Catchfence

SALEM, Indiana (September 19, 2011) – - Undoubtedly, Grant Enfinger’s performance Saturday night for Allgaier Motorsports in the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA Fall Classic at Salem (Ind.) Speedway was worthy of a strong finish. However, a mechanical failure just before the half-way mark left the team with their worst finish of the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season. Still, the finish wasn’t as detrimental as it could have been.

After taking two races to trade his radio for a driver’s uniform, Kelly Kovski returned to the role as crew chief of the No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger for the 17th race of the season.

With a plan of attack for Enfinger’s second tango with the intimidating half-mile oval, following the lone practice session of the day, the team owned by ARCA veteran and 2008 champion owner Mike Allgaier were pleased with their direction.

After clocking in the eighth fastest time in practice, the Fairhope, Alabama native would step it up in Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying producing the fifth quickest lap overall, easily surpassing his 13th place starting spot at the Southern Indiana short track in the spring.

Comfortable with the racecar after conquering a little bit of tight condition in practice, the team shifted their concentration towards the next-to-last short track battle of the season.

The green flag waived for the 90th ARCA race at Salem Speedway with the No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger holding its ground safely inside the top-five.

A caution inside the race’s first 10 laps of competition would keep Enfinger on the bumper of the lead pack. When racing resumed, leader Chris Buescher would stretch his lead with Enfinger left having to battle the No. 52 of Tom Hessert for fourth.

Despite a gallant effort, Enfinger would give-way to his fellow racer, quickly dipping behind Hessert but remaining in the fifth position. With the field stretched out by the completion of the first quarter, Enfinger hovered in fifth while also strategizing with Kovski on what to do with their racecar during their mandatory pit stop.

The team’s opportunity to come to pit road came to life when the yellow flag flew on lap 65 when second-place runner Chad Hackenbracht cut down a tire. Subsequently, Hessert also suffered misfortune which quickly rose the team up in the running order. Though, Kovski would bring his driver in where he granted Enfinger two new tires and fuel exiting pit road in second place behind the No. 68 of Will Kimmel.

The duo though would be in the treks of new leader Frank Kimmel II who elected to stay out during the caution. When racing resumed, Enfinger held his own inside the podium standings and in the clutches of second-place runner Kimmel II before the team’s night took a sudden turn on lap 96 when the No. 36 Hoosier Tire Midwest / racetires.com Dodge Charger began to slow on the backstretch.

Slowly making his way to his pit stall, Enfinger would advise his team that he thought the problem was mechanical. After inspecting their Chrysler nameplate, the team identified their problem with the rear gear. Unable to successfully repair their automobile, the team would be forced to withdraw from the event and be credited with completing 99 of the scheduled 200 laps and a disappointing 23rd place finish.

“We had a pretty good car,” stated the 26-year old. “We could not predict a malfunction like we had with the rear gear. We haven’t had a problem like that all year around. It stinks that we finished outside the top-15, but I guess that’s just the nature of the game. I think our performance up until then was an indicator to the field just how hard this team is trying.”

He added, “Kelly (Kovski, crew chief) and my Allgaier crew deserve a lot more credit than they have been receiving. Every week, we’ve put solid racecars on the track and most of the year have been able to turn those into top-10 finishes. I still would like to get a win for them by the end of the year and we have two races to do it. So we’ll go to Kansas next and see what we can do.”

With two races remaining on the ARCA Racing Series schedule, Enfinger sits fourth in the championship standings sitting 155 markers behind third place holder Frank Kimmel and a 105-point cushion on Chad McCumbee who controls fifth. To prepare the family-owned team for the final speedway race of the year, the team will participate in an open-test at the 1.5-mile oval of Kansas Speedway on Tuesday, September 20th in preparation for the Kansas Lottery 98.9 which is set to launch on Friday, October 7 live on SPEED.

For more on Grant Enfinger, please visit grantenfinger.com.

Additional input on Allgaier Motorsports is available by logging on to AllgaierMotorsports.com.

- Allgaier Motorsports Press Release