PENSACOLA, FL :: Grant Enfinger continues to be a force of consistency in the Snowball Derby, posting yet another top-5 finish on Sunday night at Five Flags Speedway.

Enfinger made his 11th start in the Super Bowl of Short Track Racing on Sunday and posted his third career top-5 and sixth top-10. With that said, finishing near the front instead of at the front is starting to irk the defending ARCA Racing Series championship runner-up.

Enfinger barely qualified into the Snowball Derby (29th) on Friday night in a session where the entire field was separated by only two-tenths of a second. He and his Crooks Racing No. 90 squad gambled by not pitting early in the race and it worked, providing them much-needed track position.

Once Enfinger found himself in the top-5, he was rarely far removed from it.

Enfinger pitted for four tires before the third to last restart but was only able to work his way up to fifth. He believes that the strategy was going to be the only way to defeat a race-dominant John Hunter Nemechek but he simply ran out of time before the checkered flags waved.

“Pit stops got us to the front but at the end, that was a strategy call,” Enfinger said. “We wanted four tires. Our pit crew did great. Everyone at Crooks racing did a great job putting us in a good position. We didn’t have a winning car. We had a top-5 car and that’s where we finished.”

Enfinger also believes circumstances and race control worked against him a little bit at the end of the race. He believes he should have lined up third on the penultimate restart but race director Dan Spence erroneously placed him fourth. The outside line stalled and it was the dagger to his Snowball Derby chances.

“We should have lined up third but they lined us up fourth for some reason,” Enfinger said. “If I could have restarted third we would have at least went for it, I can assured you that. We have been doing this race for a while but keep coming up a little bit short. This was a great job by everyone. We snuck into the show and showed them that we belong.”

Enfinger says it took him and Gary Crooks a little bit of time to build chemistry in their first weekend working together but had it by Saturday morning.

“I hope to be able to work with them a little bit more next year,” Enfinger said. “It is what it is. I’m still proud of the effort — a top-5. Making it into the Derby and making it through the Derby, it’s all a trying deal. Hopeful we can get one of these trophies some year.”

Lastly, Enfinger doesn’t know if he will return to ARCA next season. In fact, he doesn’t know where he will be racing at all.

“I wish I knew,” he said. “I’m a little past the worried stage for next year. I don’t have the first race lined up. So hopefully something comes up and we get some sponsors lined up for next year. But right now nothing lined up for 2015.”