Grant Enfinger celebrates his Daytona ARCA Win
Photo – Terry Renna/AP

Grant Enfinger started off the 2014 ARCA season with a big bang at Daytona International Speedway.

He won the Lucas Oil 200 by holding off defending ARCA champion Frank Kimmel and Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell. Enfinger was one of the favorites heading into the race.  He qualified the No. 90 Ford on the front row.

The qualifying session for the ARCA Series on Friday was proven chaotic. Bobby Gerhart won the provisional pole, but failed post-qualifying tech after ARCA officials found an illegal U-bolt on the car. He was one of five drivers whose qualifying times were disallowed, giving them provisional starting spots at the end of the field.

The biggest story of pole day was Spencer Gallagher and the No. 23 team. Gallagher put the No. 23 car second on the board, but afterwards ARCA officials took a long look at the car. Nearly two hours after ARCA qualifying ended, ARCA found a mechanical lowering device in the No. 23 car, which lowers the car a half-inch and is illegal.

ARCA officials disqualified the No. 23 car and sent the team packing.

Although the No. 23 car was disqualified, Gallagher Motorsports had a second car entered in the race with Scott Sheldon. The team worked it out and replaced Sheldon with Gallagher for the race.

Dylan Kwasniewski started on the pole for the race, making it two poles in two starts. He had a good jump on the start and led the first 20 laps. The No. 4 car was fast in the Daytona ARCA race the last two years, but with different drivers. Enfinger stayed with Kwasniewski all race long, as Hendrick development driver Chase Elliott was in the mix as well.

The rookies, especially Kwasniewski and Elliott, didn’t get much help toward the end of the race. The experienced drivers can tell who are the rookies because of the yellow stripe on the back of their cars.

The biggest moment of the race came on lap 13, when Buster Graham’s car lost control in front of the field and triggered a 15-car wreck.

There may have been contact between Graham and Chase Elliott, but Elliott said on his post-race interview on FOX Sports 1 there was no contact.  It is still up for debate whether the two made contact or not.

Enfinger, the Alabama driver, showed his muscle in the end, leading the last 28 laps. It is his third career ARCA victory and none bigger than at Daytona. He and his No. 90 BCR Racing team hope to run the full ARCA schedule in 2014.

Lucas Oil 200 Top-Ten

#90 Grant Enfinger

#44 Frank Kimmel

#52 Clay Campbell

#77 Tom Hessert

#22 Tyler Reddick

#5 Bobby Gerhart

#98 Mason Mitchell

#32 Terry Jones

#9 Chase Elliott

#48 Sean Corr