Enfinger Wins at WWT Raceway

NASCAR.com

MADISON, IL – RIS – Grant Enfinger was the winner of the Toyota 200 NASCAR Truck Series Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.  Zane Smith and Ty Majeski battling for the lead with 6 laps to go when Majeski ‘s truck slid into Smith and both cars ran crashed into the wall in turn 3 and Grant Enfinger shot to the lead.

On the green / white finish, Enfinger got a great start and held on for the victory in the final 2 laps. Christian Eckes in the #19 finished in second place and Stewart Friesen finished in 3rd place.

Enfinger had battled with Smith earlier only to fall behind, but with Smith out of action with a badly damaged truck, he charged to win.

“Maybe not best truck,” said a smiling Enfinger in victory lane.

Smith wasn't smiling.  When asked what happened, is comment was telling.

 “Well, we got wrecked… unfortunately by another Ford" Smith said. "It was a really good truck and unfortunately, it was taken from us.”

Were they going to speak to each other about the incident?  Smith quickly answered,  “Yeah. I went to go find him to see if he got hit or something. I didn’t know what his plan was there. I saw an interview earlier where at this track he has more experience here than any others. He still races like it’s his first time here. We see time and time again that the guy on the bottom has to be a little conservative, and that’s why the leaders always choose the top. Maybe he’ll learn next time"

This was the second win for Enfinger in 2023. Christian Eckes in the #19 finished in second place and Stewart Friesen finished in 3rd place. 

Unofficial Results: Toyota 200 - June 3, 2023, World Wide Technology Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 10, Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 162, 1, 7, 4, 65, 6, 54, Running
2) 3, Christian Eckes, No. 19 BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet, 162, 7, 4, , , , 46, Running
3) 5, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Ferris Commercial Mowers Toyota, 162, 10, 1, 1, 10, 1, 45, Running
4) 4, Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 162, 9, , , , , 35, Running
5) 8, Chase Purdy, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet, 162, 8, , , , , 35, Running
6) 15, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, 162, 5, , , , , 37, Running
7) 2, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Bommarito Ford, 162, 3, 5, , , , 44, Running
8) 9, Nick Sanchez #, No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 162, , 3, , , , 37, Running
9) 20, Jesse Love, No. 11 Safelite Toyota, 162, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 7, Jake Garcia #, No. 35 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 17, Daniel Dye #, No. 43 Liftedtrucksforsale.com Chevrolet, 162, , 9, , , , 28, Running
12) 22, Colby Howard, No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 13, Taylor Gray #, No. 17 JBL Toyota, 162, , 10, , , , 25, Running
14) 25, Bret Holmes #, No. 32 IBEW/Grindstaff Rub Co. Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 35, Rajah Caruth #, No. 24 Born Driven Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 12, Tyler Ankrum, No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota, 162, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 11, Bayley Currey, No. 41 Unishippers Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 27, Timmy Hill, No. 56 UNITS Storage Toyota, 162, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 29, Matt Mills, No. 20 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 6, Zane Smith, No. 38 'ARRMA' RC Ford, 162, 4, , 3, 32, , 24, Running
21) 14, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Lost Boyz Motorsports Toyota, 162, 6, 8, , , , 24, Running
22) 23, Lawless Alan, No. 45 AUTOParkit Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 32, Josh Reaume, No. 33 Driven Ford, 161, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 18, Toni Breidinger, No. 1 HomeSmiles Toyota, 161, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 34, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Ford, 160, , 6, , , , 17, Running
26) 28, Spencer Boyd, No. 12 Hans HairClub Chevrolet, 160, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 26, Chris Hacker, No. 02 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet, 159, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 33, Norm Benning, No. 6 MDIA/Circle B Chevrolet, 159, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 21, Jack Wood, No. 51 Logitech Chevrolet, 158, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 1, Ty Majeski, No. 98 Road Ranger Ford, 155, 2, 2, 4, 55, , 25, Accident
31) 30, Stephen Mallozzi, No. 34 ARS Ford, 146, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 19, Hailie Deegan, No. 13 Ford Performance Ford, 86, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 24, Conner Jones, No. 66 TSport Ford, 66, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 16, Dean Thompson, No. 5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota, 20, , , , , , 3, Engine
35) 31, Clay Greenfield, No. 95 Backyard Blues Pools Chevrolet, 0, , , , , , 2, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 162 Laps, 202.5 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 30 Mins, 29 Secs.
Average Speed: 80.74 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.256 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 23, 98, 99, 38, 25, 15, 19, 4, 42, 52
Stage 2 Top 10: 52, 98, 2, 19, 99, 88, 23, 15, 43, 17

Comments: Grant Enfinger won the Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway, his ninth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following trucks dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 88 (Inspection failure, No. 24 (Engine change), No. 33 and 42 (unapproved adjustments).

Cautions: 11 for 61 laps;
Laps: 2-7 (No. 24, 32 and 95 Incident on the Backstretch [None]);
30-34 (No. 34 Stalled on the Frontstretch [6]);
37-42 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]);
57-61 (No. 02 and 51 Incident on the Frontstretch [6]);
68-76 (No. 25 and 66 Incident in Turn 2 [51]);
81-85 (No. 2 and 17 Incident in Turn 3 [6]);
88-93 (No. 2 and 13 Incident in Turn 3 [51]);
127-131 (No. 02 and 33 Incident in Turn 4 [45]);
136-140 (No. 41 Spin on the Backstretch [32]);
151-154 (No. 45 Spin in Turn 2 [16]);
156-160 (No. 38 and 98 Incident in Turn 2 [41]).

Lead Changes: 11 among 4 drivers;
T. Majeski 1-32;
G. Enfinger 33-37;
T. Majeski 38-43;
Z. Smith 44-45;
T. Majeski 46-61;
S. Friesen 62-71;
G. Enfinger 72-85;
Z. Smith 86-89;
G. Enfinger 90-127;
T. Majeski 128;
Z. Smith 129-154;
G. Enfinger 155-162.

To be updated

Ronald Fleshman

Ron Fleshman  and John Davison are Editors at ris-news.com

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Volume 2023, Issue 6, Posted 5:02 PM, 06.03.2023