As the team prepared for qualifying, the proverbial “kitchen sink” was brought out and thrown into the adjustments and changes made to the car in hopes that some “wholesale changes” would help the car. It wasn’t to be though as Enfinger would end up in the 20th starting position for the race and the team was thinking that a top 10 finish would be an accomplishment.

As the field took the green flag, Enfinger would begin to display the driving ability he has become known for, showing skill and patience, taking what the car would give him, as he began to pick off the cars in front of him. By lap 38, the Allgaier Motorsports driver would pass Tom Hessert for 11th place, and when the first cauton of the race happened on lap 50, Enfinger would have his #36 Hoosier Tire Midwest Dodge up to 9th. A good stop by the pitcrew for 4 tires, fuel, and adjustments, would find Enfinger restarting in the 7th position on lap 60.

The adjustments to the car seemed to help, as from this point on Enfinger never fell out of the top 10, spending the next 130 laps running between 5th and 8th place. At times Enfinger found himself turning lap times faster than the leader, but track position would keep him from contending for the lead.

A restart on lap 190 would find Enfinger running 5th. With one last charge, he would pass Tim George Jr. for the 4th position on lap 194 and would hang on for that 4th place finish of the 200 lap race.

” We’ll take this 4th place finish and run with it” Enfinger said after the race. “After the day we had in practice and qualifying, I can’t say enough about this Allgaier Motorsports team. They never gave up. This team has no quit in it. I couldn’t be prouder. Crew chief Kelli Kovski and the team made some great calls and adjustments tonight. We took a car that was no better than a 10th or 15th place car and finished 4th with it. I couldn’t ask for anymore than that from these guys” said Enfinger. “I just want to add one more thing” continued Enfinger. “These guys have busted their butts all season long to give me competitive cars, and today really exemplified what this team is all about. As you can see by all the open space on the car, we have plenty of room for sponsorship on this car. This team is one of the few small, independent teams that can week in, week out compete with the bigger, Sprint Cup supported teams. I really feel that any potential sponsor, looking for a great team to represent them, should take a long, close look at us. We’re doing what we’re doing on a limited budget and any sponsor that is looking for a team would of course be welcomed and might just be what puts this team over the top.”

Enfinger and the team gained some added notoriety after the race by claiming their second CGS Imaging Hard Charger Award of the season. This award goes to the team that gained the most positions during the race. The Allgaier motorsports team gained 16 spots during the race [start 20th/finish 4th] earning them the honor. The team remained 4th in the ARCA Series point standings, 25 points behind 3rd place Frank Kimmel, and 35 points behind 2nd place Chris Buescher.

The 4th place finish continued to add to Enfinger’s impressive statistics in the ARCA Series presented by Menards. He now has seven top 3 finishes, eleven top 5, and 19 top 10 finishes in 29 starts.

Enfinger and the Allgaier Motorsports team return to action on Thursday night, July 28th at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, across town from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the ARCA Seies Ansell Protective Gloves 200. The race will be televised live by the Speed Channel beginning at 7:00pm. You can also follow the race on the arcaracing.com website which will have live timing and scoring.

Enfinger lead the field of 32 cars to the green flag to start the race after claiming his first career ARCA Series/Menards pole award earlier in the day on the .44 mile track. He would hold off a challenge through turns one and two on the first lap from Brian Campbell, who started on the outside of Enfinger in row one, and maintain the lead. A wreck in turn 4 behind the leaders would slow the field at the completion of the first lap with Enfinger in the lead.

The field would restart on lap 7 and Enfinger would gradually open up a 10 to 12 car leangth lead. As the race appraoched the 50 lap mark, Enfinger reported to his crew that the car was starting get “crazy loose”. This would eventually lead to Enfinger surrendering the lead to Matt Merrell, after leading the first 75 laps of the race. The race would remain green for the next 42 laps with Enfinger gradually slipping back to the 5th place position due to the ill handling car.

A caution on lap 117 would finally allow Enfinger to pit, change all 4 tires, add fuel and make the adjustments needed to tighten up the car. Enfinger would restart the race on lap 125 in the 6th position.

Enfinger would make quick work of 5th place Tom Hessert, passing him on lap 126. Lap 130 would have Enfinger passing Patrick Sheltra for fourth place and setting his sights on the top 3 cars. By lap 177, Enfinger was on the rear bumper of 3rd place Frank Kimmel and, after a heated battle with the #44 car, would eventually pass Kimmel on lap 184 for third place.

A caution on lap 189 involving points leader Ty Dillon, would slow the field and allow Enfinger to close the ranks on the 1st place car of Matt Marrell and 2nd place Tim George Jr.

The green would come back out on lap 193, but a caution on lap 194 for a Frank Kimmel spin would slow the field once more with no change in the order for the top 3 cars. This would lead to a one lap shootout as the field would get the green and white flags together on lap 199 of the 200 lap race. Unfortunately for Enfinger, it wasn’t enough time to do anything with the leaders and he would cross the finish line in 3rd place.

After the race, Enfinger had this to say…”We had a really good car here all day today. We topped the speed chart during practice and went out and got the pole for the race. During practice the car would just get better and better the longer we ran. I was really surprised when the car started to get crazy loose during that first run in the race. We came in for the pitstop and the team did a great job, getting me back out with the leaders with the adjustments I needed. The car really came to life again after the stop but we just got caught with to many lapped cars between us and the leaders. I’ve kind of got mixed emotions about our finish tonight. Third place is a great run and I’m sure it helped us in the points, but I really felt we had the car to beat tonight and that makes 3rd place a little disappointing. It does say alot for this Allgaier Motorsports team and how we’re starting to come together that we can leave here disappointed with a 3rd place finish. We’ll go on to Iowa next week and see if we can finally get that win that this team deserves.”

Enfinger, who also claimed the Aaron’s lap leader award for leading the most laps during the race [75laps], and the team will head to Iowa next weekend for the Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway, 4th in the driver point standings. He is 25 points behind 3rd place Chris Buescher and 35 points behind 2nd place Frank Kimmel. The race will be televised live on Saturday July 16th at 5pm eastern time. “I’m looking for another good weekend in Iowa. I really like that track. We finished 3rd there last year with my family owned team so I expect nothing less than that this time around” said Enfinger.

With the 3rd place finish at Berlin, Enfinger continues to add to his impressive finishes in the ARCA Series. This was his seventh top 3 finish, tenth top 5, and eighteenth top 10 finish in 28 starts.

“I am extremely happy with our finish, as we were “junk” until qualifying. We were only 20th of 40 racers in the final practice Saturday.” Spotter Jeremy Lundy claimed that after the poor practice showing, the crew changed everything on the car except the driver. After making the wholesale changes to the car’s setup, Grant drove the car hard during the 2 lap qualifying session. “I really thought we would qualify in the 20s, but we were pleased to gain a 7th place starting position.”

Grant’s roomate, Tom Hessert from Cherry Hill New Jersey, won the race going away. “I am happy for Tom and we didn’t have anything for him. The car was so loose during the race that I almost lost the car several times and I had to manhandle the car. To post a podium finish when only 10 cars finished on the lead lap was satisfying. Once again, we have showed that when we don’t have a mechanical problem, we run at the top despite being a part-time, independent team.”

For more information and photos on the race, visit www.arcaracing.com .

BEASLEYALLEN.COM ARCA CAR BEING PREPPED FOR IOWA

Unlike most ARCA races, the Prairie Meadows 200 schedule is compressed into a 1 day show. The first of 2 short practice sessions begins at 10 am, with technical inspection and qualifying squeezed in before the drop of the green flag Saturday. Grant and the crew will be hustling all day making final adjustments and preparing the car for both qualifying and the race. Before the national television broadcast, practice and qualifying times can be accessed live through www.arcaracing.com which will also be providing race day updates.

Grant, Zach & Jim are heading back from America’s Heartland to North Carolina, following Monday’s test at Iowa Speedway. Crew chief Howard Bixman and the crew worked hard all day yesterday adjusting the BeasleyAllen.com ARCA car in the only extensive practice session they will have before the July 10th Prairie Meadows Hotel & Casino 200 race. The speedway complex, east of Des Moines, is a world class facility with a smooth 7/8 mile track.

CAR & CREW AT IOWA SPEEDWAY MONDAY

“We will only have a couple hours of practice next Saturday, just before qualifying in the afternoon and the race that night. I had never been on the track before Monday, and we had to spend the time, money and effort to make the long trip to Iowa. The car was pretty good on long runs, but we never could get it loose enough to drive as well as we need. We will review our notes at the shop, and decide on what adjustments we will make before unloading at the track next week. We aren’t as good as we need to be, but we would be way behind if we hadn’t made this trip. I appreciate the crew making this trip which should be rewarded next Saturday.”

The 200 lap race will be televised live in prime time next Saturday July 10th, at 8 p.m. CDT, on Speed TV.