Grant Enfinger led 65 laps en route to victory during the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday night.
The GMS Racing driver crossed the finish line 4.358 seconds ahead of TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim, earning his first win of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.
“I think that last caution put a hole in our strategy a little bit. If we had that last run go green and we had the same tires as the 23 (Enfinger), I thought we could beat him straight up. As soon as we got that last caution and we were on uneven tires, I knew it was going to be all track position,” Heim said.
Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith finished third at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.
How It Happened
The opening stage of the 134-lap race belonged to Kyle Busch, as the Kyle Busch Motorsports team owner chased after the team’s 100th win. However, Enfinger snuck up on the No. 51 Chevrolet on lap 40 and stole the lead away from Busch. Enfinger’s lead was short-lived, as 10 laps later, Ty Majeski made the pass in his No. 98 ThorSport Racing entry.
On lap 60, it was Majeski who earned stage-two honors.
On lap 72, GMS Racing’s Rajah Caruth attempted to block a frustrated Majeski who had slipped back in the pack, which caused the No. 98 to nudge the rear bumper of Caruth, sending the No. 24 spinning. Majeski also sustained damage in the incident.
“We had a good truck. We got back up front there with a little bit of strategy. Thought we may have made a wrong adjustment when we were racing the No. 24 (Caruth) there. He was ultra aggressive blocking. So, he blocked once, then twice, and I had a run and he was a little late,” Majeski said.
The fourth caution flag of the night flew on the restart after polesitter Christian Eckes, Matt DiBenedetto, Carson Hocevar, Dean Thompson and Chase Purdy got caught up in turn one.
Other than Kris Wright spinning his No. 02 Chevrolet on lap 91, which brought out the caution, the field enjoyed a green-flag run for the remainder of the race.
At just about the two-hour mark, Enfinger led the field to the checkered flag, with Heim, Smith, Stewart Friesen and Ross Chastain trailing behind. Busch slid back to finish seventh after a strong run early on.
Toni Breidinger finished 15th in her Truck Series debut with TRICON Garage.
“I feel like everyone is really good out here. I could feel everyone side-drafting me. Nobody gives an inch. There’s a massive learning curve, but I finished a clean race and it was pretty solid in my Victoria’s Secret Tundra,” Breidinger said. “There was so much to take away. There was so much thrown on me that I haven’t got to experience before.”