Grant Enfinger Opens Playoffs with a Win at IRP

For the first time since 2011, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series made a return to the short track in Indianapolis, Indianapolis Raceway Park. The race was on a beautiful Saturday night with a sold-out crowd to open the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs. For Grant Enfinger, it was very special amidst a wild night at the TSport 200.

Enfinger was able to charge to the front on fresh tires and on the final restart, made the pass by fellow playoff contender Zane Smith, to go on and win the race, earning his first win of the 2022 Season and it couldn’t have been at a better time. This also marks Enfinger’s first victory since 2020. The call that appeared to have led to Enfinger’s win was the call by crew chief Jeff Hensley, calling for Enfinger to pit under caution with 10 laps to go.

“We’ve just been off a little bit as an organization,” Enfinger said in a post-race interview. “We’ve been working so hard because we’ve been sucking. It hurts to say it, but we’ve had a terrible season to this point. But we had a great Chevrolet all day. It felt like every time we got into the lead, a caution came out, and it put Hensley in a bad spot. I knew from experience to just trust his gut.”

Defending Champion Ben Rhodes passed Zane Smith on the final lap to finish second, as Zane Smith finished third. Stewart Friesen finished fourth and Corey Heim finished fifth. Tyler Ankrum finished sixth, Layne Riggs, son of former Cup Series driver Scott Riggs, finished seventh in his truck series debut, Ty Majeski, Matt Crafton, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.

“P7 in our first ever @NASCAR_Trucks start. Thanks to @puryeartank and all of our supporters for making it possible! We’ll see you at Richmond!” – Layne Riggs on Twitter after the race (@LayneRiggs99)

John Hunter Nemechek had a strong run until he was pinched into the outside wall by Zane Smith on the final restart, sending him back to tenth. Nemechek led a race-high of 75 laps.

“Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield, and tonight we were the bug,” said Nemechek. “I made a mistake early on and spun myself, and we had a restart there at the end on old tires.”

Nemechek ended up sending the race into overtime after turning the No. 17 Ford of Taylor Gray on lap 199 of 200.

Matt Crafton and Christian Eckes, who finished 16th, are now below the cut-line, back by seven points, as Carson Hocevar currently holds the eighth spot seven points to the good. After the third race of the first round, the playoff field will be trimmed from ten drivers to eight.

Earlier in the day was part of a doubleheader that featured the ARCA Menards Series, Chandler Smith won that race over Sammy Smith. Chandler Smith would go on to finish 18th in the truck race.