AVONDALE, Ariz.: For the ninth time this season, Grant Enfinger will return to CR7 Motorsports set to drive the No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado in Friday night’s season finale NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at the famed Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
Enfinger returns to the Statesville, N.C.-based team since competing at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in September where he finished seventh in the No. 9 B’Laster Lubricants Chevrolet Silverado.
The finish in Sin City was the Fairhope, Alabama’s third top-10 of the year with CR7 Motorsports and second consecutive seventh-place finish at Las Vegas with the Doug George-led team.
With back-to-back finishes of 21st at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway respectively, the six-time Truck Series returns to the seat of the No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet Silverado hoping to pick up right where he left off leaving Las Vegas.
“I’m looking forward to getting to Phoenix and ending this season on a high note,” said Enfinger. “It’s been a huge blessing that Codie and all the guys at CR7 have allowed me to race with them this year. We finished seventh in our last outing together at Vegas and I’m hopeful we can better that finish on Friday night.
“Crew chief Doug George and I are excited about being able to find some more gains with having practice and qualifying this week. “I also just want to thank Grant County Mulch and everyone that is a part of this team for allowing me to be a part of their journey in 2021.”
Enfinger, a former ARCA Menards Series champion will make his fifth start at Phoenix’s 1.0-mile oval and while he started last year’s race on the pole, his 13th place finish in the Lucas Oil 150 left more to be desired.
In 2018 and 2019, he delivered back-to-back top-five finishes and has led 12 laps over the course of his career at Phoenix but with practice and qualifying back on the schedule this weekend in Avondale, everyone from Enfinger to general manager and mainstay driver Codie Rohrbaugh are hopeful the extra track time will put the family-owned team in a position to record their second top-five finish of the season.
“Grant has done a wonderful job for our team this season,” added Rohrbaugh. “He jumped on board with our team at Las Vegas in March and since then has brought great feedback and results to our organization.
“We’ve had fast trucks this year – even if we haven’t had the opportunity to showcase that in our results, but when Grant has been the wheel, he hasn’t left anything on the table. The chemistry behind him and Doug (George) is solid and I’m eager to see how Enfinger’s feedback from his prior races at Phoenix can be a benefit for our team throughout the day on Friday.”
While Enfinger has plenty of laps around Phoenix, CR7 Motorsports will make its debut in the desert on Friday night.
“This is one of the final tracks on the schedule that we are crossing off our list,” added Rohrbaugh. “Luckily, Doug has experience at Phoenix before and Grant has plenty of laps too, so I’m hoping that the two of them combined will bring our fifth top-10 of the season and some momentum to head into the off-season.”
While the Grant County Mulch colors will shine under the Friday night lights of Phoenix Raceway, Enfinger’s hood will adorn a decal remembering CR7 Motorsports general manager Mark Huff who passed away in February after a brief illness.
Huff was responsible for launching CR7 Motorsports’ Truck Series program in 2018.
Enfinger sits 11th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship point standings, 84 points ahead of 12th place runner Johnny Sauter. Enfinger is the highest driver that has not been a part of the Truck Series Playoff format this season.
Entering Phoenix, CR7 Motorsports holds 25th in the championship owner standings participating in 19 of the 21 races this season.
CR7 Motorsports has 45 NCWTS starts to their credit with a career-best finish of third at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (February 2020). Additionally, the team owns seven other top-10 finishes including three this season at Circuit of the Americas (fourth | Grant Enfinger) in May 2021 and Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway (seventh | Grant Enfinger) in March and September 2021. An 11th place qualifying effort at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2019) is the team’s best time trials effort to date.
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are also available for the No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as well as the team’s ARCA Menards Series No. 97 A.L.L. Construction | Grant County Mulch Chevrolet program with driver Jason Kitzmiller for the 2022 seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The Lucas Oil 150 (150 laps | 150 miles) is the 22nd of 22 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races on the 2021 schedule. Practice begins on Fri., Nov. 5, 2021, from 8:05 a.m. – 8:55 a.m. Qualifying is set for later in the day at 2:05 p.m. The 36-truck field will take the green flag that night shortly after 5:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. ET) with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio NASCAR Channel 90. All times are local (MT).
