Grandview Modified Pit Notes – 5/06/23 – Brett Kressley Captures First Win of the Season at Grandview

After three weeks of rainouts, the skies finally cleared on race day at Grandview and Brett Kressley took his first trip to victory lane in the 2023 season.

A lap 6 spin resulted ina tangle took out four of the top five running cars shuffling the top of the field behind leader Ray Swinehart. Doug Manmiller, Mike Lisowski, Carroll Hine III rejoined the field at the back after being involved in the incident while Kevin Hirthler retired to the pits and called it a night.

Brett Kressley moved from his 15^th starting position to take the lead from Ray Swinehart on lap 15 and held off a hard-charging Mike Gular and Craig Von Dohren in the final two laps to take his first Grandview win of his 2023 season and his 22^nd career Grandview win.

Heat race winners for the 38 car modified field were Doug Manmiller, Kevin Hirthler, Mike Lisowski and Jimmy Lieby.

 Jeff Strunk and Dylan Swinehart won the consolation races.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1. BRETT KRESSLEY, 2. Mike Gular, 3. Craig Von Dohren, 4. Jared Umbenhauer, 5. Eddie Strada, 6. Jesse Leiby, 7. Bobby Trapper Jr., 8. Craig Whitmoyer, 9. Jeff Strunk, 10. Ryan Watt, 11. Tim Buckwalter, 12. Doug Manmiller, 13. Jimmy Leiby, 14. Dylan Swinehart, 15. Kevin Graver Jr., 16. John Willman, 17. Justin Grim, 18. Eric Biehn, 19. Lex Shive, 20. Mike Lisowski, 21. Ray Swinehart, 22. Chris Esposito, 23. Carroll Hine III, 24. Ryan Grim, 25. Kevin Hirthler, 26. Bob Trapper, 27. Joe Funk, 28. Glenn Owens

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Chris Gambler, Ron Haring Jr., Mark Levy, Nate Brinker, Ryan Beltz, Darrin Schuler, Mark Malcolm, Kyle Weiss, Mark Kratz

NASCAR Modified Pit Notes  

Brett Kressley took the win from his 15^th starting position.  Brett adds his win to his Money Maker 2^nd place finish to already be in a very close points battle with Mike Gular and Craig Von Dohren lurking in a close 3^rd place.

Kressley started the night with a strong run on the top line in the heat race from 9^th to 2^nd.

Brett took the lead on lap 15 over a fading Ray Swinehart but had some company come with him to the front in the form of Mike Gular and CVD.  Lapped traffic and then two late cautions made it interesting for Kressley, but he was able to maintain a 1 second margin of victory and drive into victory lane for his first win of the 2023 season.

In victory lane Brett noted “It feels good to finally get one early in the season here.  The track was pretty racey tonight and hopefully we can keep runs like tonight going the rest of the season.  We got a little bit of damage from the wreck in turn 1/2 but was able to make it through and it took a bunch of cars out which really open things up and from there we could see the front.  I don’t mind the lapped traffic when leading and that is exactly where I can usually shine my best.”

Back at the trailer Brett reflected “The car was really stout all night and the track was exactly what we like to run on which usually allows us shine.  It was a typical early season track despite all the rain we been having lately.  We didn’t have to make any changes in the car all night.”

 Mike Gular finished 2^nd from his 16^th starting position extending his early season hot streak at Grandview to a win and 2^nd place finish on the season.  Mike and Kressley have traded 1^st and 2^nd place finishes in the first two races of the season with Craig Von Dohren not too far off with a 3^rd and 4^th place finish.

Craig Von Dohren finished 3^rd from his 14^th starting position and is poised to make a strong run to defend his 2022 Grandview NASCAR points championship and try to exceed his 8 NASCAR point race wins from last season.

Jared Umbenhauer finished 4^th from an 18^th starting position and off to a strong start to his 2023 season with a 4th and 6th place finish in the first two races at Grandview.

Jared commented “This was our first week with a new setup and we really didn’t know what to expect.  The car was alright in the heat, but we needed to make the car a lot better for the feature and we did just that.  What a difference it was, and we ended up with a rocket in the feature.”

Eddie Strada finished 7^th from his 12^th starting position and is off to a fast start in the Grandview weekly points standings with a 7^th and 5^th place finish in the first two races.

Eddie recalled “We changed our setup tonight for the sake of trying to pass cars in the heat and get ourselves locked into the feature. We then made changes for the feature according to track conditions.  In the feature we were firing well, but then at about 15-20 laps we started to hang in the corners, and we think we have it figured out already for next week.”

“We have been successfully in our first two races at Grandview because by dad gives me a great set-up that I can driver to the front every week and we have great car owners, sponsors and crew that help us get there.”

Jesse Leiby finished 6^th from his 7^th starting position to post his best modified finish in recent memory.  Jesse has qualified for both races at Grandview so far this season and is off to his best start since changing to the modified division.

Jesse noted “What a great night.  I wasn’t 100 % there as a driver tonight but still managed to wheel a very good car to a solid 6^th place finish.  We had a stacked and tough heat race but still managed to run from 8^th at the start to a 4^th place finish and get in the handicap which is what we are looking for every week.  We were definitely fast in the feature, but I am looking for a solid finish and not a win.  The car’s handling on the bottom of the track was amazing tonight.  I tried the top only to see Kressley and Gular go by, so I went back to the bottom where I knew the car was working best and just raced the track and myself to the checkered flag.  We had all three of our cars qualify tonight but my job was to stay back at the trailer focus on what I can do to improve my on-track performance.”

Bobby Trapper Jr. finished 7^th from his 9^th starting position while dad Bobby Sr. started in the 3^rd position but broke a rod on lap 3 to end the chances of a double Trappers in the top 10 night.

Bobby reflected “Our motor was breaking up during the entire heat race and we were very fortunate to still make the handicap despite the miss in the motor.   After the consolation we didn’t have a lot of time to work with, but we checked everything and still couldn’t determine the source of or misfire in the motor.  We ended up racing the feature with a stumble in the motor and made our way up to 4^th after a wreck that took 4 of the top 5 drivers to the back of the field or out of the race.  We than got on the bottom but with the motor breaking up we lost momentum and fell back to 9^th.  We raced our way back to 7^th after some intense racing with Craig Whitmoyer, Jesse Leiby and Eddie Strada.  Considering we had a misfiring motor for the entire feature we are very pleased with our 7^th place finish tonight.”

Craig Whitmoyer finished 8^th from his 8^th starting position and started his season off with qualifying for two consecutive Grandview point races.

Craig Whitmoyer noted “We have been very happy with the car this year and it has been very responsive to all our changes so far.  It is getting easier to drive every week.  Our shocks are being done by Fast Four Racing Shocks and we feel we made an excellent choice.  We can’t wait to get this season going and are looking forward to seeing what we can do this year.”

Jeff Strunk finished 9^th from his 20^th starting position in the feature. In the heat race Strunk couldn’t move forward from his 9th starting position in a caution free race on a track that didn’t have the top lane cleaned off which sent him to the consolation to secure his 20th starting position in the feature.

Jeff recalled “Track was very different than opening night.  When you start last in your heat race you most definitely need some things to go your way especially when it runs without any cautions.  We chased the track all night but had a fast car in the feature.  We were coming through the field right with the 19K, 2A & 30 when we got into the cushion hard, and the car started bouncing which lost us a bunch of spots that we couldn’t make up with the remaining laps.  We should had been a top 5 finish, but we salvaged a 9^th and will move on to the next one.”

Ryan Watt finished 10^th from his 11^th starting position.  Ryan commented “I wasn’t comfortable in the car for hot laps.  The bite in the track was different than usual with more bite in 1 /2 and dry in 3 /4 which is direct opposite of what it usually is.  We made a spring change for the heat and moved forward from 7^th to 3^rd.  In the feature we changed the stagger, it was good early, and we got up to 6^th but as the race progressed, we were just hanging on to finish 10^th.”

Tim Buckwalter finished 11^th from his 13^th starting position after receiving damage in the lap 6 tangle and going to the back of the field for crossing the infield to avoid further damage.

Tim noted “We had a real good heat race going from 7^th to 2^nd on the bottom.  The crew chief (me) made a few adjustments that turned out the wrong way.  We were in 7^th after the tangle in 1 & 2 but did get a lot of sheet metal damage and also got put to the back of the field by a track rule that does not allow the infield to be used to avoid wrecks.  We still ran back through the field to an 11^th place finish.  The car was OK today, but we have room for improvement.  Any time you have Enduros on Friday you expect the track to have character and some ripples in the corners.”

Doug Manmiller finished 12^th from his 6^th starting position.  Doug was involved with the only tangle of the night on lap 6 of the feature and received damage and went to the rear of the field but was able to run back through the field and finish 12^th.

Doug noted “The 3 weeks of rainouts and rest after our hard wreck on the front stretch at the season opener helped me a lot.  I thought we had a very good car.  I was biding my time to make my move to the front but then got caught up in the tangle.”   

Jimmy Leiby finished 13^th from his 10^TH starting position and posted his second 13^th place finish in his two starts this season.  Jimmy won his first modified heat race going 5^th to 1^st in 3 laps and taking the checkered flag over a hard charging Tim Buckwalter.

Jimmy stated “We won our first modified heat race by running a consistent line that took me from 5^th to 1^st in three laps.  Tim Buckwalter gave me a hard run at the checkered flag and my margin of victory was .000 difference for my first modified heat race win.”

“For the feature we did not make any changes except replace a bad dash switch that was causing the car to break up by the end of the heat race.  In the feature I just ran my race and gave it our best.  We are going to work on our fine tuning the car this week so we can be better later in the night.”

“It was a solid night for Leiby racing with all three of our cars qualifying for the feature and posting season best finishes.”

Grandview Speedway will be presenting another NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series program next week featuring the T.P. Trailer NASCAR Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman, plus the only visit of the season by the Rapid Tire USAC East Coast Wingless Sprint Cars.

The show on Saturday May 13 will include qualifying events for all three classes leading into a 30-lap T.P. Trailer Modified feature and 25-lap features for the T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman and USAC EC Sprints Cars.