Concord, NC (1-29-2010) – RAB Racing announced today an alliance with Grant Enfinger Racing (GER), to provide technical support, equipment and other resources for its ARCA Racing Series team for five of the 10 televised races on SPEED during the 2010 season. Enfinger, who will pilot the No. 09 BeasleyAllen.com Ford Fusion, will enter his third year of competition in the series, positioning the family-run and operated team for a competitive year en route to their first victory.

RAB Racing, a team that has held a presence in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards since 2001 and full time since 2006 has accumulated two poles, led 155 laps and brought home 10 top-5 and 37 top-10 finishes.

“Adding Grant to our line-up this year is something I’m very proud of,” stated Robby Benton, Co-owner and General Manager of RAB Racing with Brack Maggard. “Hopefully we’ll be able to provide the last bit of an edge he needs to find victory lane. Grant has shown that he’s an outstanding racer and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen him do. Most people don’t realize how dedicated he is and it’s refreshing to work with someone who is as hungry as Grant is to win. We’re going to work very hard to get him where he deserves to be.”

In just 11 ARCA Racing Series starts since 2008, Enfinger has amassed four top-5 and five top-10 finishes including a career-best 2nd at Kentucky Speedway (July, 2009) and Chicagoland Speedway (August, 2009). The 25-year-old Fairhope, AL native also has one top-5 and five top-10 starts and has led 49 laps in two races.

“Positioning ourselves with RAB Racing gives us a solid foundation entering the 2010 season and provides GER with an excellent platform to be competitive.” said Enfinger. “We want to contend for wins, week in and week out and to do that we needed to grow and expand our resources. RAB Racing has a solid foundation in place and has been very competitive in this series and we wanted to align ourselves with such an established, proven team.”

“Each year I want to build on the previous,” continued Enfinger. “I learn more and more every time I get behind the wheel, and that growth will eventually develop into a winning attribute. I feel like we have been competitive in the past but just need that extra push. Now that we have the resources from a team like RAB Racing, I know that it will only be a matter of time before the No. 09 BeasleyAllen.com Ford will be in victory lane.”

Grant will kick off the 2010 season at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 6th when he makes his ARCA Racing Series debut at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. The season opener, Lucas Oil Sick Mist 200, will air live on SPEED at 4:30 PM.

Grant Enfinger Racing-2010 Schedule:

Date: Track:
2-06-10 Daytona Int’l Speedway
4-16-10 Texas Motor Speedway
4-23-10 Talladega Superspeedway
6-11-10 Michigan Int’l Speedway
7-10-10 Iowa Speedway

For more information on RAB Racing please visit: www.teamrab.com
For more information on Grant Enfinger please visit www.grantenfinger.com

Grant finally had something to smile about when leaving the Roush Yates chassis dyno Thursday. It appears that the driveline “coast down” problem has been solved. “I would explain how we fixed the problem, but my dad isn’t very smart about technical issues and he would probably disclose one of our race secrets. For that reason, all I can say is that this is one less issue we have before heading to Daytona. We have plenty of other things to do before driving south, so I am glad this problem has been resolved.”

Grant took the speedway car directly from the dyno to the RAB race shop for additional body work, after which the installation process for the vinyl wrap began. Instead of a traditional paint job on the car, a vinyl wrap, with graphics, is being applied to the car. This process, which is now used by most NASCAR teams, produces a better appearance than painting.

Grant would like to use the weekend to work on the car and rig, but he is off to Atlanta this morning, helping NASCAR Cup driver David Ragan (#6 UPS car) compete in a Super Late Model race at Lanier Speedway. “I can’t say no to David who, along with his father Ken and cousin Brett, has helped me tremendously with our ARCA program. Besides, he is my landlord and I don’t want to be evicted from the race shop while I am in Florida.” Ragan, along with Cup star Kyle Busch, Nationwide racer Steven Wallace and other top racers are promoting short track racing at Lanier. Ragan knows that Grant’s experience in building and setting up Super Late Models will help in Atlanta. It is a tribute to Ragan & Busch that they are supporting short track racing only 2 weeks before they will be competing in the Daytona 500 Cup race.

Grant will pull into Daytona Speedway Tuesday morning to begin a full week of work at the world center of racing. For complete information on the February 6th ARCA race, which will be nationally televised at 3 pm next Saturday, visit  www.arcaracing.com.

Grant must pull out of the North Carolina shop next Monday morning for the long haul to Daytona Speedway. Before then, he will complete work on chassis setup, deliver the race car for vinyl wrapping/graphic application and stock the transporter with parts and equipment. The season opening ARCA race at Daytona, set to be run Saturday February 6th, will be preceded by several days of technical inspections, on track practice and qualifyihg before the green flag drops at 3pm on Saturday after next. Before Grant can leave the shop, he has a long checklist of last minute chores.

Grant is not completely comfortable with the engine/driveline performance but is making adjustments he hopes to evaulate on the chassis dyno late this week, if possible. “I think the Roush Yates motor is fine, but something in the driveline is not perfect and with more than 60 cars trying to make the race, we need the car to be as good as we can tune it.” A list of confirmed entrants, a complete schedule of Daytona ARCA week and ARCA news can be found at  www.arcaracing.com.

With the season opening Daytona ARCA race quicikly approaching, Grant took the BeasleyAllen speedway car back to the Roush Yates chassis dyno Thursday. Grant was dissapointed to find that the “coast down” reading on the dyno revealed that no improvement had taken place since the installation of a new transmission and new rear gear assembly. “There is still something creating drag between the engine and rear axle and it is frustrating to discover that our “fixes” have not been successful.”
 
Grant is due to be in Daytona February 2nd, and much more work is required to have the car ready to load at the North Carolina shop. While he is completing race preparation he will continue searching for answers to the driveline drag problem. On-track practice will be limited at Daytona and Grant knows that a very competitive field will appear in Florida for the nationally televised race which is attracting a lot of attention, due to Danica Patrick’s stock car debut in the 200 mile ARCA race which is scheduled to be run Saturday February 6th at 3 pm CST.
 
For more information on ARCA and the Daytona race week, visit www.arcaracing.com.

The short “off season” of stock car racing is quickly drawing to a close. January is the only month of the year Grant isn’t on a race track, and this month doesn’t have enough days to complete all the necessary work.  Grant continues to prepare the speedway car for the February 6th ARCA race at Daytona Speedway. Nick Ramey, of Roush Yates Engines, advised Grant to install a larger radiator to avoid overheating which occurred last April at Talladega. “Installing a new radiator in a passenger car doesn’t compare with the work required to change out the race car’s radiator. We have had to cut crash bars on the front of the car and then install and re-weld those bars just to slide a new radiator into the engine compartment  We have a lot of work to do to prepare for Thursday’s chassis dyno session.”
 
Grant must be in Daytona 2 weeks from today for pre-race technical inspection, leadng up to practice and qualifying before the 200 mile ARCA race on the following Saturday. Grant believes the BeasleyAllen.com Ford fusion will be competitive, but knows that the team’s ” intermediate” cars are the best machines Grant has built. “We are hoping for good finishes at Daytona and Talladega, but we are really excited to get on the 1 1/2 mile tracks such as Texas speedway where our cars perform best.”
 
For more information on the Daytona race and the upcoming ARCA season, visit www.arcaracing.com .