TRUCKS: Grant Enfinger scores first Truck Series last-place finish since 2012
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, @NASCAR_Trucks
Grant Enfinger picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet crashed after 3 of 90 laps.
The finish, which came in Enfinger’s 219th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Truck Series race since April 15, 2012 at Rockingham, 315 races ago. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 11th for the #9, the 203rd from a crash, and the 464th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 63rd for the #9, the 1,437th from a crash, and the 2,018th for Chevrolet.
As these final few weeks of the Truck Series season have brought into focus the career of Matt Crafton, who will step away from full-time competition after a remarkable 25 consecutive full-time seasons, Enfinger looks to inherit Crafton’s place as the sport’s “Ironman.” Enfinger’s only prior last-place finish – which came in the first of two series returns to Rockingham - came in only his fifth series start, back when he was racing for former driver Stacy Compton.
In the nine full seasons since Enfinger joined ThorSport Racing in 2017, he’s missed just one race. He’s also racked up 12 victories - including 5 each for ThorSport and GMS Racing – and came just one spot short of handing GMS a walk-off championship in their final race in 2023. After GMS closed, Enfinger reunited with Codie Rohrbaugh, who in 2021 helped the veteran run the full-time season after his ThorSport effort scaled back to a part-time schedule. Last year, Enfinger scored Rohrbaugh’s CR7 team its first two victories at Talladega and Homestead, then finished 5th in the championship race. It was that year at Talladega, Enfinger’s home track and site of his first series win in 2016, that a hilarious typo on the preliminary entry list categorized his winning Chevrolet as an Oldsmobile.
Enfinger returned to Talladega on Friday without a win in 2025, though a pair of runner-up finishes at Las Vegas and Michigan among his seven top-five finishes. He made the cut for the Playoffs and advanced to the current “Round of 8,” where after a wild afternoon on the Charlotte “Roval” two weeks ago, he ranked 7th in the standings, tied with 8th-place Kaden Honeycutt at just four points below the cutline. With exactly 36 drivers for as many starting spots, plus no practice before qualifying, Enfinger ranked 15th with a best lap of 54.785 seconds (174.792mph).
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Caleb Costner, who after a few ARCA Menards Series starts at Talladega prepared for his first NASCAR start at the track in Mike Harmon Racing’s #74 Ironside Forestry Toyota. Starting alongside him in 35th was Playoff contender Layne Riggs, whose #34 Loves’ RV Stop Ford was prohibited from qualifying after the crew was caught making adjustments to the truck after inspection. Three other teams were sent to the back for unapproved adjustments: 21st-place Parker Kligerman for a pitman arm issue on the #75 Pickers Vodka Chevrolet, 23rd-place Matt Mills for driveshaft issues on the #42 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, and 25th-place Chandler Smith, Riggs’ teammate, whose #38 Wheelers Ford had transmission issues.
When the race started, the last spot soon fell to Norm Benning, who was back in his former Henderson Motorsports #6 MDIA, Inc. Chevrolet. While he’s made another nine starts this year in his older former Kevin Harvick, Inc. truck, the white-painted Henderson ride hadn’t hit the track since Daytona, where Benning was dissatisfied with his 16th-place finish.
Meanwhile, on Lap 2, Enfinger was running in the 10th spot, then on Lap 3 moved from the low lane to lead a forming high lane, allowing him to climb to the 8th spot. Through Turn 3, he had a bout one truck length of open track between himself and the closing Chandler Smith, whose #38 had another four trucks shoving him to the front. At corner exit, Smith caught Enfinger when the two weren’t lined up, hooking Enfinger into the #19 of Daniel Hemric to his inside. Enfinger bounced off Hemric’s passenger door, then hooked right, nearly ensnaring Smith before the two separated, sending Enfinger spinning down the track. A line of ThorSport trucks scattered to avoid him, but Jake Garcia’s #13 Quanta Ford struck Enfinger’s nose with his right-front. Enfinger slowed and made it to pit road. He drove the wrong way up the pits and immediately went to the garage, the first truck done for the day. Garcia received repairs and returned to the track off the lead lap. He’d salvage a 29th-place finish.
Costner’s run in the Harmon #74 only lasted for 43 laps before electrical woes ended his race, putting him 35th at the checkered flag. Daniel Hemric, struck by Enfinger during the first caution, later cut down a tire entering Turn 3, and his slowing truck was struck in the rear by Toni Breidinger’s #5 Coach Toyota. Breidinger’s damage ended her race in 33rd to join Hemric in the garage. Rounding out the group was Benning, who lost multiple laps midway through the race for a mechanical issue that sent him behind the wall. Back on track on Lap 65, Benning suffered a catastrophic engine failure into Turn 1 that caused the underside of his Chevrolet to erupt in flames. Unlike Jordan Anderson’s fire in the same spot and on the same track three years ago, Benning’s onboard fire extinguisher put out the fire as Benning quickly climbed out on the apron of Turn 2. He was later checked and released from the infield care center, though he’s now looking for a sponsor to help him buy a new motor for next year’s opener in Daytona, a cost of $75,000.
With this, his 10th bottom-ten finish of the season, Benning is in position to clinch the 2025 LASTCAR Truck Series Championship if he finishes last for his planned race next week in Martinsville.
As for Enfinger, he now sits last in the “Round of 8” a full 40 points below the cutline, needing a victory next Friday in Martinsville to make the “Championship Four.”
Sutton, Wright, and Yeley join race winner Ruggiero among strong Talladega performers
Friday marked the first career victory for rookie contender Giovanni Ruggiero, whose #17 First Auto Group Toyota led a race-high 37 of the 90 laps in this, only his 23rd series start.
Not far behind in 4th, Dawson Sutton earned a career-best 4th-place finish in his #26 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, besting his previous mark of 5th at Kansas last fall.
Kris Wright’s second series start of the season in McAnally Hilgemann Racing’s #16 F.N.B. Corporation Chevrolet saw him finish a career-best 11th, besting his previous mark of 12th he’d reached as recently as the spring of 2023.
J.J. Yeley earned a one-off with Spire Motorsports in the #7 Delaware Life Chevrolet. He responded with a 16th-best qualifying lap, leading three laps in the race, and challenge inside the Top Five in the final stages before he was shaken out to 13th at the checkered flag. This still stands as Yeley’s best Truck Series finish since 2010, when he scored his second and most recent top-ten finish with a 10th in the opener at Daytona.
Other driver with strong runs spoiled by sour luck were Luke Fenhaus, whose first start at Talladega saw him follow his ThorSport teammate Ben Rhodes to the front, only for the two to make contact resulting in a spin that brought out the day’s final caution. Also struck with issues was Tyler Tomassi, who brought Carl Long’s #69 Elly Productions Ford near the Top 10 before a late-race flat tire dropped them to 27th.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #9 in a Truck Series race since July 8, 2023, when Colby Howard’s transmission failed at Mid-Ohio. The number had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Talladega.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #9-Grant Enfinger / 3 laps / crash
35) #74-Dawson Cram / 43 laps / electrical
34) #19-Daniel Hemric / 52 laps / crash
33) #5-Toni Breidinger / 54 laps / suspension
32) #6-Norm Benning / 55 laps / engine
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Reaume Brothers Racing (10)
2nd) Norm Benning Racing (3)
3rd) Front Row Motorsports (2)
4th) CR7 Motorsports, FDNY Racing, Freedom Racing Enterprises, Halmar Friesen Racing, Henderson Motorsports, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Niece Motorsports, Spire Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (12)
2nd) Chevrolet (10)
3rd) Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
