Event Preview | Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Grant Enfinger, No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – World of Westgate 200
Race No. 18 of 23

Team Info/Stats:
Crew Chief: Jeff Hensley
Driver Point Standings: 4th (-12)
Owner Point Standings: 4th
Spotter: Chris Lambert
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Starting Position: 3rd

News and Notes:

• Honor Your Cancer Hero… Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150, partnered with The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation and The NASCAR Foundation in support of their “Nominate A Cancer Hero” program, which was designed to celebrate and support those champions who have overcome the battles of childhood and ovarian cancer. The two foundations gave fans the opportunity to nominate a cancer hero to “ride” on Enfinger’s No. 98 Ford F-150 during Friday night’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS). Dr. Jean Bolton, who was nominated by Floyd Enfinger, Jr., will be displayed above the driver door on Friday night. She not only fought her own battle with cancer, with bravery, she saved Grant’s sister’s life as well.

• Playoffs Profile… The first round of the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Playoffs continues with the World of Westgate 200 at LVMS on Friday night, the second of three races in the Round of 10. Grant Enfinger, driver of the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150 is currently fourth on the Playoff grid, 24 points above the cut line, following a sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, last week.

• Defending Race Winner… Enfinger can secure his spot in the Round of 8, which kicks off at Kansas Speedway in October, by repeating what he did in 2018 – winning the Word of Westgate 200 at LVMS. Starting third, Enfinger led 40 laps en route to victory lane at the 1.5-mile track.

• Sin City Stats… Enfinger will make his ninth start at LVMS in Friday night’s 134-lap event. In eight previous starts the ThorSport Racing driver has a track-best start of third (2018-2), and has led 47 laps en route to one win (2018-2), two top-five and four top-10 finishes. In fact, the last time Enfinger started third at LVMS, he won…

• This Week’s No. 98 Champion Power Equipment/Curb Records Ford F-150… The No. 98 ThorSport Racing team will unload chassis No. 42 for Friday night’s World of Westgate 200 at LVMS. This is the same chassis Enfinger raced into victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this season.

• Music To Our Ears… Curb Records singer/songwriter, Filmore, and his new album “State I’m In,” will once again be featured on board the No. 98 Ford F-150 at LVMS. To preview the single, State I’m In,visit: Curb.com.

• 2020 Stats… In 17 starts this season, Enfinger has led 104 laps en route to three wins (Daytona, Atlanta and Richmond), six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, with an average finish of 10.1.

• Career Stats… In 100 series starts, Enfinger has five poles and has led 678 laps en route to five wins, 34 top-five and 63 top-10 finishes.

• Take Me Back – Bristol… Enfinger started on the pole, based on a performance-based metric, finished fifth in Stage 1 and 11th in Stage 2, after replacing the ECU on his No. 98 ADS/Lucas Oil/Curb Records Ford F-150, and sixth in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The solid run was Enfinger’s fourth top-10 finish at Bristol in four series starts.

• Ford Fact… Ford powered F-150’s have found victory lane 104 times since 1995 in the Gander Truck Series, including five times at LVMS; with Joe Ruttman (1997), Greg Biffle (1999), Travis Kvapil (2007), Tyler Reddick (2016), and Grant Enfinger (2018).

Chatting with Grant Enfinger…

You had some issues at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend. How could that race, the first race in the Playoffs, have changed how you approach Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week?

“Fortunately, we were able to salvage what could have been a devastating night (at Bristol). We could have easily gone a lap down when we were making those changes, but our guys did an incredible job not allowing that to happen. Also, if the engine would have shut off at the wrong time or we weren’t able to keep limping it along, we could have dug a big hole in the first race, in the first round of the Playoffs. We didn’t do that. We were still able to salvage a decent points night and we’re still seeded fourth. Really, our plan doesn’t change moving forward, in Vegas. Bristol could have very easily gone a different way and maybe we would have had to change how we approach Vegas, but we’re still in good shape.”

Are you looking for a little redemption at Las Vegas this year, after what happened to you and your teammates at this race last year?

Yeah. You know, I always watch last years races before I go to the track, and man, it was heartbreak all over again watching this one. It was just an incredible turn of events last year. We have four ThorSport Racing F-150’s and three of them blew up. Ours blew up first, which eliminated us from the Playoffs right off the bat. Then (Matt) Crafton and (Johnny) Sauter blew up on the same straightaway, on the same lap. Then our other teammate, Ben (Rhodes), was on his way to blowing up and low and behold, every truck there was on their way to blowing up. The No. 7 cylinder there was just leaned out – the settings were wrong – and basically, for simplification purposes, it was leaning out all the motors. It was just the climate in Vegas and a goof up in the settings that caused a strange turn of events. You never wanna be eliminated from the Playoffs, but to have something out of your control do that, it was hard for us. So yeah, we wanna go back there and get some redemption. I feel like all the ThorSport Racing Ford F-150’s we’re pretty quick there earlier this year, we were decent, we ended up getting in a wreck, but we showed speed, especially in Stage 2 before that happened. I’m anxious to get back there. I definitely feel like it’s a place we can win at. Really, we just need to go there and do us. We just need to worry about ourselves, not worry about everyone else, have a solid night and contend for a win at the end of it. It would definitely eliminate a lot of stress, going into Talladega, an elimination race, if we could.”

About Advanced Distribution Services:
ADS is a full line distributor with divisions focused on sales, e-Commerce fulfillment, 3PL and brand development. Our vendor partners include top brands over multiple categories including Lucas Oil, Champion Power Equipment, Orion Safety Products, Shell Oil, Rain-X, The Fountainhead Group and Winston Products. ADS also maintains relationships with clients including The Home Depot, Target, Sam’s Club, Amazon, and Walmart. As a company, ADS is focused on bringing value back to the supply chain through integrity, resources and commitment. For more information on Advanced Distribution Services, www.advancedds.com.

About Lucas Oil Products, Inc.:
Founded in 1989 by Forrest and Charlotte Lucas, Lucas Oil Products, Inc. is the world leader of high performance lubricants and problem solving additives and produces and markets more than 270 unique formulations in more than forty countries. Products include engine oils, greases, gear lubes, problem-solving additives and car-care products. In the USA, Lucas Oil is sold in more than 30,000 auto parts stores displaying the biggest variety of shelf products of any oil company, and at every truck stop nationwide. Lucas Oil has two major plants in the United States: the original one in Corona, California, which also houses Lucas Oil Corporate Headquarters, Lucas Oil Production Studios, Team Lucas, LucasOilRacingTV and MAVTV, plus a state-of-the-art, 350,000-square-foot oil products facility in Corydon, Indiana. For more information on Lucas Oil, visit: www.lucasoil.com.

About Curb Records:
Celebrating 56 years in business, Curb Records is one of the world’s leading independent music companies. Owned and operated by Mike Curb since 1964, Curb Records has achieved 435 number one records, over 1,500 Top Ten records and charted over 4,500 total records. With over a half century in operation, Curb Records has been influential in the careers of some of the biggest names in music, including: Tim McGraw, Hank Williams, Jr., Rodney Atkins, Lee Brice, LeAnn Rimes, The Judds, Dylan Scott, Sawyer Brown, Wynonna, Lyle Lovett, Jo Dee Messina, Hal Ketchum and Desert Rose Band, among many others. Today’s roster includes some of the top names across multiple genres of music.For more information visit: Curb.com.

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. For more information visit: ChampionPowerEquipment.com.

About ThorSport Racing:
Entering its 25th season of competition, ThorSport Racing, based in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series team, competing in the series since 1996. For more information, visit: www.ThorSport.com.

Blackstone Management Partnersbsmpartners.com
Contact: Jessica O’Brien
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Mobile: 803-240-5807