GMS Racing NCWTS Race Recap: Homestead-Miami Speedway

Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST

START: 23RD

FINISH: 14TH

POINTS: 7TH

Quote: Grant Enfinger comes up short as well, unfortunately. You needed to really win this race and cut a tire about fifteen laps prior to the cycle opening up for pit stops. How frustrating was that to not really have a chance to go up there and battle it out?

“Yeah, definitely frustrating. That’s two races in a row that we couldn’t keep the air in our Goodyear tires. You know, at Talladega it felt like we had a defective tire, but here I think we just ran over something. It’s unfortunate, and I hate that we were in a must-win situation, but honestly in the first stage we had to start in the back and were able to drive towards the front. I honestly think we had a shot at it. We made our right adjustments, which Jeff normally does a good job of, and I felt really good about it beginning in the first stint and getting in the third stint, but it’s just unfortunate with the tire coming down. We had a lot of speed in our Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, which isn’t something that we’ve been able to say a lot this year especially at the mile-and-a-halves. At the last stint in Kansas, and really the whole time here, we had grip, we had speed, so I’m optimistic looking forward to next year. Definitely incredibly disappointing to have all of the support we’ve had from Champion Power Equipment, Chevrolet, Maury Gallagher, Mike Beam, and everyone who has given us all the tools we needed to fight for a championship just to come up a little short.”

You mention that optimism going into next year, this team didn’t come into stride until the playoffs started at IRP; how much work was that during the course of the season to get to that point and how much does that get you motivated for next year?

“I mean we never stopped working right after Daytona where we qualified three or four tenths off, I mean we went to work! We went to Vegas and were off there, and I mean everybody at GMS Fabrication, everybody at the shop has been working their guts out all year. But yeah, about the time the playoffs started, you could start to see that we were able to reap some of those rewards anyway. We went from about the middle of the pylon to becoming a top-five truck every time we unload. We haven’t had winning speed a lot, but I think that this was one of the places that if we could have hit it right on, we could have battled with Ty there at the end. Congratulations to him and Joe and those guys. Disappointed with this year, but definitely looking forward to next year for sure.”

Jack Wood, No. 24 Logitech G Chevrolet Silverado RST

START: 24TH

FINISH: 31ST

POINTS: 23RD

Quote: “Rough day with our Logitech G Chevy. We cut a tire down and went a couple of laps down, and after that point I pretty much told myself that I was going to take today to learn and get ready for next year. Frustrating day all around for sure, but I’ve never been here before and got to experience running up near the wall and felt like we had speed at times, so I’m definitely looking forward to coming back here next year, but man it was tough out there. Thankful to all of my GMS Racing guys for working so hard back at the shop, and we’ve got one more chance to have a good run next time out in Phoenix.”