Grant Enfinger - Kentucky Speedway Preview

Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series

Kentucky Speedway – Buckle Up In Your Truck 225

Race No. 13 of 23

Team Info/Stats:

Crew Chief: Jeff Hensley

2019 Driver Points Standings: 1st (+52)

2019 Owner Points Standings: 2nd (-17)

Playoff Position: 4th of 8

Spotter: Chris Lambert

News and Notes:

Bluegrass State Stats… Enfinger has three NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts at Kentucky Speedway since 2016, including a track-best start of fifth (2018) and a track-best finish of sixth (2018). Additionally, the ThorSport Racing driver has five ARCA Menards Series starts, which include 35 laps led, and three top-five finishes.
This Week's No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150... The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 44 for Thursday night’s Gander Trucks Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway. This is the same chassis Enfinger drove to victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (September 2018), and started on the pole with at Texas Motor Speedway (2019-1), and Homestead-Miami Speedway (November 2018). In three starts this season, this particular chassis has led 54 laps en route to two top-five finishes.
Off-Weekend Fun… Enfinger made his second start with Multimatic Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 15 Ford Performance/Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, CTMP 250 Saturday, July 6. Enfinger and ThorSport Racing teammate, Ben Rhodes started third and finished 13th.
Intermediate Track Facts… In 32 starts on an intermediate-size track (1.5-1.54-miles) in his Gander Trucks career, Enfinger has two poles (Homestead, 2018 and Texas, 2019), one win (Las Vegas, 2018), and has led 259 laps en route to 10 top-five, and 23 top-10 finishes.
Playoff Profile… With only four races remaining on the road to the Playoffs, Enfinger is currently ranked fourth on the Playoff Grid, behind Iowa Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway winner, Brett Moffitt, Dover International Speedway winner, Johnny Sauter and Daytona International Speedway winner, Austin Hill. Enfinger, who is currently first in the driver points standings, has four Stage wins (second only to Kyle Busch with seven) and four Playoff Points.
2019 Outlook… Enfinger has been the Gander Trucks points leader through nine of the first 12 races this season. Furthermore, the ThorSport Racing driver has not dropped below second in the points standings. Completing 99.8 percent of the laps attempted (1947 of 1950) in 2019, Enfinger has lead at least one lap in nine of the last 12 races, leading 211 laps this season. The Champion Power Equipment driver has one pole (Texas, March), six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes.
Ford Fact… Ford powered F-150's have found victory lane 99 times since 1995 in the Gander Trucks, including three times in 21 races at Kentucky Speedway with Greg Biffle (2000), Carl Edwards (2003), and most recently with ThorSport Racing teammate, Ben Rhodes (2018).
Take Me Back – Chicagoland Speedway... Enfinger started a track-best fifth, finished second in Stage 1, and first in Stage 2, but an incident on lap 80 of 150 relegated the Champion Power Equipment driver to a 16th-place finish in the 11th Annual Camping World 225 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Truck Series Stats… Enfinger has 72 career Gander Trucks starts to his credit. His success includes four poles, and 482 laps led en route to two wins, 24 top-five and 45 top-10 finishes.

Chatting with Grant Enfinger...

You’re the Gander Trucks points leader, but with four races remaining in the regular season, you are still looking for your first win of 2019, to solidify your spot in the Playoffs. What’s the pressure like trying to get a win in the next four races?

“Honestly, it’s business as usual for us. We’ve definitely got a goose egg in the win column, and we hate that, that’s not what we’ve intended to do by this point in the season. Honestly, I feel like we’ve done everything to set ourselves up for wins, we’ve had about three or four opportunities slip away from us, and in the last two weeks we definitely could have pulled one-off, it just wasn’t meant to be. You know, I feel like if we just keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll get multiple wins this year, it just hasn’t worked out thus far. I can’t say that, if there’s a strategy play at Kentucky (Speedway) tomorrow night, and we’re toward the end of that second stage, and a caution comes out, and we’re in our window, we could potentially give up some stage points to set ourselves up for a win at the end, but outside of that, we’re business as usual.”

Take us for a lap around the unique mile-and-a-half of Kentucky Speedway.

“Turns 1 and 2, I don’t wanna call it easy, but it’s high grip and you’re wide-open there, especially in these Gander Outdoors Trucks that we’re in - we have a ton of downforce. So, we’re wide-open, could potentially be side-by-side in 1 & 2, especially with the PJ1 that they’re putting down this time around. But then, you go off into Turn 3 and it feels like you’re kinda driving off a cliff. You almost feel like the track is cambered the wrong way. So, you definitely have to be on your P’s and Q’s going into Turn 3. We’ll be off throttle there, for really even in qualifying, most likely, depending on how much grip is in these tires and in the track. Then you just have to get through the entry of 3, and once you do that, you can accelerate and be good off 4, and then your wide-open, all the way back to 3. So,Turn 3 is definitely the focus point when we’re tuning on our Ford F-150 in practice tomorrow.”