After engine issues a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway, Grant Enfinger was forced into a must-win situation if he wanted to advance to the NASCAR Gander RV& Outdoors Truck Series Championship 4.
Win is exactly what he did Friday night at Martinsville Speedway in the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200.
In a dramatic end of the race, which featured several restarts, Enfinger was able to gouge his way to the front to score his fourth win of the season.
With 25 laps remaining, Enfinger made contact with Sheldon Creed, which sent his No. 2 Chevy Silverado around. This gave Enfinger the lead.
.@sheldoncreed drove through the field, but gets spun while battling for the lead with @GrantEnfinger! pic.twitter.com/woeJde7pkI
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) October 31, 2020
On the ensuing restart, Enfinger would lose the lead to Raphael Lessard.
Enfinger would retake the lead on a restart with nine laps to go, after he made contact with Lessard. The contact cut down Lessard’s left rear tire, which sent him around.
Big trouble late in Martinsville! pic.twitter.com/jJvLqJmkPT
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 31, 2020
A determined, and perhaps overly aggressive, Enfinger would not look back.
Ben Rhodes, who was the center of controversy last week at Texas after seemingly intentionally crashing Christian Eckes, finished second and just barely missed out on a Championship 4 bid.
Zane Smith finished third and he was followed by Eckes and Matt Crafton in the top-five.
Crafton would have been in a points position to advance to the Championship 4, but Enfinger’s win bumped Crafton out of the title picture.
Stewart Friesen, Danny Bohn, Sheldon Creed, Austin Wayne Self and Derek Kraus rounded out the top-10 finishers in the wild race.
Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, Grant Enfinger and Zane Smith have advanced to the Championship 4. The highest finishing driver of the four next weekend at Phoenix Raceway will be your 2020 NGROTS champion.
Ben Rhodes, Austin Hill, Tyler Ankrum and Matt Crafton failed to advance from the Round of 8.
For Hill, the regular season point champion, it was a crushing defeat in missing the Championship 4. The driver of the No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota entered the race with a 27-point advantage over the cut line. However, issues with his Ilmor motor put him out of the race, and knocked him out of the title hunt.
Post-Race Stat pack:
One Response