Kallmann: NASCAR came back at the Mile and Grant Enfinger wasn't the only winner
WEST ALLIS – You wanted it, Wisconsin race fans, and you got it.
Chalk up the return of NASCAR to the Milwaukee Mile after 13 years as an unqualified success for the driver in victory lane and a big success with a small asterisk for those who opened the door for about 15,000 fans to enjoy a glorious Sunday.
That this day arrived was a testament to promoter Track Enterprises and its leader, Bob Sargent, to those who in State Fair Park management who trusted Sargent’s judgment and to the relationship they’ve build over the past five years.
Face it, national level racing seemed to be gone for good from the venerable speedway when NASCAR left in a snit after getting stiffed in 2009 and several groups tried promoting IndyCar races to a tepid response through 2015.
Veteran Grant Enfinger benefited as much as anyone, leading 95 laps of the Clean Harbors 175 to score his third victory of the Craftsman Truck Series season just days after his team announced it would shut down at season’s end.
“I hope the fans enjoyed it,” Enfinger said. “Obviously when you have a truck that good, I’m of course going to enjoy it.”
Here are three takeaways from the weekend.
Glitches were inevitable but were mostly handled well
There are dozens of ways to pick apart the race day experience if you’d like.
Getting in took too long. Accessible parking was a long way away. There was confusion about whether tickets could be purchased at the gate.
The grandstand could have used some more ushers, and the concession stands needed more food, drinks and servers to deliver them. The scoreboard and video board scream minor league.
Heck, Olympic speedskating champion Bonnie Blair had to go to a backup microphone for the command to start engines.
But all those complaints, legitimate as they are, need a backdrop of the history and dose of perspective.
Issues at State Fair Park are nothing new and partly a product of the complex relationship among a sanctioning body, a promoter, the public facility at which they put on an event, independent vendors and the city that surrounds it. Every layer adds to the degree of difficulty.
What felt different this time around was the number and eagerness of people available to address the issues they could.
Were they universally successful as quickly as everyone would want? Of course not. Few of those involved were around when NASCAR last ran at the Mile in 2009 or when IndyCar was here in 2015. Some institutional knowledge may have helped. But overall a fresh start was good.
“We found a few things to clean up,” said Sargent, who first came to Milwaukee to promote a Midwest Tour regional stock car event in 2019 and graduated to ARCA-headlined events the past two seasons before landing a truck date.
“Getting in the front gates with the wanding, which is a NASCAR and overall venue priority … we obviously need more people for that. Then the concessions, we were caught off guard because of the big crowd.
“There’s always tweaking, but those two main issues we’re well aware of and we’re going to address them immediately.”
Away from the setbacks at the gates and concession stands, the infield was open and buzzing.
Fans have spoken loud and clear about the value of tailgating to the Mile experience, and they were gifted with the removal of some catch fencing in the places where high school physics would tell you a crash had only a minuscule chance of occurring. Let’s hope that continues, even if that seems unlikely in a world in which IndyCar also returns.
There’s been no announcement from NASCAR or IndyCar about 2024 schedules or beyond, but Sargent’s plan is to continue with the Father’s Day weekend super late model race and an ARCA/truck weekend and add what he can that makes sense.
The Milwaukee Mile rewards racers who get it right
The Mile’s long flat corners tend to separate those who hit the setup from those who miss, which can lend itself to some drawn-out stretches in a race when the leader runs away and the parade stretches out.
That happened to a degree in the first stage, when Enfinger took off from the pole. What saved the day was trouble in the pits and some split strategy late.
Enfinger, who led the first 59 laps, got boxed in on his first two pit stops and had a slow third stop, meaning he had to work to get back to the front and not just cruise.
“The second stint and the last stint I feel like we were clearly the best truck and able to use multiple grooves to get around here,” Enfinger said.
“You’re a 10th-place truck on Saturday to make it a winning truck, that’s not easy. All the credit goes to Jeff (Hensley, crew chief). We had the best truck. I feel like we proved that today.”
Ultimately he won with fresher tires, coming from 14th with 38 laps to go and running down Carson Hocevar and with 17 laps remaining.
“I knew there’d be some takers and some that wouldn’t take it,” Enfinger said. “I knew all along I wanted to come. I was going to leave it in Jeff’s hands. I did say, ‘Hey, I’ll only say this once, but I want to come,’ and then I said that again.”
Right call. But at the same time, Hocevar’s Niece Motorsports Chevrolet was strong enough that he put up a fight.
“I was running a slider line like I was running a dirt car, and that was kind of enjoyable,” Hocevar said. “I could make lap time, I could move around. I wasn’t just sitting in the water. … I couldn’t go faster, but I could almost match (Enfinger’s speed), and as a driver that’s all you can ask for.”
Ty Majeski put on a show, even if it wasn’t the one anyone expected
Ty Majeski came in as a favorite given his experience at the Mile, including two super late model victories, and the fact he had dominated the past two truck races. Then the Seymour native was fastest in practice on Saturday adding to high expectations from a legion of Wisconsin stock car fans coming to cheer a favorite son.
Majeski’s weekend went sideways later Saturday though, when his ThorSport Ford failed inspection twice. NASCAR confiscated a right rear tire and kicked out crew chief Joe Shear, who’ll likely face further penalties. Majeski had to start in the back and then serve a drive-through penalty that left him two-thirds of a lap behind almost immediately.
Majeski raced his way to 11th, yo-yoed through the field twice after bad pit stops and finally climbed from 12th to seventh after coming for tires.
“We started behind the 8-ball and then made too many mistakes trying to come back,” Majeski said. “You can maybe overcome one of those, but there were just too many to get over the hump.”
Ironically, Majeski hinted after practice Saturday that passing could be just this side of impossible, and he passed more competitors than anyone and made for a better show.
“We didn’t know what this thing was going to race like with 36 trucks, right?” Majeski said. “I was really pleasantly surprised with how you could move around. The bottom was not good, but you could at least go down there in certain situations and at least make it work. … You could go anywhere from the fourth groove to the yellow line. I had fun today.”
In that regard, he wasn’t alone.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kallmann: NASCAR's return to Milwaukee Mile a victory for fans
