Grant Enfinger Passes Austin Hill in Overtime for Atlanta Truck Win

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HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Grant Enfinger passed Austin Hill on the last lap of overtime to win the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Vet Tix 200 truck race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The green-white-checker finish gave Enfinger his fourth career win and second this season (he also won the 2020 opener at Daytona). It also was Ford’s first-ever Truck Series win at the 1.54-mile track in Hampton, Georgia. Enfinger passed hill on the outside, which is known as not as fast as the inside lane.  Enfinger just powered through to make the pass and was never headed.

As usual, Kyle Busch won the first two stages and appeared to be headed to another truck series win.  But midway through the final segment, he was forced to pit after he skimmed the outside wall trying to avoid the slow-moving ride of Jordan Anderson.  Busch was penalized twice for speeding on pit road, ultimately dropping him three laps behind the leaders and ending his hopes of rebounding for the win. Busch came into the race having won nine times, plus three second places, and a third place showing in his last 14 Truck Series starts dating back to Michigan in mid-2017.

Hill finished second in Saturday’s race, followed by Christian Eckes, Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith. Sixth through 10th were Ross Chastain, Derek Kraus, Brett Moffitt, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen.

Enfinger’s win was set up when Chase Elliott spun with three laps left in regulation time, bringing out the caution. Hill, who hails from Winston, Georgia, about 55 miles from Atlanta Motor Speedway, had a 4.5 second lead at the time.

The next Truck Series race is Saturday, June 13, at Homestead-Miami Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET).

Unofficial Results: Vet Tix Camping World 200, Atlanta Motor Speedway, 1.54 Mile

Fin, Str, Driver, Trk, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 5, Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Farm Paint Ford, 136, 10, 2, 2, 7, 5, 50, Running
2) 4, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 136, 5, 10, 1, 36, , 42, Running
3) 1, Christian Eckes #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 136, 3, 6, 2, 18, , 47, Running
4) 12, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Mannington Commercial Ford, 136, , 5, , , , 39, Running
5) 7, Zane Smith #, No. 21 LaPaz Margarita Mix Chevrolet, 136, 4, , 1, 5, , 39, Running
6) 27, Ross Chastain(i), No. 42 Florida Watermelon Association Chevrolet, 136, 8, 4, 1, 17, , 0, Running
7) 11, Derek Kraus #, No. 19 NAPA AUTOCARE Toyota, 136, , 3, , , , 38, Running
8) 3, Brett Moffitt, No. 23 Superior Essex Chevrolet, 136, 6, , , , , 34, Running
9) 8, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Tenda Heal Ford, 136, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 17, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar Racing to Beat Hunger Toyota, 136, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 21, Tanner Gray #, No. 15 Ford/Ford Performance Ford, 136, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 14, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Rip It/Menards Ford, 136, , 9, , , , 27, Running
13) 20, Ryan Truex, No. 40 Plan B Sales Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 9, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Chevy Truck Month Chevrolet, 136, 7, , , , , 27, Running
15) 2, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 Liuna! Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 26, Jeb Burton(i), No. 44 State Water Heaters/Alsco Chevrolet, 136, , , , , , 0, Running
17) 10, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Vivitar/Altec Lansing Ford, 136, 9, 7, , , , 26, Running
18) 25, Brennan Poole(i), No. 30 Remember Everyone Deployed Toyota, 136, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 19, Raphael Lessard #, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, 136, , 8, , , , 21, Running
20) 18, Ty Majeski #, No. 45 iRacing Chevrolet, 135, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 13, Chase Elliott(i), No. 24 Hooters Chevrolet, 135, 2, , 3, 16, , 0, Running
22) 6, Kyle Busch(i), No. 51 Big Machine Distillery Hand Sanitizer Toyota, 135, 1, 1, 5, 37, , 0, Running
23) 23, Timmy Hill, No. 56 RoofClaim.com Chevrolet, 135, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 24, Cory Roper, No. 04 CarQuest Ford, 135, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 29, John Hunter Nemechek(i), No. 8 Fire Alarm Services/Fleetwing Ford, 135, , , , , , 0, Running
26) 34, Spencer Davis #, No. 11 Jones Demolition and Abatement Toyota, 134, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 40, Clay Greenfield, No. 68 Rackley Roofing Toyota, 134, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 31, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 Orion Cooker Chevrolet, 134, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 30, Angela Ruch, No. 00 DWF Flooring & Cabinets Toyota, 134, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 33, Korbin Forrister, No. 7 Nursing Home Heroes Toyota, 134, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 28, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 GO TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 22, Tate Fogleman #, No. 02 Solid Rock Carriers Chevrolet, 132, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 39, Bayley Currey(i), No. 49 Springrates Automotive Suspension Source , 131, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 16, Codie Rohrbaugh, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 130, , , , , , 5, Running
35) 32, Gray Gaulding, No. 33 Toyota, 129, , , , , , 5, Running
36) 35, Jesse Little(i), No. 97 Teletrac Navman Chevrolet, 127, , , , , , 0, Running
37) 38, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Newnan Peachtree Dodge Chevrolet, 109, , , , , , 5, Too Slow
38) 15, Jordan Anderson, No. 3 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet, 95, , , , , , 5, Accident
39) 36, TJ Bell, No. 83 CMI Motorsports Chevrolet, 53, , , , , , 5, Clutch
40) 37, Bryan Dauzat, No. 28 O.B. Builders Door and Trim Chevrolet, 4, , , , , , 5, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 136 Laps: 209.44 Miles

Time of Race: 1 Hr, 47 Mins, 5 Secs.
Average Speed: 117.352 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.215 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 51, 24, 18, 21, 16, 23, 2, 42, 13, 98
Stage 2 Top 10: 51, 98, 19, 42, 38, 18, 13, 4, 88, 16

Race Comments: Grant Enfinger won the Vet Tix Camping World 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his fourth NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory.

Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps;
Laps: 3-5 (No. 28 Incident Backstretch [None]);
13-16 (No. 28 Incident Turn 2 / Competition Caution [None]);
32-37 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
53-56 (No. 22 Spin Turn 4 [20]);
62-66 (Stage 2 Conclusion [49]);
129-134 (No. 24 Spin Turn 2 [88]).

Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers;
C. Eckes # 1-11;
K. Busch(i) 12-15;
C. Eckes # 16-22;
K. Busch(i) 23-32;
Z. Smith # 33-37;
C. Elliott(i) 38-49;
K. Busch(i) 50;
C. Elliott(i) 51-52;
K. Busch(i) 53-62;
G. Enfinger 63-67;
R. Chastain(i) 68-84;
K. Busch(i) 85-96;
C. Elliott(i) 97-98;
A. Hill 99-134;
G. Enfinger 135-136.

Cometic Gasket: Christian Eckes, No. 18
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Grant Enfinger, No. 98

Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Christian Eckes, No. 1

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 6, Posted 7:46 PM, 06.06.2020