Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 6/03/23 – Logan Bauman Claims First Sportsman Win of Season

Logan Bauman moved into the lead on lap 11 from his 11^th starting position and then proceeded to open a 6 second lead over the field until two late restarts bunched the field back up.  Bauman charged to the front on both single file restarts and held off Brian Hirthler and Logan Watt to take his first win of the season.

Kyle Hartzell led for the first 8 laps until Zack Steffey grabbed a short lived lead off the first restart on lap 9 only to get passed by Bauman on the next restart.  Logan Bauman charged to the front and opened a  6 second lead while Logan Watt quietly moved into 2^nd, but two late cautions bunched the field.  Bauman prevailed and held off a hard charging top 5 of Brian Hirthler, Logan Watt, Kyle Smith and Ryan Graver to drive into victory lane for his first win of 2023.

Heat race winners for the 38 car sportsman field were Kyle Hartzell, Tom Miller Jr, Logan Bauman and Molly Strussy.

 Cody Manmiller and Kenny Bock won the consolation races.

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

1. LOGAN BAUMAN, 2. Brian Hirthler, 3. Logan Watt, 4. Kyle Smith, 5. Ryan Graver, 6. Zach Steffey, 7. Mike Schneck Jr., 8. Brett Gilmore, 9. Mark Kemmerer, 10. Adrianna Delliponti, 11. Addison Meitzler, 12. Cody Manmiller, 13. Jesse Hirthler, 14. Nathan Mohr, 15. Michael Burrows, 16. Parker Guldin, 17. Molly Struss, 18. Kenny Bock, 19. Kyle Hartzell, 20. Tom Miller Jr., 21. TJ Mayberry, 22. Jesse Landis, 23. Brad Grim, 24. Zane Roth, 25. Colton Perry, 26. Hunter Iatalese, 27. Mark Mohr

DID NOT QUALIFY: : Dakota Kohler, Ronnie Solomon, Nick Faust, Joey Vaccaro, Keith Haring, Andy Ressler, Kaitlyn Bailey, Nate Horn, Tom Miller Sr., Dallas Breidenbach, Decker Swinehart

SPORTSMEN PIT NOTES –  6/03/23 – NASCAR POINTS RACE # 6

Logan Bauman won from his 11^th starting position to post his first win of the season.   The car was good in the first three races, but the luck was not with tangles and mechanical issues taking him out of contention for the first three weeks.  Since then, Logan has finished 7^th, 3^rd, 3^rd, and a win.  He was also leading on the final lap when he finished 7^th but had a broken steering box from a contact incident send him back in the field.

Logan reflected “This car is a missile for sure, it was just a matter of luck and time before we won one this year.  I had a distributor problem in hot laps and luckily Watts had another one that we were able to use.  Got it fixed and let it rip in the heat. Track was definitely technical with the ruts in 3&4 and the slick spot in the middle of 1&2, but I got it figured out pretty quick.”

“We had a phenomenal run in the feature and were on rails for the entire race. I knew the top was going be there, just didn’t know if it would hold out long enough, but it did.  On the restart when I was 2^nd, I really was able to take a good look at the top and realized that I could run the top better than what I was doing so I switched my line up and it worked out great. Hope we can keep this momentum up and grab some more wins this season.”

Brian Hirthler finished 2^nd from his 14^th starting position and made a strong bid for the lead in the final 5 laps moving from 5^th to 2^nd and coming up short by only 4 tenths of a second. After what was four marginal weeks (for Brian) averaging around 10^th place finish; this week the changes went the right way for Brian, and he was back riding the top to the front.

Brian noted “heat track was pretty technical; I got a good start and was able to cruise around for 4^th and made the invert for the feature.”

“In the feature I took it easy early on, as I am normally better in the second half and just didn’t want anything crazy to happen.  After we got inside the top ten, I went to work using top, bottom and middle picking off cars one by one. We were pretty good all over the track.  Track was much better in the feature and just came up one spot short, but I think we may have had something for him if we had a few more laps.  I did get alongside him at one point, but I wasn’t going to drive through him for the win which has become too common these days.  On to the next week.”

Logan Watt continues to roll to the front week in and week out with a 3^rd place finish from his 15^th starting position this week.  Logan holds the early season points lead by 137 points over second place Kyle Smith after 6 races and also holds the points lead on Friday nights at Big Diamond.

Logan recalled “We were in the 3^rd heat race on a decent track with a couple of yellows and went from 9^th to 2^nd.  Started 15^th in the feature and quickly got 5^th and just kept working my way toward the front.  I tried the bottom on the last two restarts to see if I could get past Bauman for the win, but just couldn’t get the car to work on the bottom, so I came home with a 3^rd.”

Kyle Smith finished 4^th from his 16^th starting position continuing his top 5/10 consistent finishes except for the week he broke a U joint while running in 8th with 10 laps to go. 

Kyle noted “Track seemed really weird in the heat and looked like it was blowing off.  I got up to 6^th and then a couple of cautions came out which helped us get up to 3^rd to qualify and make the invert.”

“In the feature I started 16^th and was able to roll the bottom which had decent grip so I stayed on the bottom.  The top was good but patchy, so I stayed with what I had on the bottom.  Logan Bauman was long gone; Hirthler was going around on the top and I don’t know how he was able to run up there, and Watty is always tough to get around.  When I find something good on the bottom, I usually stay with it and that’s what I did tonight.”

Ryan Graver finished 5^th from his 20^th starting position.  Ryan added a 5^th to his win for two top five finishes in his last 3 outings.

Ryan stated “We Really haven’t done too many changes between heat and feature races this year.  After having to swap to a different chassis earlier this year, our car has just been hooked up and running to the front.  It feels like we just have finally gotten the car to a place where I can feel competitive with most of the field each night and I can trust the car to do what I want it to do anywhere on the track.”

“Honestly in last night’s feature I didn’t even realize I was in the top 5 until that caution came out on lap 21.  I had looked at the leaderboard and realized that all the fast guys who have won many races were literally right in front of me.  I just have to thank our crew and sponsors Easton Area Metal Recycling, Wiz Fab Racing Fabrication, Scott Stenack Electric, Roy Danner Paving, Chris Serfass Concrete Contractor, Hoffman Discount Parts and Hoffman Speed Supplies, Jones Racing Products, and FastFour Racing Products. Without these guys this car would not be where it’s at right now. We are just looking to keep it rolling throughout this season and hopefully get to see the front more often than less.”

Zack Steffey finished 6^th from his 5^th starting position.   Zach appears to have turned the corner by replacing three early season DNQ’s with qualifying for his last three races and posting a 5^th and 6^th place finish.

Zach recalled “We started the night off with our usual setup and we made a few changes for the feature.  I talked to Ron Saltman at FastFour Shocks, and he helped us come up with a game plan for the feature.  We have a fast car and all we have to do is make some small changes for next week. Hopefully we can continue to get a little bit faster each week.”

Mikey Schneck finished 7^th from his 9^th starting position in his return to racing after a trip last week to the Pocono Speedway Air Show to display the car as a representative of his sponsor the U.S. Air Force.

 Mikey’s season has been up and down so far this year with two DNQ’s due to mechanical issues which prevented him from being able to use his provisional starting positions. He has been able to make the call for three features and posted a 4^th, 5^th, and 7th.

Mikey reflected “In the feature I tried searching all over the track for better lines. My car was really good on the bottom in the beginning and went from 9th to third. I was going for 2nd when the car just kind of faded and Logan Bauman got around me.  I did try to follow him, but the cars kept coming by me.  My laps were steady just those four cars were better than I was.  My new tire really got feathered off and I could hear the track rubber up around halfway. The late single file restarts hurt because my tires came back around, and I had a good car, but it was already a bottom grove racetrack with cars in front of me.  Nonetheless a real good night with no damage with a met & greet Saturday and then back for another night of racing.”

Brett Gilmore finished 8^th from his 17^th starting position and posted another solid back to front run

Brett commented “Well as soon as I got in the car for warmups something didn’t feel right in the left rear. I came in from practice and took the left rear tire off and found that the shock had literally fallen apart.  So, we borrowed one for the night.  The heat race wasn’t bad, but the car still wasn’t right, and we still made it from 8th to 5^th and made the field.”

“For the feature we put some fresh tires on and started 17^th. I was just passing cars wherever I could.  Restarts did help out a little bit, but the track took rubber again in turn 1-2 while the top of 3-4 was pretty good so I was just trying to make moves where I could.  The car wasn’t bad but wasn’t working how it should.  On those late single file restarts, I just stayed on the bottom and tried to hold it down with a wounded car.  Rough night and wish the track was better.”

Mark Kemmerer finished 9^th from his 19^th starting position and has posted consistent low mid-pack finishes with a best of 7^th in four starts this season.

Adie Delliponti finished 10^th from her 13^th starting position and continues to hold 7^th in the early season Grandview points standing.  After two weeks of qualifying from the consolation and one week using a provisional Adie has now qualified from the heat in the past two races.

Adie stated “We were very tight in the heat race but still managed to move from 7^th to 4^th and qualify in the handicap.  It’s a great relief to make the show from the heat and not have to rush around for the consolation.”

“In the feature we went from our 13^th starting position to 4^th for a few laps but then the car died off and we faded as the race continued.  The cautions hurt us tonight.  I tried different lines later in the race and lost a few spots due to experimenting but still learned a lot.”    

Cody Manmiller finished 12^th from his 21^st starting position.  Cody noted “It’s been a rough couple of weeks for us.  Right now, we just can’t get through a heat race and then keep getting plugged in wrong spots in the feature.”

Next up on Saturday, June 10 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 racing starting at 7:30 P.M.