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Over the past decade, one name has remained a constant near the front of the field at the Snowball Derby. Regardless of team or entry, Grant Enfinger is the surest bet of a top-5 as anyone in the recent history at Five Flags Speedway.

In eight Derby appearances since 2007, the 2015 ARCA Racing Series champion has accumulated six top-10s — five of them sixth or better. He’s also the 2008 pole winner of the event.

But victory has somehow eluded him.

“To me, that will only make winning it sweeter,” Enfinger said. “My whole career has been a struggle. I’ve done everything the hard way and paid my dues. I’ve achieved a lot of goals and the way I’ve gone about it makes me appreciate it more. This will make winning it sweeter.”

Indeed, Enfinger is the definition of a blue collar racer, having grown up in the Gulf Coast short track scene. But he never had a lot of money and essentially had to serve as his own crew chief for much of his career. It was no different when he captured his ARCA crown while technically serving as a race day engineer for GMS Racing’s Truck Series operation.

The ARCA car was a side project.

Enfinger retained his day job in 2016 but participated in eight Truck Series events, winning the October race at Talladega Superspeedway — his de facto home track. Now Enfinger hopes to finally win the Snowball Derby in his 13th attempt en route to a hopeful full-time Truck deal at GMS.

READ MORE: Enfinger Defied the Odds En Route to Dega Triumph

With long-time supporters Triple K Construction and Champion Power Equipment by his side, Enfinger has reconnected with Crooks Racing and look to finish a job they started in 2014. Together, he and Gary Grooks finished fifth in the Snowball Derby and believe they should contend again on Sunday.

“We originally looked at driving for Stacy Holmes but it got to the point we couldn’t do it right and still give Bret what he needed,” Enfinger said. “There just wasn’t enough hours to do it. But then Gary called and said he had an opening and we did some good things together a few years ago so it just made a lot of sense.”

Again, Enfinger makes sense for anyone at Pensacola with his track record there in what’s now the Southern Super Series. It’s just a track that suits his driving style.

“You race the track as much as you race the other drivers,” Enfinger said. “It’s a true drivers track. We’ve had weeks that we’ve struggled there but I always feel like I have a baseline of where we need to be, you know, a feel for it.”

And of course, it comes back to the prestige of winning the Tom Dawson Trophy.

“I look forward to this race so much,” Enfinger said. “It’s the first big race I ever ran. It’s the only big race I ever thought I could run. It’s my home race and I want to win it like you can’t believe.”

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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