The following article is published with the permission of The Dothan Eagle:
 
By Jon Johnson
Published: March 06, 2011  Grant Enfinger won the race, but says Chase Elliott had the best car.
But when it was ruled the 15-year-old Elliott caused a wreck involving Enfinger and Bubba Pollard with 13 laps left, it was Enfinger eventually holding on for a victory in the 35th Annual Hardee’s Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway on Sunday.
 
“I was blocking Chase as good as I can,” Enfinger explained. “He had the better car. I just guess Chase kind of got underneath me.“They made the right call.”Elliott isn’t so sure.
The son of legendary NASCAR driver Bill Elliott, Chase appeared to have the fastest car on the track and led for much of the 250-lap race.
 
After the 12th caution flag of the day came out with 25 laps left — taking the original 28-car field down to 12 — Enfinger, Elliott and Pollard were the top three in that order and appeared ready to battle to the end.
On lap 237, Pollard, still running in third place, tried to make his move to pass Enfinger and Elliott.
Coming around turn 3 on the 4/10-mile asphalt track, Pollard went wide with Enfinger in the middle and Elliott on the inside as they raced three-wide at the bottom of the track.
 
With the cars bunched tight, it was ruled by Champion Racing Association officials that Elliott forced Enfinger into Pollard, which caused those two cars to wreck and bring out another caution.
Elliott was sent to the back of the pack, and Enfinger remained in the lead.
“The 82 (Enfinger) was blocking a little bit,” Elliott said. “I don’t know why they sent us to the back.”
Pollard isn’t sure how the wreck occurred.“We were three-wide and the 82 ended up going into me,” Pollard said. “It was still going to be tough had we got around. They had good cars.”
 

CREW CHIEF/CAR CO-OWNER JOSH BRAGG WITH GRANT AFTER RACE
 
After the restart, Enfinger, of Fairhope, ended up battling Donnie Wilson of Oklahoma City down the stretch and never gave up the lead.Defending champion Jeff Fultz of Troutman, N.C., finished third, followed by Ryan Blaney of Highpoint, N.C., Elliott of Dawsonville, Ga., Tyler Roahrig of Bremen, Ind., Pollard of Senoia, Ga., Cale Gale of Winston Salem, N.C., Damon Ecoff of Greenfield, Ind., and Ben Kennedy of Daytona Beach, Fla., to round out the top 10.
 
Pole-sitter Augie Grill of Hayden was involved in several minor wrecks during the race, yet battled back to take the lead with 27 laps left. However, he got involved in another minor accident two laps later and fell out of contention. He finished 14th.
 
Elliott was in the lead when a caution came out on lap 211 and he decided to make a pit stop while the rest of the pack stayed on the track. But Elliott battled back into the top three on lap 223 and appeared on his way to eventually overtaking the field before the penalty.
 
It was Enfinger’s second Rattler 250 victory. He also won the race in 2008.“This was a real tough win,” Enfinger said. “I’m going to compliment the No. 9 (Elliott) car. The 9 car was the best, but fortunately we pulled it out.
“We’ve been in a few of those that should have worked out for us that haven’t. This time, it worked the other way.”