Written by Gabriel Tsui
To start off the weekend, Tricon Garage was able to secure the top two in qualifying, with Corey Heim leading the way and Taylor Gray following closely behind. Heim and Gray were able to preserve their lead early on into the stage, but Kaden Honeycutt was able to close down from sixth place, overtaking Gray, who was fighting Christian Eckes, for the second place.
For the rest of the stage, Honeycutt pushed closer to Heim, and caught up to Heim with five laps to go. At one point, Honeycutt came close to overtaking the Tricon Garage star driver, but Heim held steadfast to take the stage one win.
Going into the second stage, Heim and Gray were able to secure the front-row on the restart yet again, but Eckes was following close behind. After Eckes pushed Gray for a huge run down the backstretch, he was able to clear the No. 11 heading into the final turn, before getting slingshot going high on the turn, and overtaking Gray with the sidedraft.
That lead, however, was short lived for Eckes as Heim gets back into the lead. Heim held the lead for a huge part of the stage, but a storming Grant Enfinger was able to blast past Heim with a huge run on the low line, taking the lead with two laps to go and eventually securing the stage two win.
Grant Enfinger led the way on the stage three restart, but quickly lost the lead when a loose Eckes made contact, handing Gray the lead. Eckes was able to take the lead a few laps later, a huge dive down the low to clear Gray.
On lap 76, however, Matt Mills went flying into the wall following an intentional hit from Connor Jones, bringing out the first true caution of the race. Grant Enfinger was able to get the free pass and pit eventually, setting up his huge comeback later on.
On the restart, Heim held onto the lead and was in a strong position, leading by five tenths of a second. In lap 97, the green flag pit cycle began with Rajah Caruth, and soon most of the lead lap drivers followed as well, launching Enfinger to third place. By the end of the pit cycle, Enfinger was able to pass Nicholas Sanchez for second place, aiming for Layne Riggs next on his hit list.
On lap 113, Enfinger had a huge run round the first turn, going round the outside and getting side by side with Riggs, before clearing Riggs on the high line. He led the way for the rest of the race, stretching a tank of fuel for more than 50 laps, leading the field by more than 11 seconds, bringing home his second win of the season and punching a ticket to the championship four.
Final Results:
Grant Enfinger (P)
Ty Majeski (P)
Connor Mosack
Corey Heim (P)
Tyler Ankrum (P)
Stewart Friesen
Daniel Dye
Rajah Caruth (P)
Christian Eckes (P)
Taylor Gray (P)
Matt Crafton
Ben Rhodes
Nick Sanchez (P)
Kaden Honeycutt
Dean Thompson
Corey Day
William Sawalich
Connor Zilisch
Dawson Sutton
Tanner Gray
Lawless Alan
Layne Riggs
Timmy Hill
Jake Garcia
Conner Jones
Chase Purdy
Spencer Boyd
Conor Daly
Nathan Byrd
Marco Andretti
Bayley Currey
Justin Mondeik
Frankie Muniz
Matt Mills
Playoff Standings (Post-Miami):
Grant Enfinger (WIN)
Corey Heim (+49)
Christian Eckes (+38)
Ty Majeski (+22)
Playoff Cut Line
Rajah Caruth (-22)
Taylor Gray (-24)
Tyler Ankrum (-41)
Nicholas Sanchez (-43)
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