Grant Enfinger; Allgaier Motorsports Thunders To Podium Finish At Kansas Speedway

Topics:  Grant Enfinger, Kansas Lottery 98.9

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Allgaier Motorsports
October 10, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (October 10, 2011) - Grant Enfinger and his Springfield, Illinois-based Allgaier Motorsports had planned to make a statement in this past Friday night’s Kansas Lottery 98.9 at Kansas Speedway. And what a statement they did make after finding themselves in contention for their first win of the season.

After participating in the open ARCA Racing Series test at the 1.5-mile oval last month, Enfinger and his Kelly Kovski-led team took their No. 36 Beasley-Allen Law Firm / Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger back to their shop and made some adjustments to their automobile with the intentions of propelling Dodge back into victory lane in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.

Earlier in the week, the team officially announced that Beasley-Allen Law Firm had joined the veteran ARCA team as the primary marketing partner for the 18th race of the season. The addition of a new partner to the Mike Allgaier-owned operation only gave the team further incentive and motivation to storm into the spotlight in the final speedway event of the season.

In practice on Friday morning, Fairhope Alabama’s Enfinger knocked out the seventh quickest lap after maneuvering his No. 36 Beasley-Allen Law Firm / Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger around the speed plant in 32.038 seconds at 168.550 miles per hour.

Satisfied with the performance of their Chrysler nameplate the team headed into Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying with encouraging thoughts. During his time trials run, Enfinger hustled his automobile to a lap of 31.697 seconds or 170.363 miles per hour, a substantial pickup from their quickest lap in practice earlier in the day. Once qualifying was complete, Enfinger found himself ironically seventh on the starting grid.

Buckling in for the inaugural night race at Kansas Speedway, Enfinger and 37 of ARCA’s finest took the green flag shortly after 7:45 p.m. local with the notorious short track racer quickly inching forward. By lap five, Enfinger had moved into the sixth position with his eyes set on fifth place runner Cale Gale.

10 laps later, Enfinger continued to hover comfortably in the top-10 battling the No. 20 of Scott Lagasse for the sixth position. When the first caution flag waived on lap 24, the 2008 ARCA championship team found themselves occupying the seventh position. Reporting a loose condition to Kovski, the team elected to join a majority of the field on pit road for tires, fuel and a slight chassis adjustment to tighten up his No. 36 Beasley-Allen Law Firm / Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger.

Restarting the event in the fifth position thanks to superior work on pit lane by his crew, Enfinger would challenge Cale Gale for fourth immediately after the restart before ducking his blue and white machine behind Gale to maintain a spot inside the top-five.

While still battling a loose racecar, Enfinger still managed to post competitive laps times and fight for a spot comfortably inside the top-10. Another caution would slow the field with Kovski informing his driver to stay on the racetrack where he would restart the contest in the ninth position.

Just past the halfway point of the event, the yellow flag waived again with Kovski deciding to bring his pilot to pit road for more tires, fuel and another chassis adjustment to thwart the car’s aggravating condition.

Racing resumed with 44 laps remaining with Enfinger in the ninth position. Quickly, the 26-year old began slicing and dicing his way through the field. By lap 57, he had climbed to sixth with his sights set on reassuming a spot inside the top-five.

With 28 laps left in the event, Enfinger made the pass on the No. 55 of Alex Bowman to claim fifth and set his sights on fourth place runner Max Gresham. On lap 87, the rising star utilized his strong racecar to pass the No. 33 of Gale to move into the fourth position.

Luckily, a yellow flag with 13 laps remaining allowed the former PASS Super Late Model competitor to tag onto the bumpers of the leaders which consisted of Max Gresham, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher giving the Allgaier Motorsports driver an opportunity to battle it out for the win. With Dillon having to pit because of damage occurring on the racetrack, Enfinger would restart the race in the third position.

The green flag flew with five laps remaining with Enfinger hunting his prey. With three laps remaining, Enfinger made a bold move to pass the No. 25 of Gresham but he would be no match for the No. 55 of Bowman who rocketed through the field with four fresh tires, sliding Enfinger back into the third position.

Able to pull away from his closest competition of Gresham and Gale, Enfinger took the checkered flag in the third spot claiming sixth top-five finish of the year and his best effort since finishing fifth at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in August. It was the team’s 13th top-10 of the season in 18 races.

“The biggest thing I’m excited about is that we had a good run on a big track,” said Enfinger. “That’s something we’ve struggled with the Allgaier Motorsports team. Kelly (Kovski) and all of the guys on the crew worked their butts off. We made a whole lot of gains. It took us about halfway through the race to make our No. 36 Beasley-Allen Law Firm / Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger good. I want to thank Beasley-Allen Law Firm and everyone who supports this team including the Allgaier Motorsports family for the opportunity. We finished second at Toledo earlier this year, maybe we can go back there and seal the deal.”

With just one race remaining in 2011, Enfinger retains fourth in the ARCA championship standings sitting 125 points behind nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel for third. Mathematically, the Allgaier Motorsports team has the potential to bump Kimmel from that spot at Toledo Speedway.

Speaking of Toledo Speedway, the ARCA Toledo 200 presented by Federated Car Care is set for Sunday, October 16th set to launch at 2:00 p.m. local live on SPEED. In May, Enfinger finished second behind winner and expected 2011 ARCA champion Ty Dillon after starting 10th and leading 35 laps.

Exiting Kansas, Enfinger has 36 ARCA Racing Series starts to his credit. In those events, he has maneuvered 13 top-fives and 23 top-10 finishes including a career-best finish of second three times at Kentucky Speedway (July 2009), Chicagoland Speedway (August 2009), and Toledo Speedway (May 2011). He has controlled the field nine times for 216 laps. His best qualifying run occurred at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway where Enfinger bolted to his first career pole.

For more on Grant Enfinger, please visit grantenfinger.com.

Additional input on Allgaier Motorsports is available by logging onto AllgaierMotorsports.com.

To learn more about Beasley-Allen Law Firm and its capabilities, please click onto beasleyallen.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com