Grandview Modified Pit Notes 7/08/23 –   Jared Umbenhauer Tracks Down Ray Swinehart and Checks Out to First Win of Season

Jared Umbenhauer took over the lead on lap 21 from Ray Swinehart and then pulled away from the field to take the checkered flag by 3.5 seconds over 2^nd place Doug Manmiller in the one caution feature.

Polesitter Ray Swinehart took a strong early lead until Jared Umbenhauer moved into a close 2^nd on lap 15.  The two drivers then battled with sliders until Umbenhauer finally got clear of Swinehart on lap 21 and pulled away from the field for his first win of the 2023 season at Grandview.  

Heat race winners for the 32-car modified field were won by Jeff Strunk, Kevin Graver & Jared Umbenhauer.

Bobby Trapper Sr. won the consolation races.

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

1. JARED UMBENHAUER, 2. Doug Manmiller, 3. Kevin Graver Jr., 4. Craig Von Dohren, 5. Jeff Strunk, 6. Brett Kressley, 7. Ryan Grim, 8. Mike Lisowski, 9. Ryan Watt, 10. Eddie Strada, 11. Mike Gular, 12. Tim Buckwalter, 13. Jesse Leiby, 14. Bobby Trapper Jr., 15. Justin Grim, 16. Carrol Hine III, 17. Eric Biehn, 18. Jimmy Leiby, 19. Mark Kratz, 20. Chris Gambler, 21. Ray Swinehart, 22. Lex Shive, 23. Joe Funk, 24. Bobby Trapper Sr., 25. John Willman, 26. Ryan Beltz, 27. Ron Haring Jr., 28. Glenn Owens

DID NOT QUALIFY: Darrin Schuler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Eric Kormann, Craig Whitmoyer

MODIFIED PIT NOTES –  7/08/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 10

Jared Umbenhauer took his first win of the season from the 6^th starting position rebounding after several weeks of dealing with electrical and mechanical issues.  Jared took full advantage of his 6^th starting position moving into 2^nd before the only caution on lap 15 and then sliding into the lead on lap 22 to take a comfortable 3.5 second lead into victory lane for his first win of the season.

Jared reflected “Our last five weeks have been terrible with mechanical and electrical gremlins haunting use week after week.  Last week it was a 30-cent electrical connection taking us out of the feature before we ever got going.  The pocketbook has been getting tight with of these near the back of the field finishes, but today’s win really helps us out.”

“When I first saw the lineup, I was surprised that I handicapped way up to 6^th starting position and knew I have a shot at a win tonight.  The problem with running up front is you never know which lane is better and thank God the race stayed green, and I had no restarts to deal with in the final 15 laps.”

“Once I caught up to Swinehart, I tried to be smart getting around him and not make any mistakes.  I threw a slider, and he threw one back but then I got the pass to stick and was able to check out on Ray and the rest of the field.  It always seems that in the end the top is the place to be in the feature at Grandview.”

Doug Manmiller finished 2^nd at the checkered from his 9^th starting position. He posted his 5^th top five finish in his last 6 outings which included a DNS due to mechanical failure while on the grind for the start of the feature.  Doug moved into 5^th in the mid-season modified points standings and son Cody also sits 5^th in the Sportsman mid-season points.

Doug recalled “In the heat there was an early spin in front of us and we had to go to the rear of the 11-car heat race.  We got back up to 3^rd place which got us a handicap invert position for the feature.”

“I started 9^th and found it hard to move forward early in the feature.  The only caution came out on lap 15 when Bobby Trapper Sr. broke and came down the track collecting Joe Funk and Ryan Watt.  I was right there when the incident happened, but I was fortunate to be on the bottom and had enough room to be past it before it happened.  I didn’t even see what happened but was running right there with Funk and Watt who got collected.  In the final 15 green flag laps I went up on the top, passed a few guys and on the final lap was able to pass Kevin Graver for 2^nd place at the checkered flag.  We got the car rolling pretty good in the final laps this week.”

Kevin Graver finished 3^rd from his 4^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.  Kevin has been moving in on his setup since finishing 9^th a few weeks ago so this is culmination of the 7A team moving in on their setup over the past month.

Kevin stated “We had a real good car all night and the heat race just kind of fell our way right from the drop of the green.  The track was pretty much around the bottom in the heat which is my style of racing for the most part.  In the heat race the bottom was open for us at the drop of the green and we had lots of drive on the bottom to take advantage of it from our 5^th starting position and made a strong run on the bottom to take the heat race win.”

“The feature was very simple for me, I just stayed on the bottom, ran my line, and tried to keep hitting my marks.  Jared and Doug were just better than us in turn 1 and that’s why they got past us.  But a podium finish is huge for us with the way this season has been going. I just hoping we can keep this rolling for the second half of the season.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 4^th from his 15^th starting position and posted his 8^th top five finish in 10 starts.  Craig may only have one win, but his consistent top five finishes has quietly put him atop the points standings by 53 points over Brett Kressley with 9 races to go.

Jeff Strunk finished 5^th from his 13^th starting position.  Jeff has posted three 2^nd place finishes this season and still locking for his elusive first points race win of 2023, but he is in contention for that win every week.

Jeff commented “The heat race this week was a combination of having a lot of confidence in your racecar, knowing your competition and some good luck.  I took it easy in the beginning starting deep in the field and was still last on lap 3 but able to avoid the mishaps and ended up winning the heat.”

“The feature had the fastest 15 cars there in the handicap. I knew it was going be tough to get to the front especially with only one caution, and it was a good run to get to 5th.  The track crew gave us a good racey track with the sportsman running in front of us.  The competition is tough at Grandview every week from heat to feature.”  

Brett Kressley finished 6^th from his 14^th starting position. Brett noted “The night started out great with a solid heat run and we over adjusted the car in the feature. It was a handful early and we could just never make our way to the front.  We tried a few different things tonight just to see if the car would improve but the car went the wrong direction and was worse.”

Ryan Grim finished 7^th from his 5^th starting position.  Ryan stated “We got bent up in our heat race and had to come into the pits deal with a torn up right side.  Despite coming into the pits and returning to rear of field, we were able to make the handicap in a heat race that had only 6 cars running at the finish with 7 supposed to transfer.

“The car was awful in the feature, and I was just hanging on for dear life.  I’m struggling with the car and the car is just not working how it should.  I’m not comfortable on the top or the bottom and I can’t get the car to go forward.  If I had any forward grip, I would have gone from 5^th to 2^nd.  I need to find some grip when we are in the black.”

Mike Lisowski finished 8^th from his 7^th place starting position and posted his 6^th straight top ten or better finish.

Mike noted “We got caught up in a tangle in the heat and had some rear suspension damage, but we were still able to get in the handicap.  We had some additional time before the feature this week and made good use of it to get the rear fixed for the feature.  We couldn’t get the car to go forward in the feature and I’m not sure if we didn’t get the setup right or were just a bit off. Overall, it was another good finish for us.”

Ryan Watt finished 9^th from his 10^th starting position.  Ryan recalled “ We had a hairy start in the heat  and got involved in an early tangle and had to come into the pits for mud packed in a wheel.  We ended up going from last to 2^nd in our heat and made the handicap.”

“In the feature we started 10^th and were already up to 6^th when Bobby Trapper Sr came down the track and we got into him and took heavy cosmetic damage on the right side and bent the right front suspension.  The car got a lot freer, but we were still managed to finish 9^th.  We probably had a top five car if we didn’t get bent up, but this was still a good run to get a top ten finish with a bent-up car.”

Eddie Strada finished 10^th from his 8^th starting position.  Eddie noted “We have been getting help from Alex Yankowski, Kevin Bates, Jeff Strunk and Doug Manmiller.  They have been helping us get better in our first year at Grandview and my father has been finding more speed.  I just need more laps.  In the heats we’ve been deadly coming from 8th-9th and getting to 2^nd -3^rd.  Everyone’s has to deal with handicap, so it doesn’t bother us.  We just need to have a little better car and the driver needs to be better.”

“In the heat we were good just little a loose. In the feature we were better than previous weeks but just a bit too tight on entry. We must keep going in the right direction on set up while not making too many adjustments that mess us up from the heat to feature.  I’m just hopeful we can keep banging on the top five door in the second half of the season.  We are in our rookie season at the most competitive modified track in the DE, NJ & PA tri-state area so we know it’s going to take some time, but we have been building our notebook every week.”

Jesse Leiby finished 13^th from his 27^th starting position. After struggling in his heat and consolation event Jesse was able to salvage a solid 13^th place finish in the one caution feature.

Jesse recalled “We went out for the heat and the car just did not want to stick.  I almost lost it on lap one and had a couple of contact incidents that resulted in being sent to the back of the field.  I was fighting the car again in the consolation but was able to hang to get the next to last spot in the feature.   For the feature we were able to finally get the car dialed in and drove from 27^th to 13^th without touching a single car.”

Ray Swinehart led 21 laps with his best run of the season, but his motor began to lay down in the final 10 laps and he pulled off while running 4^th with 2 laps to go.

Ray recalled “We were not good in the heat race and made 4 or 5 changes for the feature which woke up the car in the feature.  We have a new car this year and it’s been taking us a long time to get it going but this was our best run of the year until the motor laid down with about 10 laps to go.  It may be a rocker arm or something in the drivetrain.  We have been getting a little better every week and this will give us a good baseline for next week.”

Next up on Saturday, July 15 will be a two-division program under the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner for the T.P. Trailer 358 Modifieds and the MASS 305 Sprint Car Series along with a kid’s money scramble. The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 30-lap Modified and 25-lap MASS 305 Sprint Car main events with racing starting at 7:30 P.M.