Grant Enfinger Lifts Allgaier Motorsports To Top-10 Run At Lucas Oil Raceway

Grant Enfinger Lifts Allgaier Motorsports To Top-10 Run At Lucas Oil Raceway

Topics: Grant Enfinger, Ansell Protective Gloves 200

Grant Enfinger Lifts Allgaier Motorsports To Top-10 Run At Lucas Oil Raceway

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Allgaier Motorsports
August 1, 2011

CLERMONT, Indiana (August 1, 2011) - - In his ARCA Racing Series (ARS) presented by Menards debut at the legendary Lucas Oil Raceway (LOR), Grant Enfinger delivered another top-10 finish in the Ansell Protective Gloves 200 further solidifying a season of consistency for the Allgaier Motorsports operation.

The Springfield, Illinois-based team entered the 12th race of the season on the heels of a solid testing session at the .686-mile paved oval two weeks ago. With crew chief Kelly Kovski calling the shots, the veteran team were optimistic entering the one-day show.

The benefit of testing seemed to pay off Thursday afternoon after Enfinger; the avid late model competitor produced the sixth quickest lap after whipping his No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger around the track in 22.991 seconds at 107.416 miles per hour.

In qualifying, Enfinger found a tick more speed which placed the Mike Allgaier owned automobile eighth on the starting grid for the first race at LOR in nearly 25 years.

Early on, Enfinger found himself battling hard with the likes of Frank Kimmel, Joey Coulter, Max Gresham and Jared Marks.

Electing to stay out after the caution flag waived on lap 60, Enfinger bolted into the top-five ahead of championship leader Ty Dillon.

Giving way to his other competitors on fresher tires, Enfinger battled hard to remain solidly in the top-five but moved back to the sixth position by lap 90.

With the caution flag waiving just near the halfway mark, Enfinger elected to join some of the other leaders on pit road where he received four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.

Restarting in the 14th spot, the driver would methodically begin inching his way forward.

Enfinger’s night nearly turned disastrous though on a lap 136 restart while running seventh when several cars collided directly ahead of the No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger. The Fairhope, Alabama native suffered damage to the front-end and hood of his Chrysler nameplate but was able to press on after a trip to pit road for damage control.

Restarting 14th, the blemish would hinder Enfinger throughout the final 50 laps of the event as the popular ARCA drive crawled his way through the running order despite manhandling an ill-handling racecar. Still, he never gave up in the toughest field of the season and was able to maneuver a ninth place finish, awarding the Allgaier Motorsports team their ninth top-10 in the past 10 races.

“It’s hard to swallow a ninth place finish after the car we had,” Enfinger said. “The testing definitely paid its dividends. The race was super competitive but that just kept us on our toes even more. That restart when we all got wadded up, I really don’t know what happened. I saw someone get into the back of someone and then I was jamming on the brakes to try and avoid getting hit. Ultimately, the damage changed the handling of the car, so we had to make the best of it.”

He added, “I just want to thank Kelly (Kovski), the guys and the Allgaier family for allowing me to drive this Dodge Charger. It’s been a blast running full-time, I’m just hoping we can go to victory lane soon, because everyone sure deserves it.”

The team’s finish lifted the 26-year old to third in the ARCA Racing Series championship standings just 10 points behind second place challenger and nine-time champion Frank Kimmel.

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is a return to trip to the “Tricky Triangle” at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for the running of the Pennsylvania 125. The 50-lap shootout is set for Saturday, August 6 with live coverage on the SPEED channel beginning at 3:00 p.m. In June, Enfinger finished a stout third after qualifying fifth at the 2.5-mile race track.

Exiting LOR, Enfinger has 30 ARCA Racing Series starts to his credit. In those events, he has maneuvered 11 top-fives and 20 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.

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PHOTO CAPTION: Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger for Allgaier Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.

MEDIA CONTACT:

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