Veteran Grant Enfinger took the lead on a late-race restart and held off a hard-charging Landen Lewis to return to NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Victory Lane for the first time in more than a season — earning his first career road-course win Saturday afternoon in the LiUNA 150 at Connecticut’s historic Lime Rock Park.
Enfinger, who lined up alongside Gio Ruggiero for a restart with three laps remaining, got the jump at the green flag and then held off Lewis — who was racing for his first career series win. It was a fittingly exhilarating way to close out the race, which included an 18-minute red flag and thrilling door-to-door competition particularly in the closing laps.
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Enfinger’s No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet crossed the line 0.483 seconds ahead of Lewis’ Niece Motorsports entry.
“I feel like we had some things play into our hands,” Enfinger said, noting of the day’s strongest cars, “I don’t think we had anything for the 11 [Kaden Honeycutt] or the 34 [Layne Riggs] straight up.”
Of the final restart, Enfinger said he was happy to get the edge out front on then-leader Ruggiero at the drop of the green. He had considered taking the preferable position outside but opted to start alongside Ruggiero on the front row and race for the lead that way. The victory marked his 13th career win.
“I wanted to beat him straight up on the outside,” Enfinger added. “A lot went into that decision, but I didn’t want to go in there and purposefully take him out of the way for the win. I feel like we beat him on the launch. And I think we had a better car.
“Just an amazing job with this Chevrolet. … I think this is only my second top 10 at a road course. We have had road-course trucks this year, but I think today we were a solid top-five truck and the seas parted and the good Lord blessed us today and we were able to come home for a win.”
Championship contender Honeycutt claimed third place after a remarkable drive back through the field. The Tricon Garage Toyota driver had dropped to 24th position with 28 laps to go after being involved in a multitruck accident late in the race.
Popular driver and television analyst Parker Kligerman — a part-owner of Lime Rock — finished fourth in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Christian Eckes was fifth in the No. 91 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet.
Honeycutt’s finish to the day came after he won Stage 2 and kept polesitter and the series championship points leader Riggs honest for the majority of the race. Riggs led the first 34 laps, with one or the other leading through the opening 62 laps of the 100-lap event. Riggs won Stage 1 and Honeycutt won Stage 2.
And then the chaos set in. Four caution flags — and the red flag — came out in the closing 40 laps.
Varying pit strategies shook up the front of the field, relegating Riggs and Honeycutt to play catch-up following the Stage 2 break at Lap 60. The two who have dominated the championship standings for the last two months collided while trying to race through the field.
The damage to Riggs’ No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford proved to be too much for him to contend for the win. His 48 laps out front were the most on the afternoon, but he ended up 23rd, the first driver a lap down.
He retained the championship lead, however, and is now 44 points up on Honeycutt with four races remaining to settle the Regular-Season Championship. Both officially clinched spots in The Chase on Saturday.
Enfinger’s victory was crucial in that it moved him inside the championship top 10 that will ultimately advance to The Chase. He’s now ninth in points, 25 points up on 10th-place Tyler Ankrum. Stewart Friesen and Jake Garcia are tied, 17 points behind Ankrum.
MORE: Truck Series standings
Daniel Hemric, Andrés Pérez, Tanner Gray, Friesen and Colin Braun – an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship full-timer – rounded out the top 10 Saturday.
Thomas Annunziata, who ran up front all day after winning the ARCA Menards Series race at Lime Rock on Friday, ended up sidelined in the most dramatic incident of the day. He pulled off track with his No. 1 truck in flames while running second with 22 laps to go.
Annunziata climbed out of his No. 1 Toyota quickly and bent over to catch his breath next to a track wall. He was transported to a local medical facility for further evaluation. He finished 29th.
The Craftsman Truck Series returns to competition next week with Saturday’s FaithFest 250 (12:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway. Front Row’s Chandler Smith is the defending race winner.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Enfinger as the race winner.