Fairhope native Grant Enfinger is onto the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs after he won the pole, swept the race stages and then crossed the finish line first in the Clean Harbors 175 at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin on Sunday.

While he led for 95 of the 175 laps, Enfinger found himself restarting in 14th place entering the final 34 laps of the race. By Lap 159, however, Enfinger was back in first place and finished with a 1.553-second advantage over second-place finisher Carson Hocevar to earn his third win this year and 10th of his career.

With wins in both race stages and the first-place finish at the checkered flag, Enfinger garnered the maximum 60 points towards the playoff standings that have him in first place with 2,114 points entering the final race of the Round of 10 on Sept. 8 at the Kansas Speedway. Ben Rhodes and Matt Dibenedetto will enter in ninth and 10th place in the standings, respectively, and are most at risk of being eliminated.

The Fairhope and South Alabama alum said Sunday’s victory was extra special for a couple of reasons. It was earlier in the week that Enfinger’s racing team, GMS Racing, announced it will cease operations at the end of the season.

If the previous two wins this season and the fifth-place finish at the end of the regular season wasn’t enough, Enfinger said that he and his team made their worth known to the entire series.

“I don’t want to hear anyone asking if we’re going to lay down again. (Crew chief) Jeff Hensley’s been focused the whole year, there’s been distractions going on all year long so, if anything, this adds clarity,” Enfinger said in his postrace interview. “None of these guys, including me, have a job next year but I feel like we proved we deserve one.”

Enfinger was quick to credit the GMS Racing team he was with when he won the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Menards Series in 2015.

“I want to say a big thank you to Maury Gallagher, Spencer (Gallagher), Ron Booth, Mike Beam and everybody that has built GMS Racing; thank you for everything you’ve done, thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” Enfinger said. “I can’t say thank you enough to GMS Fabrication, GMS Racing not just for this year and not just lately, but the whole year last year there was just as much effort put into this stuff so I’m glad some of our fruits are showing.”

The other thing that made the victory so special was a new member on Enfinger’s race-day team in the form of Jeremy Lundy, a longtime friend who was called off the sidelines to play a crucial role.

“A special thank you to our spotter Jeremy Lundy. My normal spotter Tyler (Monn) couldn’t make it but my late-model buddy, best friends forever, he spotted for me,” Enfinger said. “He’s always been there when I needed him, I called him on Monday and he came here so it’s even more special.”

Enfinger will look to carry those feelings into next Friday’s competition at the Kansas Speedway where the Round of 10 will culminate with the bottom two racers in the standings being eliminated. After three more races in the Round of 8, the bottom four drivers in the standings will be eliminated. The final, top-four drivers will battle in a winner-take-all race at the Phoenix Speedway in November.