Enfinger uses three-wide pass to take Kansas Truck win

Enfinger, whose No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet was clearly the best of the field, took the lead for the final time on lap 103 of 134 by passing both Corey Heim and Zane Smith as those two raced side-by-side.

From there, the race – who had been plagued by several wrecks early – remained green and Enfinger took the checkered flag 4.358 seconds ahead of Heim to earn the win.

The victory is Enfinger’s first of the 2023 season and eighth of his career. All eight of his wins have come at different tracks.

“Kansas has been a good track for us but we haven’t had a dominant truck like this in a long time,” said Enfinger, who claimed a playoff berth with his win. “It’s been a difficult year-and-a-half.

“I know we came up with a win last year but overall the season was a little sluggish. The first seven races this year were a little sluggish. I was disappointed in our execution. The biggest thing is these guys just brought me an unbelievable (truck).”

Asked about his pass on both Heim and Smith to take the lead for the final time, he said, “They helped me out there. They were side drafting each other a little bit there. But at the end of the day what made that pass possible was we had the fastest truck out here.”

Reigning series champion Zane Smith ended up third, Stewart Friesen fourth and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 were Nick Sanchez, Kyle Busch, Jake Garcia, Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum.

Stage 1

Busch, on fresher tires, passed leader Zane Smith on the final of 30 laps to take the Stage 1 win.

Smith had inherited the lead when others, including Busch, elected to pit on lap 25. The resumed with two laps to go.

Ben Rhodes ended up second, Smith third, Enfinger fourth and Chase Purdy rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Ty Majeski got around Heim with three of 30 laps remaining and held off Enfinger to claim the Stage 2 win, his first stage victory of the 2023 season.

Heim finished third, Rajah Caruth fourth and Zane Smith rounded out the top five.

Stage 3

Most of the lead-lap trucks pit during the break between Stages 2 and 3, with Enfinger leading the way on the restart on lap 68.

Majeski and Caruth wrecked on the frontstretch while battling for position in the top five on lap 73 which placed the race under its fifth caution.

As the race restarted on lap 79, a multi-truck wreck erupted on the frontstretch which collected Matt DiBenedetto, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Purdy and Dean Thompson.

Enfinger remained the leader as the race returned to green on lap 82.

All the lead-lap trucks pit under a caution on lap 94 with Zane Smith first off pit road. Tanner Gray stayed on the track and inherited the lead.

Enfinger and Heim did battle for the lead late in the race and he cleared both Zane Smith and Heim in one pass on lap 103 to reclaim the top spot.

With 10 laps to go, Enfinger had built almost a 2-second lead over Heim as Zane Smith had moved into third.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Laps Led
1	23	Grant Enfinger	Chevrolet	134	1:59'24.214			65
2	11	Corey Heim	Toyota	134	1:59'28.572	4.358	4.358	13
3	38	Zane Smith	Ford	134	1:59'29.643	5.429	1.071	6
4	52	Stewart Friesen	Toyota	134	1:59'30.923	6.709	1.280	1
5	41	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	134	1:59'36.747	12.533	5.824
6	2	Nicholas Sanchez	Chevrolet	134	1:59'37.142	12.928	0.395
7	51	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	134	1:59'38.884	14.670	1.742	11
8	35	Jake Garcia	Chevrolet	134	1:59'43.091	18.877	4.207
9	17	Taylor Gray	Toyota	134	1:59'46.610	22.396	3.519
10	16	Tyler Ankrum	Toyota	134	1:59'46.841	22.627	0.231
11	88	Matt Crafton	Ford	134	1:59'48.029	23.815	1.188
12	13	Hailie Deegan	Ford	134	1:59'54.084	29.870	6.055
13	43	Daniel Dye	Chevrolet	133	1:59'25.494	1 Lap	1 Lap
14	32	Bret Holmes	Chevrolet	133	1:59'28.536	1 Lap	3.042
15	1	Toni Breidinger	Toyota	133	1:59'33.341	1 Lap	4.805
16	99	Ben Rhodes	Ford	133	1:59'34.321	1 Lap	0.980	17
17	45	Alan Lawless	Chevrolet	133	1:59'34.605	1 Lap	0.284
18	15	Tanner Gray	Toyota	133	1:59'39.090	1 Lap	4.485	3
19	04	Johnny Sauter	Ford	133	1:59'40.283	1 Lap	1.193
20	46	Brennan Poole	Toyota	133	1:59'41.889	1 Lap	1.606
21	20	Nick Leitz	Chevrolet	133	1:59'48.370	1 Lap	6.481
22	56	Tyler Hill	Toyota	132	1:59'30.104	2 Laps	1 Lap
23	90	Justin S	Toyota	132	1:59'40.744	2 Laps	10.640
24	22	Josh Reaume	Ford	132	1:59'41.149	2 Laps	0.405
25	98	Ty Majeski	Ford	131	1:59'24.958	3 Laps	1 Lap	12
26	12	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	131	1:59'34.344	3 Laps	9.386
27	33	Mason Maggio	Ford	131	1:59'41.370	3 Laps	7.026
28	02	Kris Wright	Chevrolet	91	1:29'34.700	43 Laps	40 Laps
29	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Chevrolet	81	1:24'04.350	53 Laps	10 Laps
30	19	Christian Eckes	Chevrolet	78	1:15'00.342	56 Laps	3 Laps	6
31	42	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	78	1:15'00.358	56 Laps	0.016
32	5	Dean Thompson	Toyota	78	1:15'00.457	56 Laps	0.099
33	4	Chase Purdy	Chevrolet	78	1:15'03.091	56 Laps	2.634
34	24	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	72	1:05'43.741	62 Laps	6 Laps
35	9	Colby Howard	Chevrolet	55	49'32.365	79 Laps	17 Laps
36	47	Tim Viens	Ford	2	1'50.886	132 Laps	53 Laps