyota 200 - Saturday, June 3, 2023
World Wide Technology Raceway - Madison, IL - 1.25 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 162 Laps - 202.5 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/3/2023 @ 04:34 PM Eastern

Fin Str Trk Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 10 23 Grant Enfinger Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet 162 1 7 54 Running 4 65 6
2 3 19 Christian Eckes BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet 162 7 4 46 Running
3 5 52 Stewart Friesen Ferris Commercial Mowers Toyota 162 10 1 45 Running 1 10 1
4 4 42 Carson Hocevar Worldwide Express Chevrolet 162 9 35 Running
5 8 4 Chase Purdy Bama Buggies Chevrolet 162 8 35 Running
6 15 25 Matt DiBenedetto Rackley Roofing Chevrolet 162 5 37 Running
7 2 99 Ben Rhodes Bommarito Ford 162 3 5 44 Running
8 9 2 Nick Sanchez # Gainbridge Chevrolet 162 3 37 Running
9 20 11 Jesse Love Safelite Toyota 162 28 Running
10 7 35 Jake Garcia # Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet 162 27 Running
11 17 43 Daniel Dye # Liftedtrucksforsale.com Chevrolet 162 9 28 Running
12 22 9 Colby Howard Grant County Mulch Chevrolet 162 25 Running
13 13 17 Taylor Gray # JBL Toyota 162 10 25 Running
14 25 32 Bret Holmes # IBEW/Grindstaff Rub Co. Chevrolet 162 23 Running
15 35 24 Rajah Caruth # Born Driven Chevrolet 162 22 Running
16 12 16 Tyler Ankrum LiUNA! Toyota 162 21 Running
17 11 41 Bayley Currey Unishippers Chevrolet 162 20 Running
18 27 56 Timmy Hill UNITS Storage Toyota 162 19 Running
19 29 20 Matt Mills J.F. Electric Chevrolet 162 18 Running
20 6 38 Zane Smith 'ARRMA' RC Ford 162 4 24 Running 3 32
21 14 15 Tanner Gray Lost Boyz Motorsports Toyota 162 6 8 24 Running
22 23 45 Lawless Alan AUTOParkit Chevrolet 162 15 Running
23 32 33 Josh Reaume Driven Ford 161 14 Running
24 18 1 Toni Breidinger HomeSmiles Toyota 161 13 Running
25 34 88 Matt Crafton Ideal Door/Menards Ford 160 6 17 Running
26 28 12 Spencer Boyd Hans HairClub Chevrolet 160 11 Running
27 26 02 Chris Hacker Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet 159 10 Running
28 33 6 Norm Benning MDIA/Circle B Chevrolet 159 9 Running
29 21 51 Jack Wood Logitech Chevrolet 158 8 Running
30 1 98 Ty Majeski Road Ranger Ford 155 2 2 25 Accident 4 55
31 30 34 Stephen Mallozzi ARS Ford 146 6 Running
32 19 13 Hailie Deegan Ford Performance Ford 86 5 Accident
33 24 66 Conner Jones TSport Ford 66 4 Accident
34 16 5 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 20 3 Engine
35 31 95 Clay Greenfield Backyard Blues Pools Chevrolet 0 2 Accident

 Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 30 Mins, 29 Secs. Average Speed: 80.74 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.256 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 23, 98, 99, 38, 25, 15, 19, 4, 42, 52
Stage 2 Top 10: 52, 98, 2, 19, 99, 88, 23, 15, 43, 17

 Caution Flags: 11 for 61 laps; Laps: 2-7 (#24, 32 and 95 Incident on the Backstretch [None]); 30-34 (#34 Stalled on the Frontstretch [6]); 37-42 (Satge 1 Conclusion [6]); 57-61 (#02 and 51 Incident on the Frontstretch [6]); 68-76 (#25 and 66 Incident in Turn 2 [51]); 81-85 (#2 and 17 Incident in Turn 3 [6]); 88-93 (#2 and 13 Incident in Turn 3 [51]); 127-131 (#02 and 33 Incident in Turn 4  [45]); 136-140 (#41 Spin on the Backstretch [32]); 151-154 (#45 Spin in Turn 2 [16]); 156-160 (#38 and 98 Incident in Turn 2 [41]).

 Lead Changes: 11 among 4 drivers; T. Majeski 1-32; G. Enfinger 33-37; T. Majeski 38-43; Z. Smith 44-45; T. Majeski 46-61; S. Friesen 62-71; G. Enfinger 72-85; Z. Smith 86-89; G. Enfinger 90-127; T. Majeski 128; Z. Smith 129-154; G. Enfinger 155-162.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 23, 2023 - Nashville Superspeedway

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