Grant Enfinger celebrates his victory in the ARCA Racing Series Lucas Oil 200 Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. [Russ Lake Photo]
Daytona Beach, Fla. – Alabama native Grant Enfinger drove flawlessly at the Daytona International Speedway on Saturday afternoon to win the Lucas Oil 200 presented by MAVTV American Real. The race marked the season opener for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
Grant Enfinger (#90) took the checkered flag to win the ARCA Racing Series Lucas Oil 200 Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. Frank Kimmel (#44) followed Enfinger across the line. [Russ Lake Photo]
Enfinger made it look easy as he steered the Motor Honey-Casite-Advance Auto Parts Ford to victory lane, to give Ford its first victory in this event since 2001.
“Our race didn’t start here; it started during testing in December,” Enfinger said. “We had a really, really good car. We qualified good and in starting second, we managed to stay up front all day and were able to pull it out. To win here is incredible for all of us.”
Due to a late race caution flag, Enfinger’s lead was erased, which didn’t please him but he handled it smoothly. “I wasn’t crazy about it but I made the right lane choice and never had any issues,” he said. “I am very blessed with what I am able to do for a living.”
Enfinger led 42 of the 80 laps, including the final 29 circuits. He now has three ARCA wins, but this was the biggest one of them all.
Frank Kimmel, the 10-time ARCA champion, finished runner-up for the third time, to leave him winless at Daytona. He drove a Toyota.
Clay Campbell, the president of the Martinsville Speedway, drove superbly to finish third in the Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet owned by Kenny Schrader.
Kimmel had hoped Campbell would push him past the leader, but the latter wasn’t taking any chances.
Tommy Hessert took fourth in a Dodge and Tyler Reddick came in fifth in another Dodge.
Sixth place went to eight-time victor Bobby Gerhart, who had numerous problems throughout the weekend. The Daytona specialist qualified fast but when his car failed technical inspection, he was forced to start last. An early-race scrape with a wall slowed his run, but he maneuvered his way to the front as the race wound down.
Seventh through 10th were Mason Mitchell, Terry Jones, Chase Elliott and Sean Corr.
An early-race wreck eliminated nine of the 40 starters.
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