GANDER RV & OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES
Fabulous Finish
Enfinger and Anderson Reminisce about Daytona
The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season started with a bang – quite literally – at Daytona International Speedway in February when the trucks of Grant Enfinger and Jordan Anderson bounced off each other multiple times as they raced toward the checkered flag. BY JARED TURNER
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rossing the finish line side-by-side, Enfinger edged Anderson’s No. 3 K-Seal Chevrolet by a nose that translated to exactly one one-hundredth of a second as he claimed the victory in the NextEra Energy Resources 250.
Almost two months after their epic battle at The World Center of Racing, Enfinger and Anderson – both quarantined in their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic – joined NASCAR Pole Position Magazine on a live Zoom call where they watched replays of the final two laps and discussed what was running through their minds in the waning moments. Here’s what they had to say: Grant, you were leading on the restart with two laps to go. What was your strategy? Enfinger: Really, it kind of goes to before
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POLE POSITION 2020
then when we were making our decision about whether we were going to start on the inside or the outside there. I felt confident about Ross (Chastain) being able to push us, but I knew he was going to be super-aggressive trying to get by us, and really that was my whole mindset. I felt like he would make a big move coming to the checkered; he ended up making it going into Turn 1 after we’d taken the white flag. When I defended his run, that shot me out front a lot further than I wanted to be. That’s not the position I wanted to be in; it was a really good spot for Jordan, though. Jordan, lining up on the third row for the restart, what were you thinking? Anderson: All weekend, Chevrolet was really big on all of us Chevrolet drivers
working together. I was going to go with whatever Chevrolet driver was in front of me. I was going to follow those guys and try to push them until at least the backstretch on the last lap, but … going into Turn 1 when Ross made that move on Grant, I kind of puckered up there for a second because I thought both of those guys were going to go around (wreck). Once I got into second, I’m kind of double-checking and like, “I can’t really believe it. Here we are in second.” I kind of was thinking, “Do I just ride behind him and take second-place?” Hell, for our team, a top-five was going to be a huge night for us. As I got a good run, I was going to jump out (of line) and I said, “No, let’s see what we’ve got through (Turns) 3 and 4 here.” PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES