Grant Enfinger -- Michigan International Speedway Preview

“Michigan is kinda like the old school Richard Petty days at Daytona and Talladega. You need the draft to run fast there, but you can’t stay side-by-side, otherwise your draggin’ everybody back. So, if you’re going to get around somebody, you gotta do it in a hurry. If you dive underneath them, and don’t clear’em you may lose six, seven, eight spots. In my opinion, this race is the most entertaining race we have all year, from a fan standpoint. If you make a little mistake and don’t lose a spot, it’s not a big deal, you can suck back up to the pack, but if you make a mistake, in terms of getting out of line, or get freight trained, you can lose your air really quick and hit the wall, hard. So there’s definitely a different level of intensity and a different style of racing there.” - Grant Enfinger

News and Notes:

The Great Lakes State Stats… Enfinger will make his fifth start at Michigan International Speedway in Friday’s 21st annual Michigan 200. In four previous starts, the FarmPaint.com driver has led 19 laps en route to four top-10 finishes, including a track-best start of sixth (2017 & 2018) and a track-best finish of seventh (2018 & 2019).
2020 Playoff Outlook… Enfinger’s two wins in 2020 have him atop the Playoff standings with 11 Playoff Points. However, if the Playoffs were to start today, he would be ranked second on the Playoff grid, six points behind leader, Austin Hill.
This Week's No. 98 FarmPaint.com/Curb Records Ford F-150... The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 42 for Friday night’s 200-lap event at Michigan International Speedway. This chassis has made two previous starts this season, including Enfinger’s second win of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, in June.
Intermediate Track Strength… In 42 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 13 top-five, and 27 top-10 finishes.
2020 Stats… In 10 starts this season, Enfinger has led 48 laps en route to two wins (Daytona and Atlanta), four top-five and five top-10 finishes, with an average finish of 9.9.
Truck Series Stats… Enfinger has 93 career Gander Truck starts to his credit since 2010. His success includes 622 laps led en route to four wins, five poles, 32 top-five and 58 top-10 finishes.
Take Me Back – Kansas… In the first of two races at Kansas Speedway, Enfinger started eighth, based on a random draw, finished 17th in Stage 1, 12th in Stage 2 and third in the Blue Emu 200. For the second race at the 1.5-mile track, the top-15 from Friday night’s race were inverted and the ThorSport Racing driver started 13th. Enfinger finished 18th in Stage 1, 14th in Stage 2 and third in the e.pt. 200.
Ford Fact… Ford-powered F-150's have found victory lane 101 times since 1995 in the Gander Truck Series, including five times in 20 races at Michigan International Speedway with Greg Biffle (1999 & 2000), Travis Kvapil (2007), Erik Darnell (2008), and Colin Braun (2009).
New Restart Procedure… Starting with this weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR will incorporate the ‘choose rule’ into the restart procedure for all three national series, except for those races held on road courses and superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega).