Team Info/Stats:
Crew Chief: Jeff Hensley
2019 Driver Point Standings: 1st
2019 Owner Point Standings: 1st
Spotter: Chris Lambert
News and Notes:
- Top Dog: For the first time in his NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) career, Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150, is leading the driver point standings heading into Friday night’s Strat 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS).
- Mike Curb: For the first time since Aug. 31, 2014, following the NGOTS race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, owner of the No. 98, Mike Curb, is leading the NGOTS owner standings. At that time, Enfinger’s teammate, Johnny Sauter, was piloting the No. 98, but the crew chief was, Jeff Hensley, current crew chief for Grant Enfinger at ThorSport Racing. Since 2005, Curb has been the owner of the No. 98 for 236 races for drivers Johnny Sauter (2005, 2009-2015), Rico Abreu (2015), and Enfinger (2017-present), accumulating seven poles, 11 wins, 82 top-five and 137 top-10 finishes.
- Sin City Stats: Enfinger has five starts at LVMS since 2012. The ThorSport Racing driver has a track-best start of third (2018), and his best finish includes a win in the 2018 World of Westgate 200, the series last stop at the 1.5-mile track. In five starts at LVMS, Enfinger has led 45 laps en route to one win (2018), two top-five and four top-10 finishes.
- This Week’s No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150: The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 44 for Friday night’s NGOTS Stratosphere 200 at LVMS. This is the same chassis Enfinger drove to victory lane at LVMS in September (2018), and started on the pole with at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November (2018). In eight starts in 2018, this particular chassis secured one win, one pole, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
- Intermediate Track Facts: In 26 starts on an intermediate-size track (1.5-1.54-miles) in his NGOTS career, Enfinger has one pole (Homestead, 2018), one win (Las Vegas, 2018), and has led 113 laps en route to eight top-five, and 19 top-10 finishes.
- Ford Fact… Ford powered F-150’s have found victory lane 98 times since 1995 in the NGOTS, including five times at LVMS with Joe Ruttman (1997), Greg Biffle (1999), Travis Kvapil (2007), Tyler Reddick (2016), and Grant Enfinger (2018).
- Testing, 1, 2, 3, Testing: Although Grant Enfinger will not be running at his home track when the ARCA Menards Series heads to 5 Flags Speedway March 9, the Fairhope, Alabama, native tested an ARCA car, at the Pensacola, Florida-track for Chad Bryant Racing Tuesday, Feb. 26, before heading west to Las Vegas, Nevada.
- Take Me Back – Atlanta: Enfinger started fifth in the Ultimate Tailgating 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, finishing third in Stage 1, and eighth in Stage 2. Following a red flag, for weather, the No. 98 Ford F-150 lined up fifth, with five laps remaining in the 130-lap event. Enfinger went on to finish third, marking a track-best finish for the Curb Records driver.
- Truck Series Stats: Enfinger has 62 career NGOTS starts to his credit. His success includes three poles, and 275 laps led en route to two wins, 20 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes.
- Catch Grant at Vegas: Enfinger will join his fellow ThorSport Racing teammates for the NGOTS Autograph Session, in the Neon Garage in the infield at LVMS, from 12:00 – 12:45 p.m. PT Friday, March 1.
Chatting with Grant Enfinger:
Your last series win came at Las Vegas. How important is it to win early in the season, and do you think you can repeat at Las Vegas this weekend?
“Our number one goal this year is to win early that way we can strategize and solidify our Playoff run that much more, later in the season. We’re taking the same truck back to Vegas this week that we won with in the fall, and we feel like we’ve learned some stuff since then. There are some differences in the spring race at Las Vegas, versus the fall race – it’s a little cooler, so the track will race a fair amount differently – the grip level there changes tremendously with temperature.”
What does it mean to you and the entire No. 98 team to be leading the point standings, for the first time in your career, so early in the season?
“It’s always a good thing to be leading the points, but we’ve only had two races so far this season. The goal is to be the leader after all 23 races. At this point everyone believes in each other, and we consider ourselves a threat every race we go to.”