After 94 Days, The Wait Is Over - Grant Enfinger Is Back On Track Tonight At Charlotte Motor Speedwa

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

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

Charlotte Motor Speedway – NC Education Lottery 200

Race No. 3 of 23

Team Info/Stats:

Crew Chief: Jeff Hensley

2020 Driver Points Standings: 7th

2020 Owner Points Standings: 9th

2020 Playoffs: 2nd

Spotter: Chris Lambert

News and Notes:

The Wait Is Over… It’s been 94 days since the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series last competed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earlier this season – four days longer than the series 2019 off-season – but the wait is over! Tonight the series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) for the 18th annual NC Education Lottery 200, the third race on the 2020 schedule.
Rolling Off Ninth… Due to no practice or qualifying for Tuesday’s night’s 201-lap event at CMS, NASCAR had a random draw to determine starting positions for the 40-truck field. Grant Enfinger and the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150 will start 9th when the field takes the green flag at 8 p.m. ET, tonight on FS1.
Charlotte Shakedown… Grant Enfinger will make his fourth career start at CMS in Tuesday night’s NC Education Lottery 200. In three previous starts at the 1.5-mile track, the ThorSport Racing driver has a track-best start of fifth (2018) and has led two laps en route to two top-10 finishes (2017/2019).
This Week's No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150... The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 44 at CMS. This is the same chassis Enfinger piloted to victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2018 (September) and earned two poles in 2019 with this particular chassis at Texas Motor Speedway (March) and Kentucky Speedway (July). This chassis was last seen at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this season.
Intermediate Track Facts… In 36 starts on an intermediate-size track (1.5-1.54-miles) in his NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career, Enfinger has three poles (Homestead, 2018, Texas-1, 2019 and Kentucky, 2020), one win (Las Vegas, 2018), and has led 287 laps en route to 10 top-five, and 24 top-10 finishes.
Truck Series Stats… Enfinger has 85 career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts to his credit since 2010. His success includes 615 laps led en route to three wins, five poles, 29 top-five and 54 top-10 finishes.
Take Me Back – Las Vegas… Enfinger started ninth, finished 11th in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2, but was involved in a late-race incident on lap 91 of 134 and relegated to a 31st-place finish in the Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Ford Fact… Ford-powered F-150's have found victory lane 100 times since 1995 in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. However, CMS is one of four tracks on the 2020 schedule that Ford Performance has yet to find victory lane.

Chatting with Grant Enfinger...

Popular Speed: We only got a couple races in before the season went on pause, but what are your thoughts looking back on that?

“Well obviously, we got started off the right way by winning Daytona, but really, the mile-and-a-halves means more than Daytona. In Vegas, we struggled a little bit, but when Jeff Hensley had a stab at it on pit road, we actually got our F-150 really competitive there, as well. I feel like we were decent, not great, but I feel like we learned a lot. They changed the tires there, and that threw us for a loop, initially, but I’m glad we got to run that so we know what to expect when we get to Charlotte.”

Popular Speed: How much of a challenge will it be (tonight) without any practice or qualifying?

“The good thing is it’ll be a challenge for everybody. That’ll be a new one for me, but fortunately, myself and Jeff Hensley (crew chief) are going into a fourth year together and have a really good notebook for all the races coming up that we won’t practice and qualify. It’s just one of those things that everybody is up against the same deal, and I feel like it’s going to be an advantage to a team like ours that has a lot of experience and the same core group of guys together, we should be a force.”