Pit Stops : Talladega Superspeedway

• Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs’ Round of 8 starts now

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series begins the final three-race Playoff round to set the Championship Four with Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway (4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Last weekend’s Kansas winner Corey Heim arrives at the 2.66-mile superspeedway now boasting six wins on the season – double that of any other competitor, The 22-year-old TRICON Garage driver scored the win in the final race of the opening round last week when race leader, ThorSport’s Ty Majeski ran out of gas on the final lap. Heim finished just ahead of Front Row Motorsports’ Layne Riggs, who had won the previous two races but is not among the Playoff drivers.

Regular Season Champion , McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes, Majeski and REV Racing’s Nick Sanchez sit safely atop the cutoff mark entering the first race of this all-important round. Rajah Caruth trails Sanchez by eight points just outside the Playoff bubble with Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger both -11 points and Taylor Gray -15 points back.

Enfinger is the only current Playoff driver with a previous Talladega win, earning his trophy in 2016. Former series champion Johnny Sauter – the 2013 Talladega trophy winner – will be competing this weekend for Hattori Racing Enterprises. Brett Moffitt is the defending race winner.

There have been eight different winners in the last eight Talladega races. Heim, Eckes and Enfinger (2) are the only Playoff drivers to have scored top-five finishes at the big track.

Among those entered this week, William Sawalich (No. 1 TRICON Garage Toyota) and 18-year-old Connor Zilisch (No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) are hoping to make their first career superspeedway start. And crowd favorite, veteran Norm Benning is hoping to qualify for his first race of the season. 

Cometic Gasket Qualifying is set for 1 p.m. ET Friday (FS2). Chase Purdy is the defending polesitter.

• Love's RV Stop 225
• Pole Winner: William Sawalich
• Age: 18
• Team : No 1 - Starkey/Soundgear Toyota
• Owner: Kevin Ray
• Crew Chief: Seth Smith
• William Sawalich won the Pole Award for the Love?s RV Stop 225 with a lap of 54482 seconds, 175764 mph
• This is his first pole in 13 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races
• This is his first pole and fourth top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in one races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Ben Rhodes (second) posted his sixth top-10 start of 2024 and his fourth in nine races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Ty Majeski (third) posted his third top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway It is his 17th in 20 races this season
• Layne Riggs (33rd) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Friday, October 4th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Enfinger locks up spot in Championship 4 with victory at Talladega

The home crowd favorite, Grant Enfinger claimed the victory in Friday afternoon’s Love’s RV Stop 225 Playoff race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – the Alabama native’s second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at the big track and the most important, as the victory delivers an automatic entry into the season championship finale next month.

Enfinger’s No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet led a race best 34 of the 85 laps, won Stage 2 and held the point on the final lap when a caution came out ending the race.

“We knew stuff was going to get dicey,’’ the 39-year old Enfinger said of having to hold the field off following a restart with nine laps remaining to claim his first victory of the season – first ever for the team – and 11th of Enfinger’s career.

“We didn’t make all the perfect decisions today, but we had a Champion Power Equipment Chevy that was fast enough to get it done today, so even though we chose the outside [lane for a restart] once or twice and maybe we shouldn’t have. … it’s just Talladega right there and hopefully all the fans enjoyed it.

“There’s nothing like winning at your home track. Got my family here and first win with my daughter and my son here. On top of that we get to race for a championship in Phoenix.’’

It was a typically wild event on the sport’s biggest track (2.66-mile) with the race once again decided in a final frantic push for the checkered flag – with Enfinger leading fellow Playoff driver, Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray across the finish line under caution.

Daniel Dye and Tyler Ankrum made contact while running fifth and sixth – causing a multi-car accident spinning about 200 yards before the finish line, bringing out the yellow and checkered flag to officially end the event. The McAnally-Hilgemann driver Dye slid across the line in third, Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, also a Playoff driver, finished fourth. Reaume Brothers Racing’s Lawless Alan scored a career best fifth place finish.

McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes, the regular season champion, finished sixth, followed by Ryan Reed, Stefan Parsons, Bret Holmes and Spencer Boyd.

Playoff drivers, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim and ThorSport’s Ty Majeski finished 11th and 12th. McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum was 14th.

“We had a fast truck and made a bad decision,” a frustrated Majeski said. “I hopped out of line and cost ourselves some Stage 2 points, so I don’t know where that puts us in the points, but I guess it could have been worse if we finished 12th. We’ll move on to Homestead.”

Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez, who led 10 laps, finished 22nd after an eventful day. He was involved in multiple incidents and ultimately called to pit road by NASCAR on that final restart with nine laps remaining for an equipment check.

Enfinger’s win marks the first time in nine Talladega Playoff races that a Playoff driver won the race. He was not Playoff-eligible when he won at the track in 2016. This win lands him one of four positions in the championship race at Phoenix on Nov. 8 – the third time the popular Alabama driver has competed for the championship trophy.

“Obviously we can start focusing on Phoenix right away and that’s a huge advantage I think,’’ Enfinger said. “The way I look at it, we don’t have to worry about points for the next two races.’ … very very proud of what this win means but realistically, we still have a lot to do to prepare for the championship.”

With two races remaining in this Round of 8 to decide which three drivers join Enfinger in the Championship race, Heim leads Eckes by a single point. Majeski is 25 points back but only five points ahead of Caruth.

Gray is 13 points behind Majeski, Sanchez 20 points back and Ankrum 23 points back. A win by any of these seven is the automatic ticket for a shot at the title.

The series has a three-week break before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Race at South Florida’s 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway. Carson Hocevar is the defending race winner.

• Drivers Entered: 38 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 85
• Margin of Victory: 0.041 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 45 Minutes 24 Seconds
• Average Speed: 125.148
• Cautions: 4 for 25 laps
• Lead Changes: 27
• Green Flag Passes: 3,877 (64.6 passes per green flag lap)

• Love's RV Stop 225
• Race Winner: Grant Enfinger
• Age: 39
• Team : No 9 - Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet
• Owner: Larry Berg
• Crew Chief: Jeff Stankiewicz
• Grant Enfinger won the Love?s RV Stop 225, his 11th victory in 193 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races Enfinger becomes the first driver to clinch a spot in the Championship 4
• This is his first victory and 10th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his second victory and fourth top-10 finish in 11 races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Taylor Gray (second) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Talladega Superspeedway It is his 11th top-10 finish in 2024
• Daniel Dye (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Talladega Superspeedway
• Layne Riggs (28th) was the highest finishing rookie
• Corey Heim leads the point standings by 1 points over Christian Eckes