Enfinger takes Gateway Truck win after leaders wreck

Reigning series champion Zane Smith looked like he was going to turn a fuel-mileage gamble into a win but was wrecked by Ty Majeski while racing for the lead with six of the originally scheduled 160 laps to go.

Enfinger, who ran third at the time, inherited the lead but the race went into a two-lap overtime. Enfinger cleared quickly to the lead on the restart and held off Christian Eckes by 0.256 seconds to claim his second win of the 2023 season.

With the victory – the ninth of his career – Enfinger also collected a $50,000 bonus as part of the Triple Truck Challenge.

“Thank you everybody for believing in us. It’s been a rocky year,” Enfinger said. “These last five races I feel like we’ve come into our own. We’ve had speed.

“I was pretty disappointed yesterday. I feel like I failed my (qualifying) lap and we were 10th. I didn’t feel like we were a contending truck but (crew chief) Jeff Hensley made great calls and overall, just a great day.”

Enfinger, 38, also took the occasion to announce he and his wife, Michelle, were expecting their second child.

Stewart Friesen ended up third, Carson Hocevar fourth and Chase Purdy rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 were Matt DiBenedetto, Ben Rhodes, Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love – who was substituting for Corey Heim – and Jake Garcia.

Heim, who was the series points leader entering the race, missed it due to an illness.

Stage 1

Enfinger, who elected not to pit on the late-stage caution, held off Majeski in a one-lap dash to earn the Stage 1 win, his first of the 2023 season.

Rhodes ended up third, Smith fourth and DiBenedetto – who had also stayed out – was fifth.

Stage 2

Friesen claimed the Stage 2 win under caution when Conner Jones wrecked with three laps remaining and there wasn’t enough time to restart the race.

Majeski ended up second, Sanchez third, Hocevar fourth and Eckes fifth.

Chris Hacker got into Jack Wood and spun him off Turn 4 on lap 56 to bring out a caution, which sent several lead-lap trucks down pit road. Majeski stayed out and inherited the lead on the restart with nine laps to go.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap trucks pit for new tires but Enfinger stayed out and returned to the lead when the race went green on Lap 77.

Hailie Deegan wrecked in Turn 3 after getting hit by Sanchez, which brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 88.

A handful of Trucks, including Smith, decided to pit but Enfinger remained on the track and in the lead when the race resumed on lap 94.

With just under 40 laps remaining, a round of green-flag pit stops began for those drivers who had not pit since the stage break.

Hacker, however, spun again after contact with Josh Reaume on Lap 126, which allowed most drivers to pit for new tires and fuel under the caution. Smith elected to remain on track and inherited the lead on the restart with 29 laps to go.

Majeski, trying to grab the lead on a restart with six laps remaining, got loose and into Smith which wrecked both trucks and sent the race into overtime with Enfinger in the lead.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	23	Grant Enfinger		Chevrolet	162	2:30'28.653			65
2	19	Christian Eckes		Chevrolet	162	2:30'28.909	0.256	0.256
3	52	Stewart Friesen		Toyota	162	2:30'29.165	0.512	0.256	10
4	42	Carson Hocevar		Chevrolet	162	2:30'29.783	1.130	0.618
5	4	Chase Purdy		Chevrolet	162	2:30'29.993	1.340	0.210
6	25	Matt DiBenedetto		Chevrolet	162	2:30'30.476	1.823	0.483
7	99	Ben Rhodes		Ford	162	2:30'30.705	2.052	0.229
8	2	Nicholas Sanchez		Chevrolet	162	2:30'30.988	2.335	0.283
9	11	Jesse Love		Toyota	162	2:30'31.205	2.552	0.217
10	35	Jake Garcia		Chevrolet	162	2:30'31.361	2.708	0.156
11	43	Daniel Dye		Chevrolet	162	2:30'31.426	2.773	0.065
12	9	Colby Howard		Chevrolet	162	2:30'31.582	2.929	0.156
13	17	Taylor Gray		Toyota	162	2:30'31.583	2.930	0.001
14	24	Rajah Caruth		Chevrolet	162	2:30'31.808	3.155	0.225
15	16	Tyler Ankrum		Toyota	162	2:30'32.379	3.726	0.571
16	41	Bayley Currey		Chevrolet	162	2:30'32.756	4.103	0.377
17	56	Timmy Hill		Toyota	162	2:30'33.657	5.004	0.901
18	20	Matt Mills		Chevrolet	162	2:30'35.771	7.118	2.114
19	38	Zane Smith		Ford	162	2:30'45.504	16.851	9.733	32
20	15	Tanner Gray		Toyota	162	2:31'00.935	32.282	15.431
21	45	Alan Lawless		Chevrolet	162	2:31'02.837	34.184	1.902
22	32	Bret Holmes		Chevrolet	161	2:29'56.956	1 Lap	1 Lap
23	33	Josh Reaume		Ford	161	2:30'48.251	1 Lap	51.295
24	1	Toni Breidinger		Toyota	161	2:30'59.757	1 Lap	11.506
25	88	Matt Crafton		Ford	160	2:29'24.330	2 Laps	1 Lap
26	12	Spencer Boyd		Chevrolet	160	2:30'43.907	2 Laps	1'19.577
27	02	Chris Hacker		Chevrolet	159	2:30'41.345	3 Laps	1 Lap
28	6	Norm Benning		Chevrolet	159	2:30'51.349	3 Laps	10.004
29	51	Jack Wood		Chevrolet	158	2:30'47.868	4 Laps	1 Lap
30	98	Ty Majeski		Ford	155	2:22'20.115	7 Laps	3 Laps	55
31	34	Stephen Mallozzi		Ford	146	2:30'57.819	16 Laps	9 Laps
32	13	Hailie Deegan		Ford	86	1:23'32.527	76 Laps	60 Laps
33	66	Conner Jones		Ford	66	59'19.485	96 Laps	20 Laps
34	5	Dean Thompson		Toyota	20	17'11.626	142 Laps	46 Laps
35	95	Clay Greenfield		Chevrolet	0	3.473	162 Laps	20 Laps