Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 6/10/23 – Decker Swinehart Posts First Sportsman Win of 2023

Decker Swinehart took over the lead on lap 6 from Nick Faust and led the remaining 19 laps to take the win despite seven cautions and a strong late charge by Brian Hirthler and Addison Meitzler.

Heat race winners for the 38 car sportsman field were Ronny Solomon, Hunter Iatalese, Tom Miller Sr and Addison Meitzler.

Nat Mohr and Jordan Henn won the consolation races.

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

1. DECKER SWINEHART, 2. Brian Hirthler, 3. Addison Meitzler, 4. Jesse Hirthler, 5. Brett Gilmore, 6. Hunter Iatalese, 7. Logan Watt, 8. Michael Burrows, 9. Cody Manmiller, 10. Jordan Henn, 11. Nathan Mohr, 12. Zane Roth, 13. Jesse Landis, 14. Ryan Graver, 15. Logan Bauman (provisional), 16. Andy Ressler, 17. Kyle Smith, 18. Ronnie Solomon, 19. Nick Faust, 20. Mike Stofflet, 21. Adrianna Delliponti, 22. Mark Kemmerer, 23. TJ Mayberry, 24. Colton Perry, 25. Zach Steffey, 26. Tom Miller Sr., 27. Nicholas Hamm

DID NOT QUALIFY: Dakota Kohler, Parker Guldin, Tom Miller Jr., Keith Haring, Kenny Bock, Nathan Horn, Molly Struss, Kaitlyn Bailey, Mark Gaugler, Kyle Hartzell, Mike Schneck Jr.

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES –  6/10/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 7

Decker Swinehart picked up his first win of the season from the 7^th starting position.

Decker maintained the lead despite seven restarts during the feature but did get a break on the 4^th restart when Jesse Hirthler got the lead off the start but fortunately for Decker the restart was called back by another caution before the lap was in the books.

In victory lane Decker reflected “I knew it was going to rubber-up and I just catfished around the bottom and it seemed like everyone just moved out of my way.  I was 100 % committed to the bottom and didn’t even thing about running the top. If anyone wanted to get around me on the bottom, there going to have to go through me.  I had a radio problem and didn’t know the 4^th restart was double file so I got left on by my cousin Jesse Hirthler, but another quick yellow called that one back and was ready for the next one.”

Decker noted “Last week the front yoke got hot due to the u bolt hitting the yoke and we think the issue was a bent jackshaft which broke a bearing  in the rear.  The week before we broke a u joint so it’s been a rough couple of weeks with mechanical failures but all along, we knew we had a good car if we could keep it together.”

“I felt most of the seven yellows were to my disadvantage since they bunch you back to everyone and you never know what will happen on all these restarts.  There was yellow that  really helped me tonight, and that was when I didn’t know we were going double file and lost the lead on the restart but another yellow came out and called that restart back.  We watched the track all night and figured it would rubber up around the bottom.”

“Our racing team just always strives to get over the “hump” of mechanical failures to get the monkey off our backs and win more races. Our team never lets a couple setbacks mess up our true potential as a team. We know the races are always  won in the race shop before the car even hits the track.”

Brian Hirthler posted a 2^nd place finish from his 13^th starting position for the second week in a row and has returned to his 2022 form after experimenting with some different setups earlier in the season.

Brian commented “Car was good in heat ,and we have been trying different changes to get better in the heat.  In the feature we had a balanced car which helps a lot.  The track certainly had character which probably benefitted the more experienced drivers as shown by the finish in the feature.  After watching the video, I made a few mistakes and could have made more of a challenge for the win.”

Addison Meitzler finished 3^rd from his 10^th starting position and has returned to his top 5 form with his best finish of the season.  Addison posted his 3^rd top 5 finish of the season and is now 6^th in the early season sportsman points standings.

Addison noted “For the heat we threw a bunch of changes at the car, and they worked like a light switch, and we won our heat from the 7^th starting position.  The key was we got to 4^th early in the heat and had time to search the track for lines.”

In the feature we got to 4^th early again, in only 5 laps.  On a restart we got driven up to the wall in 1 & 2 and fell back to 10^th but then on the next lap threw it hard into the middle coming out of turn 2 and picked 5 positions back up in a key moment of my race tonight.  We had a good run going but just got a little tight on the last restart and ended up 3^rd but still our best run of the season.”

Jesse Hirthler finished 4^th from his 9^th starting position.  Jesse stated, “For a couple of weeks I’ve been struggling with tough to pass heats and track conditions, so we have been qualifying through from the last chance consolation.”

“This week in the heat I was able to fill the holes and work through the field while also avoiding a wreck that happened right in front of me.  On the restart, I got passed for the last handicap spot but then I changed my line and passed a car to get my handicap spot back for the feature.”

“In the feature I was on the top early but then saw the bottom was better and made the move down early and stayed there. With all the ruts in the track it wasn’t easy when I was running the top and I was more comfortable on the bottom.  I had a good restart when I started 5^th and was in 3^rd before the flag stand.  There was a painful amount of yellows, and the one restart I actually had the lead into turn one and down the backstretch but another yellow didn’t allow me to take the lead.”

“On one of the final restarts, I pushed up the track just enough to let a car by and then ran the top a little more to see if it had anything up there and that is when my uncle started racing next to me. It was cool racing with my uncle since we do not seem to battle for the top spots very often, but I was disappointed in myself and also that the yellows that cost me the lead.  As a driver you are always striving to be better, and I feel I could have made some smarter moves early on that may have change the outcome of the race but there is only so much I can do as a driver and that isn’t going to change all of the yellows that kept happening throughout the race.”

Brett Gilmore has been riding the roller coaster of racing this year, but this week was an up week with a 5^th place finish from an 11^th starting position.

Brett recalled “In the heat race the car was decent and I just got messed up on the initial start and lost key spots right away. Started running harder and then ended up making mistakes so I regrouped and slowed my driving down. I did manage to make the invert started 11th in the feature.”

“ The track was pretty worn out after the modified feature; it was super dry with ruts in 3-4 and wasn’t a track that had a lot of choices other than catfishing the bottom. Restarts didn’t help or hurt, and I tried to make up ground but there wasn’t much I could find. Car has so much potential but just can’t get the power down when the track has zero grip.”

Hunter Iatalese finished a strong 6^th from his 5^th starting position and is hoping for consistent top 5 & 10 finishes as well as a reducing his DNQ’s for the rest of the season.

Logan Watt finished 7^th from his 15^th starting position and continues to post top ten/fives every week. 

Logan is off to a great start on both Friday and Saturday night and leads the points standings at both Grandview and Big Diamond Speedway.  He is not only leading the points on both his Friday and Saturday night tracks but doing it running the same car at both tracks.  Logan and his team maintain and turns over the car early on Saturday morning.  Logan is not just a 14 year old driver but is also his own crew chief making the decisions on changes and adjustments to his car.

Mike Burrows finished 8^th from his 8^th starting position and returned to a top ten finish for the first time since his opening day 8^th place finish.

Mike stated “Yep, we are still running open sportsman motor.  We have been struggling with some setups and bad luck over the last couple of weeks. We have been in the wrong place at the wrong time several times this year. Hopefully, our luck will turn around for the rest of the season.

“In the heat we missed the set up a little bit since we have a new shock package that we are tuning. Our changes for the feature made the car a ton better, but just need to do a little more with the setup to get dialed in and were we need to be.  Track didn’t have a lot of grip in the feature and we should have gone with a harder tire.”

Cody Manmiller finished 9^th from his 18^th starting position and currently sit 5^th in the early season point standings this season.

Cody stated “Car has been good all season and I just I need improvement as a driver.  I was better this week and made the passes that I needed to make in the heat and then got going early in the feature before the track locked down.”

Jordan Henn finished 10^th from his 21^st starting position in his first points outing of the season with the 4R car.  Jordan also raced Memorial Day weekend at the TOTH event with his 77 crate and posted a top 5 finish.

Jordan commented “We could possibly be at Grandview for the next couple weeks getting ready for the Firecracker 40 lapper. In the heat we just struggled with two wide racing and no lanes to get through. Our finish in the feature was a little disappointing due to the fact we had a very good car.  We moved forward in the first 5 laps until we get involved with a tangle with another car and the yuke tire.  We ended up back in 24^th at the tail of the field and made a good run to a 10^th place finish.”

Nat Mohr made a nice run to 11^th from his 20^th starting position.  Nate stated “We just can’t figure out the heat setup yet, but we have got our feature setup rolling!  Features started 20th and made my way up to 11th and it was a decent night and a great points night for us as we moved up to 12^th in the points standings.”

Zane Roth finished 12^th from his 23^rd starting position making a strong back to front run through the field.

Zane noted “We struggled like most teams with single lane track conditions in the heat races which sends our Roth Motorsport #11 to the consolation. We were on point in the consolation and finished 2^nd putting us 23^rd in the feature.”

“We made minor adjustments to the car for the feature, and I knew I would have to be patient out there starting in the back. Once the race began, the car was running strong. This gave me the opportunity to start making moves and advance my position one spot at a time which landed us in 12th place at the checkered flag.  Our success in the feature this week has given our team optimism that we can continue to progress and improve every week.”

Logan Bauman finished 15^th from his 27^th provisional starting position only one week after his first win of the 2023 season.

Logan noted “Well we expected to have a rough night being that we usually suck after we have a good night.  We may have missed our setup a little this week on another very tricky and technical track may have thrown us a curveball.  We had a fast car in the feature, but just didn’t have any other lanes to use to make some more gains forward in the feature.  Hopefully, we brush this one off and get back to our good runs next week. You got to take the good ones with the bad ones.”

Parker Guldin was involved in an early contact incident in the first heat of the night that put his car upside down onto the roll cage as he slid up to the turn 3 wall.  Parker’s night looked to be over before it started, but the efforts of his crew and many other teams got him back on track for the consolation.  Parker did not qualify from the consolation and did have a provisional available which he chose not to use it due to the condition of his car.

Parker noted “ The contact lead to my frame digging into the track and then momentum and force putting the car over and sliding up to the outside wall. I was fortunate to land on the roll cage which took the brunt of the impact, and I was uninjured and just sore the next day.   After the consolation, we found there was additional damage to the suspension that we did not see earlier. I had a provisional available, but we opted not to use it since the car was not in racing condition.”   

“ I have been disappointed with the inconsistent rough/aggressive driving calls especially since  drivers are repeatedly told over the in radio each week that there will be strict consequences for “rough & aggressive driving.” There has not been any enforcement since Cody Manmiller’s contact rollover. The aggressive driving problem is not just here at Grandview but pervasive throughout the sportsman class across many tracks, states, and sanctioning bodies.  With the ever rising costs of fielding and operating a race car; Grandview is to be commended as they have taken the first step by recognizing that controlling aggressive and rough driving  is necessary. The next step is consistent application and enforcement of rough and aggressive driving rules and penalties.”    

Next up on Saturday, June 17 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.