Talladega Glory 'Just Wasn't Meant to Be' for Playoff Driver Enfinger

It was an early end to the afternoon for Grant Enfinger, one of the eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship contenders, in the Love's RV Stop 225 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado only lasted three laps, as he was sent spinning not long after moving in front of Chandler Smith in the outside lane. On the exit of Turn 4 on the fourth lap of Friday afternoon's race, Enfinger received an errant shove from Smith, which sent him careening into other trucks.

A push gone wrong! Big damage early for Grant Enfinger at Talladega. https://t.co/TpI8aMozVN pic.twitter.com/3fE5YAF4Kv
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 17, 2025

After he initially saved the truck, a secondary shove from Smith sent Enfinger back across the track, where he was collected by Jake Garcia.

After several minutes of thrashing on pit road, the damage was too much for Enfinger's CR7 Motorsports team to complete the repairs within the damaged vehicle policy time limit. After being checked and released from the infield care center, Enfinger explained that he felt other drivers shoving Smith from behind led to the incident.

"Yeah, definitely wasn't what we wanted to see, and especially not that early. I just got up to the outside line, was hoping to get a push, and hoping to kind of square myself up with Chandler [Smith], there, and I think he was getting hit from behind, and he hit me while he was crossed up," Enfinger explained. "I still thought I was going to save it, and then he hit me again there. So, I think he was getting pushed pretty hard. And just unfortunately, one of those Talladega incidents."

Enfinger, who came into the race four points below the cutline, knows that the 36th-place finish in Friday's race will certainly impact his odds of advancing to the Championship 4 for the third consecutive season.

"It's unfortunate, I feel like this was an opportunity for us. But I know a lot of people were thinking that as well. It just wasn't meant to be today," Enfinger said.

While it wasn't the way he wanted his day to end, Enfinger found peace with how the day ended, as he chalked it up to superspeedway racing. Sometimes, like last year's race at Talladega, the luck is on your side; sometimes, like on Friday, it's not.

"Yeah, I mean, we knew [the Playoff standings were] going to get shaken up, right? Everyone knew that going into Talladega. Last year, we were on the good end of things; this year, we're on the bad end," Enfinger said.

The silver lining for Enfinger? He now knows what he needs to do next weekend at the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway.

"Our job is simple next week, we don't have to worry about points. We know we've got to win at Martinsville to be able to race for a championship," Enfinger concluded.

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