EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

4 pedal to the metal questions for Grant Enfinger

4 pedal to the metal questions for Grant Enfinger
Grant Enfinger joins Trey Campbell. Photo via: Wiki Commons

I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to one of the Premier NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series drivers, Grant Enfinger. We talked about Friday's race at Martinsville and what some of the keys are to survive this tough track. We also talked about his week at Texas and what position that puts him in going forward into the rest of the season. Grant has been one of my favorites to watch ever since I have watched him in the old ARCA Series so it was good to talk to him on the phone.

SportsMap: I am joined here today by one of the premier NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Drivers Mr. Grant Enfinger. Thank you so much for joining me.

Grant Enfinger: Yeah! Thanks for having me.

SM: So can you talk a little bit about your race at Texas and what happened with your truck? I understand you had some engine issues? What exactly went wrong there?

GE: Yeah It was definitely an unfortunate event there. When we unloaded the truck we weren't where we needed to be. But my crew-chief Jeff Hensley and the guys worked hard to get this #98 Champion Power Tools Ford F-150 where it needed to be, and we were battling for seventh and eight and the engine started missing for about a half a lap and it just blew up all of [a] sudden. It was just unfortunate that it had to happen in a critical race and it kind of put our backs behind the walls for Martinsville. But we got a good group of guys and I think we will have a good shot at it.

SM: So you mentioned you guys are going to Martinsville this week where we see a lot of beating and banging and you'll be contending against your teammates Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton for the final spot in the championship. Will you be racing those guys any different knowing how much is on the line?

GE: Well for us, it's a little bit different you know. Me and Ben are in a position that we have to win so us at ThorSport have quite our work cut out for us each weekend. We aren't all in the spot we want to be in. It would be much better if we all had a points cushion going into this but none of us have that. So obliviously we don't want to put our teammates in a bad spot but when it comes down to it at Martinsville on that last restart, anything goes. So hopefully we have a Champion Fire Equipment Ford F-150 that is good enough to stay up front and not have to worry too much about it.

SM: So with this year being as strange as it is, NASCAR has had to make a lot of changes from the Choose Rule to there being no practice and qualifying. Which rule change has been the most difficult to adjust to?

GE: There have definitely been a lot of changes for this year especially there being no fans or limited amounts of fans and that's really going to have a big effect on our sport. Plus, the sponsors can't come down into the garage area and be around the team so it's been different. But I think the biggest change performance wise has been losing practice and qualifying. I don't feel like it effects the cup guys too much or the top dozen in the Xfinity Series cause of the cup technology. But for us, we are still racing and there is a lot of old school type of guesses. We don't have it down to an exact science and my crew chief Jeff Hensely kind of has to go with his gut on some of the setups, but I feel like we have done okay for the most part.

SM: So looking forward to 2021, what are some of the plans for the Truck Series next season? Will we be seeing anything new with the truck rules package or with the schedule?

GE: I think for the most part our rules package will pretty much stay the same. Of course, NASCAR is never scared to change anything last minute but that seems to be the direction we are going. As far as the schedule, I know that we are going to some new tracks next year. Our schedule hasn't been confirmed, but from what I'm hearing, we will be going to some new places so it should be an interesting season next year.

You can hear the interview in its entirety below.

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CJ Stroud can secure his second playoff win on Saturday. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

Everyone raved about the leadership of second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud this week as the Houston Texans prepared for their wild-card playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Everyone, that is, except the man himself.

“I don’t think I’m a great (leader),” Stroud said sheepishly. “I don’t know. That’s probably a bad thing to say about yourself, but I don’t think I’m all that when it comes to leading. I just try to be myself.”

But the 23-year-old Stroud simply being himself is exactly what makes him the undisputed leader of this team.

“C.J. is authentic, he’s real,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s not only here, it’s in the locker room around the guys and that’s what leadership is to me. As you evolve as a leader, you just be authentic to yourself. You don’t have to make up anything or make up a speech or make up something to say to guys. C.J. is being C.J.”

Sixth-year offensive lineman Tytus Howard said he knew early on that Stroud would be special.

“He has that aura about him that when he speaks, everybody listens,” he said.

Stroud has helped the Texans win the AFC South and reach the playoffs for a second straight season after they had combined for just 11 wins in the three years before he was drafted second overall.

He was named AP Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, when Houston beat the Browns in the first round before falling to the Ravens in the divisional round.

His stats haven’t been as good as they were in his fabulous rookie season when he threw just five interceptions. But he has put together another strong season in Year 2 despite missing top receiver Nico Collins for five games early and losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell to season-ending injuries in the second half of the season. He also started every game despite being sacked a whopping 52 times.

“He’s taken some crazy shots,” Howard said. “But even if he’s getting sacked and stuff like that, he just never lets that get to him. He just continues to fight through it, and it basically uplifts the entire offense.”

He also finds ways to encourage the team off the field and works to build chemistry through team get-togethers. He often invites the guys over to his house for dinner or to watch games. Recently, he rented out a movie theater for a private screening of “Gladiator II.”

“He’s like, ‘I want the guys to come in and bond together because this thing builds off the field and on the field,’” Howard said. “So, we need to be closer.”

Another thing that makes Stroud an effective leader is that his teammates know that he truly cares about them as people and not just players. That was evident in the loss to the Chiefs when Dell was seriously injured. Stroud openly wept as Dell was tended to on the field and remained distraught after he was carted off.

“It was good for people to see me in that light and knowing that there is still a human factor to me,” he said. "And I think that was good for people to see that we’re just normal people at the end of the day.”

Stroud said some of the leaders who molded him were his father, his coaches in high school and college, and more recently Ryans.

His coach said Stroud has been able to lead the team effectively early in his career because he knows there are others he can lean on if he needs help.

“Understanding that it’s not all on him as a leader, it’s all of our guys just buying in, doing what they have to do,” Ryans said. “But also, C.J. understanding a lot of guys are looking up to him on the team and he takes that role seriously. But it’s not a heavy weight for him because we have other leaders, as well, around him.”

Stroud considers himself stubborn and though some consider that a bad quality, he thinks it’s helped him be a better leader. He's had the trait as long as he can remember.

“That kind of carried into the sport,” he said. “Even as a kid, my mom used to always say how stubborn I was and just having a standard is how I hear it. It’s stubborn (but) I just have a standard on how I like things to be done and how I hold myself is a standard.”

And, to be clear, he doesn’t consider himself a bad leader, but he did enjoy hearing that others on the team consider him a great one.

“I just don’t look at myself in that light of just I’m all-world at that,” he said. “But I try my best to lead by example and it’s cool because I don’t ask guys and to hear what they have to say about that is kind of cool.”

Though he doesn’t consider himself a great leader, Stroud does have strong feelings about what constitutes one. And he’s hoping that he’ll be able to do that for his team Saturday to help the Texans to a victory, which would make him the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start and win a playoff game in both of his first two seasons.

“That would be making everybody around you better,” he said of great leaders. “Kind of like a point guard on the offense, the quarterback on the football team, the pitcher on a baseball team — just making everybody around you better.”

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