With the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season set to conclude following this weekend’s season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, Grant Enfinger is set to achieve a milestone start of his own. By competing in the finale, the driver of the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado RST will make his 150th career start in the Truck circuit.
A native of Fairhope, Alabama, Enfinger made his Truck Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway, his home track, in October 2010. By then, he had made 18 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series with seven top-five results and 10 top-10 results. Driving the No. 95 Ford F-150 for Team Gill Racing, Enfinger started 12th but finished 22nd in his series debut after being involved in a late multi-truck wreck that involved series champions Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday Jr.
During the following two seasons, Enfinger made a total of five starts between four different organizations in the Truck Series. His best results during the five-race span were three 12th-place results: the first occurring at Talladega in October 2011 while competing for Bragg Racing Group, the second occurring at Daytona International Speedway in February 2012 with Bragg Racing Group and the third occurring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September 2012 while driving for Brad Keselowski Racing.
After competing in the ARCA Menards Series from 2013 to 2015, where he achieved 14 victories and the series championship in 2015, Enfinger made his return to the Truck Series in 2016 and on a part-time basis for GMS Racing. He commenced his part-time season by notching his first Truck career pole at Daytona in February. Despite leading four laps, Enfinger finished 20th in the 32-truck field after being involved in a late multi-truck pileup towards the front. He rebounded during the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway by earning his first top-five career result in fifth place. After finishing no lower than 12th during his next four scheduled events, Enfinger earned his first career victory in the Truck Series at Talladega, his hometrack, in October after leading a race-high 45 of 94 laps and fending off teammate Spencer Gallagher and the field during a two-lap shootout. He went on to make his eighth and final series start of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, where he piloted the No. 92 RBR Enterprises Ford F-150 to a 23rd-place result.
In 2017, Enfinger earned a full-time Truck ride in the No. 98 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing, where he replaced Rico Abreu. After commencing the season with a 16th-place result at Daytona due to being involved in a last lap multi-truck wreck, he picked up his first top-10 result of the season by finishing eighth during the following event at Atlanta. After finishing 16th and 11th during the following two events, Enfinger earned five top-five results during the following six events. Despite earning two additional top-five results during the next five events, he did not earn enough points to make the 2017 Truck Playoffs. He went on to finish in the top 10 in five of the final seven events as he capped off his first full-time Truck campaign in 11th place in the final standings along with nine top-five results, 15 top-10 result and an average-finishing result of 9.4.
Remaining at ThorSport Racing for the 2018 season as the team changed manufacturers from Toyota to Ford, Enfinger commenced the season with a sixth-place result at Daytona followed by a ninth-place result at Atlanta and back-to-back fourth-place results at Las Vegas and Martinsville Speedway. Earning a total of 12 top-10 results through the 16 regular season stretch, including a runner-up result at Eldora Speedway in July following a photo finish loss against teammate Chase Briscoe, were enough for Enfinger and the No. 98 Ford F-150 team to earn a spot in the 2018 Truck Playoffs. Despite commencing the Playoffs with a 17th-place result at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, he rebounded during the following event at Las Vegas in September by notching his second career victory in the series and earning a spot in the Round of 6. During the Round of 6, however, Enfinger’s three-race stretch of finishing no lower than 14th were not enough for him to earn a spot to the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Nonetheless, Enfinger capped off the 2018 season with a runner-up result during the finale and in fifth place in the final standings in a season where he achieved one victory, two poles, seven top-five results, 15 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 8.7.
Enfinger commenced the 2019 Truck season on a strong note by finishing in the runner-up spot behind Austin Hill at Daytona while rallying from a late multi-truck wreck. Throughout the 16-race regular season stretch, he did not record a victory, but he earned seven top-five results and 13 top-10 results, which were enough for him to claim the 2019 Truck regular season championship and 15 bonus points to the 2019 Truck Playoffs. Despite finishing fifth at Bristol and 13th at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, respectively, Enfinger’s title hopes came to an end following an early engine failure at Las Vegas in September, an issue that would also affect his Playoff teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton despite the latter proceeding to win the title. With his title hopes for 2019 evaporated, Enfinger went on to finish in the top 10 in the final four scheduled events and conclude the season in seventh place in the final standings and with two poles, a career-best 10 top-five results, a career-high 18 top-10 results and a career-best average-finishing result of 8.5.
Enfinger commenced the 2020 Truck season on a high note by capturing his third career victory at Daytona and snapping a one-year winless drought after edging Jordan Anderson by 0.010 seconds at the finish line during an overtime attempt. The Daytona victory for Enfinger marked the 100th Truck career victory for the Ford nameplate. Despite finishing no higher than 12th during the following two Truck events, he rebounded at Atlanta in June by overtaking Austin Hill during a two-lap overtime shootout to win for the second time in 2020 and achieve multiple Truck victories in a season for the first time in his career. He then capped off the regular season stretch by winning at Richmond Raceway in September following a late battle with teammate Matt Crafton. After utilizing consistency to transfer from the Round of 10 to 8 during the Playoffs, Enfinger fended off teammate Ben Rhodes and the field during a two-lap shootout to claim his fourth victory of the season and earn a spot to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November. During the finale, however, he got shuffled all the way back to 13th despite starting on the front row for a two-lap shootout as he settled in a career-best fourth place in the final standings. Despite falling short of winning his first NASCAR title, Enfinger concluded the 2020 season with a career-high four victories, eight top-five results, 13 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 10.4. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Truck Series.
For the 2021 season, Enfinger’s racing schedule was reduced to a part-time role as he split driving duties of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Toyota Tundra with Christian Eckes. After finishing 11th at Daytona despite being involved in a multi-truck wreck approaching the finish line, Enfinger did not compete during the following scheduled event at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. He rebounded during the following event at Las Vegas by finishing seventh while piloting the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado for CR7 Motorsports. For the remainder of the season, Enfinger split driving duties between ThorSport Racing and CR7 Motorsports. In total, he earned 11 top-10 results throughout the 22-race schedule with all but three of his total top-10 results occurring with ThorSport Racing. The results were enough for the Alabama native to finish in 11th place in the final standings.
A month prior to the conclusion of the 2021 season, GMS Racing announced that Enfinger will be rejoining the organization to pilot the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado RST on a two-year basis, beginning in 2022. After finishing no higher than 12th through the first three scheduled events, he went on to achieve six top-10 results during the following seven events. Despite earning an additional top-10 result during the final six regular-season events, he managed to secure a spot for the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on points. Then during the Playoff opener at Lucas Oil Raceway, Enfinger navigated his way from fourth to first during an overtime shootout to win as he snapped a one-year winless drought and transferred from the Round of 10 to 8. His title hopes, however, came to an end after finishing fourth, 29th and 14th, respectively, during the Round of 8, which were not enough for him to transfer to the Championship 4 round.
Enfinger is currently ranked in seventh place in the drivers’ standings entering this weekend’s finale at Phoenix. Through 149 previous Truck starts, he has achieved seven victories, five poles, 49 top-five results, 88 top-10 results, 899 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.7.
Enfinger is scheduled to make his 150th Camping World Truck Series career start in the season-finale Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 4, with the event’s coverage to occur at 10 p.m. ET on FS1.
