Grandview Sportsman Pits Notes for 5/13/23 – Logan Watt Claims First Career Grandview Sportsman Win

Logan Watt moved from his 15^th starting position to pass Jessie Landis for the lead on lap 13 and drive into victory lane with a 2.5 second margin of victory for his first trip to Grandview’s victory lane .

Father and Son Bob Miller Jr and Sr started on the front row with Bob Miller Jr leading the first 10 laps.  On lap 10, the second yellow flew for contact between Logan Watt, Bob Miller Sr, Logan Bauman and Brian Hirthler.  Watt hopped the tire of Miller Sr but was able to continue and held his 5^th place position.  On the lap 10 restart Jesse Landis took the lead for two laps only to see Logan Watt go past him and pull away to a 2.4 margin of victory at the checkered flag.  

Heat race winners for the 39 car sportsman field were Decker Swinehart, Nat Horn, Jesse Landis and Logan Bauman.

 Brett Gilmore and Kyle Smith won the consolation races.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps):

 1. LOGAN WATT, 2. Jesse Landis, 3. Decker Swinehart, 4. Mike Schneck Jr., 5. Addison Meitzler, 6. Nathan Mohr, 7. Zane Roth, 8. Nathan Horn, 9. Cody Manmiller, 10. Jesse Hirthler,11. Brian Hirthler, 12. Hunter Iatalese, 13. Brett Gilmore, 14. Dakota Kohler, 15. Adrianna Delliponti, 16. Mark Gaugler, 17. Kaitlyn Bailey, 18. BJ Joly, 19. Kyle Smith, 20. Tom Miller Jr., 21. Michael Burrows, 22. Tom Miller, 23.  24. Logan Bauman, 25. Keith Haring, 26. Bryan Rhoads, 27. Colton Perry, 28. TJ Mayberry, DNS – Parker Guldin

DID NOT QUALIFY: Kyle Hartzell, Mark Mohr, Nicholas Hamm, Tyler James, Zach Steffey, Steve Young, Andy Ressler, Ronnie Solomon, Molly Struss, Ryan Graver, Kenny Bock

Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 5/13/23

Logan Watt took the win from his 16^th starting position to make his first trip to Grandview’s victory lane after only three weeks into his first season at his new Saturday night home track.  Logan had a close call with contact in turn 3 on lap 10, but was able to keep the car going and didn’t receive any significant damage after hopping Tom Miller Sr.’s tire and remained in 5^th place.  By lap 13 Logan moved into the lead and drove away from 2^nd place Jesse Landis to pick up career win number 1 at Grandview Speedway.

Logan reflected “So to begin the night I started 10th in heat 2 and I knew it was going to be challenging to get to the front and in a handicap position.  I ended up in 3^rd in a no caution heat race which got me into the handicap for the feature.”

“We tightened the car up for the feature and figured that the sprint cars would make the track slick and we were right.  Rolled off in the feature from 16^th and quickly moved forward while searching the entire track for a preferred groove.  I found that the top at both ends of the track was the place to be and started to make my way through the field.  I was battling the 77M for 5^th when I made a huge run off the top and saw the 77 start to come down the hill in turn 3 and I locked the brakes up so I wouldn’t hit him, and the track was so slick I couldn’t get slowed down enough and made contract and then wheel hopped him.  I felt bad about the contact since the 77 had a good run going.  I was lucky to come out of that without a flat tire or any front suspension damage.”

On the restart I moved from 5^th to 2^nd and when Jesse Landis hopped the cushion, I knew that was my chance for the lead, so I made the move and it stuck.  It was good racing with Jesse who is one of my friends.  Once in the lead I was able to put some distance on Jesse and drive into victory lane for my very first Grandview sportsman win. We were close to winning the 38er when we jumped the cushion in 3 & 4 on the last lap, and it cost me the race, so this win tonight at this place is special.  I’m glad to get my first win at Grandview.”

Jesse Landis finished 2^nd from his 6^th starting position posting his best finish of the season. 

Jesse noted “We started off the year with a new frame and just been working out a few issues with building the new car. Last week I broke a shock and had an issue with the rear side lining for the night.”

“This week we started 3rd in my heat race, took a few laps, and then picked my way to the lead and just rode out the last few laps to the win. Feature started 6th, worked my way to the lead by lap 10.  Car was decent on restarts so early cautions helped me out. Looking at the leader board under caution and seeing a 4 on the board, I knew I was just going to racing for second. Jumped the cushion in 3 and 4, saw Logan get under me. He passed me down the front stretch and I tried to throw a slider into 1 hoping I could get along side of him, but he drove around it. He quickly  left me behind so then I found the rubber on the bottom lane and just rode it out to the finish.  Car is still not great, but 2nd in better then not qualifying like we did the past two weeks so on to next week.”

Decker Swinehart finished 3^rd from his 4^th starting position to post his best finish of the season.

Decker noted “We put a different setup in for opening night and the track surface was different than what we expected so we ended up with a real tight race car.  Last week we loosened the car up and it was bad fast. I started 3rd in the feature and was passing for 2nd when the throttle linkage broke ending our night early last week.”

“This week we used the same setup that worked last week, and the car immediately hooked up.  In the hear we started 2^nd and won our heat race.  In the feature, I started 4^th, and the car was really fast, but we didn’t expect the best lane to be up top and then diamond off. I finished 3^rd in the feature and really like the consistency we have in the car over the past two weeks on completely different tracks.”

Mike Schneck finished 4^th from his 12^th starting position and he his car has been good all season long.  He has posted two top 5 finished and one DNQ because mechanical failure last week when a broken transmission ended his night after the heat race.

Mike stated “Yeah it turned out to be a good feature with a couple cautions and close calls in front of me.  No issues at all with the car tonight. Last week we popped the tire off the bead and bent the wheel after clipping the concrete wall in 2 and still finished 6th in the heat but then we broke the transmission coming off the track.  So, to be able to bounce right back this week feels really good. The heat race went well, running from a 6^th starting position to a 2^nd place. I knew with the sprints today that it was going be a completely different track than what we normally see. I was thinking it was going to be really slicked, off but it was wide, and you could run the top or bottom. Started 6th and slowly made it to 2nd.

“The feature was good as well, I wish I could a few picked different lines earlier and I could have been up higher during the cautions. Towards the end it really rubbered down but on lap 24 I ran my quickest lap time of the feature and ended up 4th. It was a good weekend with two top 5 finishes at both Grandview and Big Diamond.  It is a long season just got to put your head down and keep moving forward from week to week.”

Addison Meitzler finished 5^th from his 13^th starting position which moved him into 5^th in the early season point standings.

Addison reflected “We got the car a lot better went 6th to 2nd in heat. Track was wide from the sprints which made it racy. Feature track was infield to the wall wide and smooth. I started 13^th and got boxed in on the bottom at the start but still managed to be 14th at first yellow. I got to the top on the first restart on lap 3 and was able to pick off cars one by one to 5^th place. Track took rubber with probably 10 laps to go, so we junked a couple of tires in the feature.”

Nat Mohr finished 6^th from his 8^th starting position after starting the season with a couple of DNQ’s.

Nat noted “The feature track was tough and different than usual after the sprints, but we made the best of what we had to race on.  We just missed the setup last week and was struggling with drive on opening day, but we are very pleased to find a setup that could move forward and stay up front for the entire feature tonight.  We will continue to look for more speed and try different setups.”

Zane Roth got back on track this week with a 7^th place finish from his 5^th place starting position. 

Zane commented “We were chasing mechanical issues in the first two races of the season. I was constantly losing power, due to electrical and fuel problems. We replaced the fuel pump and transmission and are hoping our issues are now behind us. This week we struggled with keeping our speed up in the heat.  My team was so focused on correcting the previous weeks problems we neglected the set-up this week.  We made some chassis adjustments for the feature to accommodate the dry slick track conditions from the sprint cars being in town. I came out for the feature starting 5^th, but quickly lost positions back to 12th. The car was a bit loose, and I just could not find grip on the top.  I got settled in after a few laps and the car began to handle great.  I worked my way back through the pack and brought home a 7^th place finish in the feature.”

Nat Horn posted an 8^th place finish from his 11^th starting position and got into the top ten for the first time in 2023.

Nat noted “Opening night we dealt with car handling issues and after 3 rainouts to figure out what we want to do we came back last week with a whole new set-up.  We qualified both weeks, but not getting the feature finishes we are looking for in the top five and ten.  This week we made a small tweak in our setup and ended up with a whole new car.   The sprints ran their heats before us so it widened the track enough that I could go from 6th to 1st in the heat and make passes on the top and bottom this week.”

“Feature time I started 11th and on the initial start fell back to 13^th but the car seemed to be handling well. On the lap 6 restart I started moving forward and at one point was up to 6^th, but the caution came out before the lap was complete. The next restart I started 7th and lost one spot for an 8^th place finish and brought it home in one piece. All around a decent night for us.”

Cody Manmiller finished 9^th from his 23^rd starting position and posted his 3^rd top ten finish of the season and is currently sitting 3^rd in the early season point standing.

Cody reflected “ Just need to be way better in the heat race than I was this week.   When you start last there’s such a fine line between patient and aggressive and I leaned too far on the patient side of things this week.  I wasn’t thrilled with how I raced my feature either, but I took no damage and finished in the top 10 again. It is what it is, and we’ll move on to next week.  Track was good and wish track would get that slippery all the way across like that every week.”

Jesse Hirthler finished 10^th from his 26^th starting position and salvage a top ten finish from what was rough heat race and a just miss transferring from the consolation.  Things started to look up when he got into the feature with an alternative position but he was starting 26^th in the field.

Jesse recalled “On the start in the heat I pushed the issue and tried to make it 3 wide and at the same time the car on the inside hit the infield wall and washed out into me. I blame myself for putting me in that situation because the number one way to finish good is to finish the race and I did not do that in the heat.”

“ In the consolation I hung back on the start and picked and chose where I wanted to go. I picked a couple cars off early and was able to get up to 4th. I was trying to run different lines to see if I could hunt down 3^rd place but did not get him and missed transferring to the feature by one spot.”

“We missed the feature by one spot and were debating to use a provisional to get into the feature but then someone scratched from the feature, and we were able to get in using the 1^st alternate spot and save our provisional.  I started 26th out of 27 cars and made headway quickly moving forward. I missed all the wrecks and was able to pass a lot of cars on the outside and a few using the inside lane. I passed 16 cars on the way to a 10^th place finish.

“After the track took rubber and I got passed by Cody and I wanted to stay to the bottom. The car was very tight because of the state of the track, and I actually didn’t know my uncle was right behind me at the finish till the next day at dinner.  Overall, a pretty good night after a disappointing heat race and missing the field by one spot in the consolation race.”

Brian Hirthler finished 11^th from his 15^th starting position after going into the pits with a flat tire in the feature.

Brian commented “Track was good in heats because the sprint cars running first made it wide. In the feature I took it easy early and when I did decide to go, I got collected in the turn 3 accident. I pitted for a flat and had a bent up front end but nursed it from 21st to 11th at the finish.  Car wasn’t bad before it got bent but didn’t really didn’t get a chance to show it.  It was a tough night on tires with the sprint cars in town and a lot racing with over 100 cars on the grounds.”

Kyle Smith was moving through the field from his 22^nd starting position and looking good on lap 12  moving into 8^th when a u-joint failure ended his night on the tow truck.

Parker Guldin also had similar u-joint failure issues when he finished 3^rd in the consolation only to have the u-joint fail right after taking the checkered flag  and ending his night early. 

Next up on Saturday, May 20 will be a two-division program under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner for the T.P. Trailer 358 Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman. The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 30-lap Modified and 25-lap Sportsman main events with another round of Trivia Night.