Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 5/20/23 – Ryan Graver Makes Last Lap Pass for Career First Win

Polesitter Keith Haring led the first 13 laps only to see Logan Bauman sweep by the outside from 4^th on a restart and take over the lead on lap 14.  Bauman stretched his lead until caution flew on lap 22 for a Molly Strussy spin which bunched the field back up. On the restart Bauman resumed the lead with Ryan Graver staying a close 2^nd.  After taking the white flag, Graver threw a slider that made contact with Bauman who went high and lost momentum as Graver flew by into the lead and took the checkered flag for his career first win.  Logan Watt moved into a close second after the contact by the leaders and Bauman slowed and dropped to a 7^th place finish.    

Heat race winners for the 33 car sportsman field were Zach Steffey, Ronny Solomon and Logan Bauman.

 Logan Watt won the consolation race.

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

1. RYAN GRAVER, 2. Logan Watt, 3. Brett Gilmore, 4. Keith Haring, 5. Zach Steffey, 6. Parker Guldin, 7. Logan Bauman, 8. TJ Mayberry, 9. Kyle Smith, 10. Brian Hirthler, 11. Decker Swinehart, 12. Mark Kemmerer, 13. Cody Manmiller, 14. Adrianna Delliponti, 15. Jesse Hirthler, 16. Mark Mohr, 17. Dakota Kohler, 18. Nathan Mohr, 19. Molly Struss, 20. Jesse Landis, 21. Nathan Horn, 22. Zane Roth, 23. Steve Young, 24. Addison Meitzler, DNS – Ronnie Solomon

DID NOT QUALIFY: Hunter Iatalese, Mike Schneck Jr., Andy Ressler, Mark Gaugler, BJ Joly, Kyle Hartzell, Kenny Bock

Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 5/20/23 – NASCAR Points Race # 4

Ryan Graver finished 1^st from his 8^th starting position and posted his career first sportsman win.  Ryan moved into 2^nd on lap 16 but couldn’t make up any ground on leader Logan Bauman. On lap 22 a caution bunched the field back together.  On the restart Ryan was able to stay with the leader and took the lead when his last lap slider made contact with Bauman who fell off the pace and back to 7^th while Graver moved into the lead and held off a closing Logan Watt to take his first win and drive into the Grandview victory lane.

Ryan noted “this season hasn’t been too bad for us until last week when we bent the frame of our 2018 Bicknell in an incident during the heat race. We had spent this past week stripping my 2018 and swapping all the bolt ons to a 2020 bicknell chassis. From Monday to Friday, we had fully swapped the car with only two to three people including myself. It was a tough week of a lot of hard work but to come out and win a race after everything we had to overcome this week is absolutely amazing.”

Ryan continued “the heat race was pretty simple with getting to a qualifying spot and just holding anyone else off from getting by.  Feature time was a mixture of a fast race car, as well as a ton of good luck with timings of cautions, and just being in the right place at the right time. I had a hard battle for the lead coming down to the last lap with a lot of hard racing was looking to just finally get our first win out of the way. It was some tough racing coming from 7th place to win and felt pretty good considering it wasn’t as easy as just starting up front and holding everyone else behind you.”

“My sponsors Easton metal recycling, WizFab LLC, Roy Danner Paving, Scott Stenack Electric, and Chris Serfass concrete make all this happen, and I can’t thank them enough.  I would also like to thank everyone that helped us get my car back together this week as well as our track pit crew. It would be hard to keep this car going without each and every one of them.”

Logan Watt finished 2^nd from his 19^th starting position and his 3rd podium finish in four races.  Ryan has posted a win, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 7^th in his 4 starts at Grandview this season to take the early season points lead by nearly 200 points.

Logan recalled “We started the night off starting 11th in our heat. The track was narrow and one lane around the bottom, so I only got up to 7th which sent me to the consolation race.  We won the consolation and got some more notes for the track that we used in the feature.  We set the car up for a slick track and I expected the top to come in during the feature and it did.”

In the feature we rolled off 19th on the grid and I quickly made my way through traffic and got to 5th on the 10th lap.  We had a caution on lap 13, which reset the whole field.  I restarted 5th and made my way up to 3rd and with 3 laps to go then we had a single file restart.  On final lap, the leaders made contact in 1&2 which allowed me to move into 2^nd place and finish only .25 seconds behind the winner Ryan Graver.”

Brett Gilmore finished 3^rd from his 17^th starting position.  Brett Gilmore’s season has been up and down so far and tonight his race was also up and down and then back up.  Brett started 17^th in the feature but got hooked together on lap 1 with Addison Metzger and fell to 24^th and last place while under green.  Brett then had a huge run coming from 24^th and a hard charging to a 3^rd place.

Brett stated “Well in warmups the car didn’t run well at all, and we tried a couple of changes for the heat, but it still didn’t run right, and I just tried to hold my position to qualify.  I made a rookie mistake and hit the infield tire all by myself but still managed to qualify.”

In the feature we started mid-pack and got in a little mix up when we hooked bumpers with another car on the front stretch and fell back to dead last on lap 1.  I don’t know if it was my grandfather speaking to me, but I just started driving on the bottom and passing cars just getting through by inches of other drivers. The car was running better than the heat but not at 100%.  I just kept my nose clean and passed cars who thought they were holding it down. The Restarts definitely helped me out and my car really rolls on restarts.  I just made all the right moves to get back up front to 3^rd without even trying the top of the track at all during the feature.”

Keith Haring finished 4^th from his 2^nd starting position and posted his best finish of the season.

Keith commented “Ron (85) my brother said not to change anything and just run it in the feature.  We only took a ½ inch of stagger out for the feature and ran it like he said.  I couldn’t stay with the 14 Logan Bauman who just motored on by us.”

Zach Steffey finished 5^th from the pole position and posted a season and career best finish.

 Zack noted “We have been having some bad luck early this year and I think we found our problem.  Our only goal this week was to qualify and finish the race, so when we did a top 5 finish which was a very big confidence boost for our entire team.”

Parker Guldin started 9^th and finished 6^th which was a nice rebound after last week’s DNS due to breaking a U joint after taking the checkered flag in the consolation. Parker didn’t have enough time to make repairs and had to scratch out of the feature last week.

Parker reflected “All together we had a very good night.  We had some luck tonight as I picked up a spot in the heat when BJ was broken and scratched moving me up one spot.  The car worked flawlessly with the power and suspension, and we finished 3rd in our heat race. The driver just had a hard time adjusting to a technical track, but I do like technical tracks.”

“ The feature was a roller coaster to put it lightly because I believe at one point I was back as far as either 13th or 14th from what was supposed to be a 9th place starting position because I got stuck behind a few minor mishaps with other drivers. However, that wasn’t going to stop me because I was able to work hard and drive up to a 7th place position. After what happened to Logan Bowman, I was able to get by him at the line which landed me a 6th place position which was very unfortunate for Logan.  Overall, I’m super happy with our car especially since Saturday was the first night that I didn’t have a part or mechanical failure this year. Given where we finished in both the heat and the feature, I believe it shows how strong of a force we can really be for this year. Even though Saturday was good, I could have still been better because as a driver I still have things to work on to be better.  We’ll put our nose to the grindstone and work hard to be back this coming weekend with a better car.  Scott Kohler’s motor is running beautifully and without a doubt it’s running better than my previous motor ever did.”

Logan Bauman finished 7^th from his 6^th starting position and after leading the last 10 laps he saw contact on the last lap from Ryan Graver take his momentum away as he fell back to 7^th on what overwise was a very good run.  Logan has had a good car all season, with strong runs up front in the feature that have end with a mechanical failure or a contact incident in every race this season.

Logan reflected “We had a phenomenal run tonight and the car that was a rocket all night.  We were even able to drive away from Watty which isn’t easy.  We do have this car figured out and now just need to get some luck to keep it out of wrecks and on the track.  We got punted in turn 1 and 2 on the last lap.  It was blatant but there’s nothing we can do about it. We will get everything fixed and ready to roll for next weekend and we are hoping to grab a 358 motor this week from Leindecker.”

TJ Mayberry finished 8^th from his 7^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season. 

TJ commented “We went into this race with a new coilover package on the car. I didn’t really know what to expect but it felt pretty good in the feature. The heat race was a different story, car was way too tight. I was able to adjust enough to hang on to a qualifying spot. It’s always a huge plus when you make the handicap. Being able to start further up front in the feature is always a good thing. We made some changes to the car for the feature, and it seemed better. We were still tight in the feature, but I was able to make it work.  Fell back early, but I was able to rebound pretty well.  I still have a lot to learn in these crate cars, but I definitely feel like I’m heading in the right direction.”

Kyle Smith finished 9^th from his 23^rd starting position to rebound from a mechanical failure last week when his u-joint broke late in the race giving Kyle his first DNF of the season.

Kyle noted “track wasn’t great in the heat making it almost impossible to pass.  Car was still a little tight in the consolation, but we were still good enough to qualify.  We had a great car in the feature and was getting through the field fairly quickly until after the first caution came out when I started having some trouble finding my way through lapped traffic.  We ended up 9^th but probably had a top 5 car and just ran out of time.”

Brian Hirthler finished 10^th for his 16^th starting position. Brian got in a tangle and driven into the infield on lap ten which put him back at the back of the field, but he was able to work his way back to a 10^th place finish.

Brian Stated “In the heat we did well going from 10^th to 6^th on a pretty heavy one lane track.  We just got bottled up early in the feature and then tangled up so ended up back in last around lap 10.  We were able to rebound and run through the field to a 10^th place finish with only one caution.  Car got pretty beat up when a spinning car came down the track onto my car.”

Molly Strussy stayed in a solid 6^th until she spun on lap 21.  She was on her way to her best finish of the season when her night ended with only 4 laps to go in the feature.

Molly noted “Heat was fun, and I learned how to keep the momentum going with the car for the feature. I had a lot of fun running up front and gained a lot of confidence, but it sucks I got spun-out, but nothing beats a good night of learning. We had to put a front end in the car but learned a lot.”

On Saturday, May 27 it will be a three-division program under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner as the T.P. Trailer Modifieds and T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman will be joined by the USAC East Coast Sprints. The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 30-lap Modified, 25 lap East Coast Sprint, and 25-lap Sportsman main events with a feature only vintage race as the 3^rd class.  Grandstand gate at 5:30 with racing starting at 7:30.

This will be followed by the first Thunder on the Hill Racing Series event of the season on Sunday, May 28. This holiday program features the 358 Modifieds in a special 50-lap feature race titled the ‘Balls to the Wall 50’.

The winner of the 50-lap feature will grab a $5000 payoff, and the leader at laps 20 and 35 will pocket $1500, when the race is stopped and the top four inverted.  So, it becomes a race of strategy to chase the bonus or go for the win. Should the same driver lead laps 20, 35 and then grab the final checker to win, Pioneer Pole Buildings will post a $4000 extra bonus, allowing the 50-lap feature winner to grab a possible total of $12,000 for the victory!

The 602 crate Sportsman will also join the show which starts at 7:30 pm. on May 28, making for a big holiday weekend of racing action.