BRISTOL, Tenn. — Grant Enfinger’s first full season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has him just on the outside, vying for a playoff spot, with three races remaining in the 2017 regular season.
Ask him how he’d rate his season, he’d say, “it depends on where in the season you ask me.”
“If you’re asking me right now, probably a C,” he said. “We’ve been an A at certain parts of the season, and we’ve been an F at certain parts of the season.”
His season started with him pushing teammate Ben Rhodes with two laps to go in the NextEra Energy Resource 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes got loose, turned down into teammate Matt Crafton and triggered a 12-truck wreck. Enfinger wound up 16th.
He rebounded the following week with an eighth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway but was a non-factor in a 17th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway.
After an 11th place at Kansas Speedway, Enfinger went on a run of five top-10 finishes and four top-fives. That run consisted of a seventh at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a bottom-step podium finish at Dover International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, a fifth at Gateway Motorsports Park and a fourth at Iowa Speedway.
“We got through the first three or four races and weren’t where we really wanted to be, and then we started to gain a lot of momentum, and had some really good finishes and had some really good trucks,” he continued.
This five-race hot streak came to an end when he collided with teammate Rhodes, only half a lap into the second stage of the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
Enfinger bounced back with a fourth-place finish at Eldora Speedway, bringing him to his highest points position of the season to date.
After finishes of 13th at Pocono Raceway and eighth at Michigan International Speedway, he now sits seventh in points, 14 back of teammate Rhodes, who currently occupies the final playoff spot.
Doing so won’t be easy, given that, as he notes, his team is without the consistency that carried them for the aforementioned five-race stretch.
“In the last couple of races, we’ve struggled,” Enfinger added. “We just haven’t had the finishes we’ve needed, but we’re looking to get back on track here at Bristol.”
