Grant Enfinger -- Homestead-Miami Preview
News and Notes:
Homestead Heat... Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 98 FarmPaint.com/Curb Records Ford F-150 will make his fifth career start at Homestead-Miami Speedway (HMS) in Saturday’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Baptist Health 200. In four previous starts, the ThorSport Racing driver has one pole (2018), and has led 33 laps en route to one top-five (2nd, 2018) and three top-10 finishes.
That’s a Stat… In the last four Gander Truck races at HMS, Enfinger has dominated on points at the 1.5-mile track, accumulating more driver points than any other driver, totaling 147 points to teammate Matt Crafton’s (2nd) 136 and Johnny Sauter’s (3rd) 124. In fact, in the last two Gander Truck races at HMS, Enfinger, ranked first, accumulating 90 points to teammate Matt Crafton’s (2nd) 79 points.
2020 Playoff Outlook… Following the fourth Gander Trucks event of the 2020 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), Enfinger has two wins and remains the only Regular Series driver to win a race in 2020, therefore the only driver to lock himself into the 2020 Playoffs on wins. If the Playoffs were to start today, Enfinger and the No. 98 team would be ranked first in the Playoffs with 19 Playoff Points ahead of second-place Austin Hill with 15 points and third-place Zane Smith with 10 points.
This Week's No. 98 FarmPaint.com/Curb Records Ford F-150... The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 52 at HMS. This particular chassis will make it’s 2020 debut, but had five starts in 2019 with one top-five and three top-10 finishes.
Music To Our Ears… Enfinger’s win at AMS was Mike Curb’s 13th Gander Trucks victory as the owner of the No. 98 entry and his first win at the 1.54-mile track in Hampton, GA. The ThorSport Racing driver will once again carry Curb Records artist and NASCAR enthusiast, Tim Dugger on the decklid of his FarmPaint.com entry at HMS on Saturday, featuring Dugger’s new hit single, “Signs of a Good Time.”
Intermediate Track Facts… In 38 starts on an intermediate-size track (1.5-1.54-miles) in his Gander Trucks career, Enfinger has three poles (Homestead, 2018, Texas-1, 2019 and Kentucky, 2020), two wins (Las Vegas, 2018 and Atlanta, 2020), and has led 288 laps en route to 11 top-five, and 25 top-10 finishes.
Truck Series Stats… Enfinger has 87 career Gander Truck starts to his credit since 2010. His success includes 622 laps led en route to four wins, five poles, 30 top-five and 55 top-10 finishes.
Take Me Back – Atlanta… Enfinger started fifth based on random draw, finished 10th in Stage 1, second in Stage 2 and won the 12th-annual Vet Tix Camping World 200 at AMS, his first win at the 1.54-mile track.
Ford Fact… Ford-powered F-150's have found victory lane 101 times since 1995 in the Gander Trucks, including six wins at HMS; Dave Rezendes (1996), Kenny Irwin, Jr. (1997), Rick Crawford (1998), Mike Wallace (1999), Mark Martin (2006) and Chase Briscoe (2017). Enfinger, who secured Ford’s 100th series win earlier this season at Daytona International Speedway also took the blue oval to victory lane for their first Gander Trucks win at AMS on Saturday.
Chatting with Grant Enfinger...
On having two wins already this season and the No. 98 teams approach for the remainder of the 2020 Regular Season…
“It’s definitely a great feeling having two wins already this year. It gives not only myself, but the entire team the confidence to do our job even better. With the way the Playoffs are structured this allows us to be a little more aggressive in some situations, and our goal is to keep accumulating Playoff Points by winning stages and races.”
On racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the first time in June vs. the series traditional visit in November.
“I’m really looking forward to racing at Homestead, in the middle of June. I feel like it’s going to be a sloppy race for a lot of people. I think we’re going to be slipping and sliding around a lot more than usual. We’re usually racing there in November, at night. So, with it being June, it’ll probably be worse case scenario for grip. It should be fun sliding all over the place, so I’m definitely looking forward to this weekend.”
Team Info/Stats:
Crew Chief: Jeff Hensley
2020 Driver Points Standings: 3rd (-31)
2020 Owner Points Standings: 4th (-46)
Spotter: Chris Lambert
2020 Playoff Points: 11
2020 Stage Points: 31 (ranked 3rd, overall)
