LONG POND, Pa. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — ARCA photo —
After eight tries and a pair of runner-up finishes at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ last year, Grant Enfinger finally crossed Pocono Raceway off of his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards bucket list on Friday afternoon, pulling a page out of Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi’s playbook to do it.
Enfinger found a way to stretch his fuel 44 laps to the finish after pitting four laps prior to halfway in the General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200, assuming the point with 17 laps remaining and running just hard enough to hold off a fast-closing Austin Cindric on the final lap for his 15th career ARCA victory.
The reigning series champion looked like he might run out of fuel off the exit of turn three, but got enough of a run to keep Cindric from executing a bump-and-run for the victory.
“I really don’t know how we got here to victory lane, to be honest,” Enfinger admitted upon climbing from his car. “The Good Lord definitely blessed us with this one. We really didn’t have the car to win with Tuesday or yesterday, and we made a lot of wholesale changes — Jim Barfield, Matt Wilson and all the crew guys — because it was not a good car when we showed up, at all.”
“We were a legitimate car, but we were definitely pushed into that situation of having to save because we didn’t have the straight-up speed. The fuel gauge kept on fluttering, but we had made our bed at that point and thankfully it paid off. Huge thanks to Holmes 2 Excavation, Champion Power Equipment, Wurth USA, everyone at GMS Racing and Bret Holmes Motorsports that let us come out and do this. It’s a huge pleasure to take this one back for them and proud to finally win at Pocono after coming so close in both races last year.”
Cindric fought his way back to second after leading 16 laps early, winning every pre-race practice session and starting on the pole after qualifying was cancelled due to weather, but came up a car length short in the end after making his final pit stop just outside of 30 laps to go.
“If we’d had another lap, we could have caught (Grant) without a doubt,” Cindric said. “He was saving a lot of fuel, and we had the fastest car all weekend — we knew that all along. These guys at Cunningham Motorsports gave me a great piece. It was really cool to get PIRTEK out here after getting their shot in the Trucks rained out at Dover. Really wish we could have gotten them in victory lane, but congrats to Grant on a really good call and we’ll get them next time.”
“I’m out here to earn these guys’ respect, not wreck them to win the race. I could have tried to move Grant but I didn’t want to mess up his race, or mine, just for that. There’ll be more of these to come.”
Brandon Jones rallied from an early pit road blend line penalty to give Ranier Racing with MDM a third-place finish in their ARCA debut, with Dalton Sargeant and Brady Boswell rounding out the top five. Both Sargeant and Boswell were on the same fuel strategy as Enfinger, and both found a way to get to the checkered flag.
A full race report, with audio from the top finishers, will follow later this evening on Race Chaser Online.
RESULTS: ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards; General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200; Pocono Raceway; June 3, 2016
- Grant Enfinger
- Austin Cindric
- Brandon Jones
- Dalton Sargeant
- Brady Boswell
- Kyle Benjamin
- Justin Haley
- William Byron
- Myatt Snider
- Chase Briscoe
- Josh Williams
- Ryan Reed
- Matt Kurzejewski
- Shane Lee
- Tom Hessert
- Bobby Gerhart
- Bo Lemastus
- Kyle Weatherman
- John Wes Townley
- Thomas Praytor
- Ed Pompa
- Brian Kaltreider
- Tom Berte
- George Cushman
- Brad Smith
- Ray Ciccarelli
- Dustin Knowles
- Mike Basham
- Will Kimmel
- Noah Gragson
- Dale Matchett
- Don Thompson
- Steve Fox
- Chris Bailey Jr.
- Richard Doheny
- Con Nicolopoulos
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: [email protected]
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: [email protected]
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