Bristol Motor Speedway UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics Race Preview
Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Bristol Motor Speedway Stats
– NCTS Starts: 6; Poles: 1 (2020); Best finish: 2nd (2021); Top 5s: 4; Top 10s: 6; Laps led: 57
2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats
– Starts: 19; Wins: 3 (Kansas I, WWT Raceway, Milwaukee); Poles: 1 (Milwaukee); Stage wins: 3; Top 5s: 7; Top 10s: 10; Laps led: 232; Current points position: 3rd
– About Champion Power Equipment: Since 2003, Champion Power Equipment has earned a reputation for designing and producing the market’s finest power equipment. From our original headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California, Champion has expanded its North American footprint to include facilities in Jackson, Tennessee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Toronto Canada. Today, Champion’s product line has expanded to include portable generators, home standby generators, inverter generators, engines, winches and log splitters. With over 2.5 million generators sold in North America, Champion is a market leader in the power equipment field. Visit ChampionPowerEquipment.com for more information.
– Chassis History/Info: Enfinger and the No. 23 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 357 at Bristol on Thursday night. This chassis, which was the newest built by GMS Fabrication, only has one race on its rep sheet. The race? Milwaukee, where he used it to dominate just a few weeks ago. Winning the pole, both stages, and the race win making it a clean sweep, this Silverado RST is a beast, toting 95 laps led out front.
– Bristol Strength: One of the series’ best short track racers, Enfinger has had Bristol circled on his calendar all year long. He says that a win here would be crucial for the entire team, because it gives them the most time to prepare for Phoenix. Out of all current NCTS drivers with multiple starts in “Thunder Valley”, Grant holds the best average finish of 5.2, as well as the best average start of 6.2. Though he hasn’t won before at the track yet, he’s come very close – finishing second in 2021 and fourth in 2017 and 2022.
– Hensley at Bristol: Jeff Hensley has been coming to Bristol for a long time, calling his first race in 1987. Since 2004, he has made 18 total Truck Series starts at the short track, visiting victory lane once before with Mike Skinner in 2005 on top of his pole with Enfinger in 2020. Hensley’s trucks have led 303 laps and finished in the top-10 10 times, with five of those finishes also being top-five results. Jeff has also called 29 NASCAR Xfinity Series races at BMS, with highlights that include a pole award in 1991 and a runner up finish the following year. His Xfinity Series cars have led 122 laps and finished in the top-10 eight times, including three top-five finishes.
– GMS Racing at Bristol: As a whole, GMS Racing as an organization has been very successful at Bristol Motor Speedway. With four Truck Series wins (including 2016 with Ben Kennedy, 2018 with Johnny Sauter, 2019 with Brett Moffitt, and 2020 with Sam Mayer), one ARCA win (2020 with Sam Mayer), and two ARCA East Series wins (sweeping 2019 with Sam Mayer), the team has always been one of the top contenders at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”.
– #FearTheFinger Playoffs Profile: Grant Enfinger enters the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs “Round of 8” seeded third in the points standings. Hoisting three wins this season at Kansas Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway, and the Milwaukee Mile, on top of three stage wins, his total playoffs points count is 24, tied for second highest in the series. Due to a tight points battle, he enters the round only two points above the cutline. The good news for him: he’s ran well in the past at all three of the tracks in this round, and looks to earn his second birth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
– From The Drivers Seat: How much pressure, if any, are you putting on yourself in the Round of 8? Which race is going to be the most important to shine in?
“Obviously this Round of 8 is tough, and we have three very different tracks in this round. Our GMS team puts a lot into every race, but we’ve put everything we have into Bristol. It’ll be important to have speed, but it’s just as important to have a truck that you can drive hard every lap. Everything happens so fast at Bristol so you have to be on your game all race long. GMS Racing has had a lot of success at Bristol in the past, and we are hoping to add to that on Thursday.”
– From The Pit Box (Jeff Hensley): What’s going to be the main focus for you as you approach these next three races from a strategy perspective?
“Well, for us the easiest way to get to Phoenix is to win, obviously. That’s always been our main emphasis. I mean yeah, you can point your way in because there’s four spots and only three races, so you’ll only have the three winners, but we want to win. Bristol this weekend, track position will be everything, so we need to go there and be fast. If we can win Bristol, that’ll be a game changer for us through to Phoenix. If we can do that, then we can be even more aggressive at Talladega and Homestead. You’ve got to be aggressive at all three of these racetracks, because winning is the main goal, but you have to be aware of if you can get stage points and good finishes. I’d rather win Bristol though because that way, you don’t have to worry about anything.”
Race Information
– Round: NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race no. 20 of 23 (Playoffs Round of 8)
– Track Location: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
– Race Name: UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics
– Broadcast: Thursday, September 14th at 8:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), MRN (Radio), and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
