Enfinger Leaves Phoenix Without Elusive Championship

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A whole round team effort by Grant Enfinger and CR7 Motorsports have brought them to the Championship 4. Despite ending up fourth among the Championship 4 competitors, Enfinger and the No. 9 organization will leave Phoenix Raceway with their chin up and go at it again in 2025.

On a cool Friday night that saw Ty Majeski dominate the 150-lap contest and hoist his maiden NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship, speed was an elusive battle for Enfinger.

In a race where he had the strongest momentum from the Round of 8 and having the number-one pit stall, Enfinger struggled to be on par with the title contenders and finished fifth in the finale.

Despite not winning the championship, the amount of times they’ve overcome adversity to put themselves in position to win in the closing stages of 2024 is worth being proud about.

“Really proud of the CR7 Motorsports group, all we’ve overcome all year,” said Enfinger. “I feel like we came here with the right mindset, the right game plan, and honestly pretty much the right execution for the stuff in our control. We just flat out didn’t have the speed tonight.”

Enfinger explained how crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz tried everything he could on the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado to improve their odds, but to no avail.

“We tried a little strategy there. Probably didn’t help us any just because we only have five laps on our tires. But I commend them for making the call. We had to do something different,” Enfinger commented.

A special year was had for the CR7 organization as Enfinger wraps up 2024 with two wins, 8 top-fives, and 13 top-10s as they’ll look to carry their momentum and further prove that with the right people and passionate minded organization, a team can go far in the series.

“It is a special year. Definitely disappointing performance for us tonight,” said Enfinger. But overall proud of everything we did. We just flat out didn’t have the short run speed. I think after 15 laps we were respectable, but just couldn’t go on the short run.”