Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 7/22/23 – Logan Watt Charges to Second Sportsman Win at Grandview Speedway

Logan Watt Survived four red flags and on lap 20 passed Joey Vaccaro for lead and to be the first Grandview Sportsman driver to get two wins at Grandview this season.

Polesitter Joey Vaccaro held the lead through two early lengthy red flags for a six-car tangle and then hard wall contact by Mike Schneck.  When green came back out, Vaccaro led for the ensuing 19 laps.  A hard charging Kyle Smith moved into 2^nd place was looking to make the pass for the race lead when a rear wheel failure sent him flipping down the front stretch and brought out the 3^rd red flag of the feature on lap 19.  Kyle was uninjured from the incident. On the lap 19 restart, Logan Watt drove from 2^nd and passed Joey Vaccaro for the lead which he extended to a two second margin of victory when he took the checkered flag and drove into victory lane for his second Grandview Sportsman win of the season.   

Heat race winners for the 42-car sportsman field were Joey Vaccaro, Kyle Smith, Tom Miller Sr., and Logan Watt.

Jordan Henn & and won the consolation race.

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

1. LOGAN WATT, 2. Joey Vaccaro, 3. Logan Bauman, 4. Addison Meitzler, 5. Cody Manmiller, 6. Brian Hirthler, 7. Kenny Bock, 8. Adrianna Delliponti, 9. Brett Gilmore, 10. Nathan Mohr,11.  Jordan Henn, 12. Jesse Landis, 13. Ronnie Solomon, 14. Zach Steffey, 15. Jesse Hirthler, 16. Molly Struss, 17. Tom Miller Jr., 18. Tom Miller Sr., 19. Mark Mohr, 20. Dakota Kohler, 21. Nicholas Hamm, 22. Kyle Smith, 23. Colton Perry, 24. Mike Schneck Jr., 25. Brad Grim, 26. Ryan Graver

DID NOT QUALIFY: Nathan Horn, Kaitlyn Bailey, Keith Haring, TJ Mayberry, Hunter Iatalese, BJ Joly, Dallas Breidenbach, Dylan Swinehart, Decker Swinehart, Parker Guldin, Kyle Hartzell, Mark Gaugler, Mike Stofflet, Zane Roth, Monte Pool, Tyler James

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES –  7/22/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 11

Logan Watt took the checkered flag from his 15^th starting position and was the first sportsman driver to post two wins this season at Grandview. Logan currently leads the mid-season points standings by 356 points over second place Brian Hirthler.  He has posted 6 top five finishes, 5 top ten finishes and 1 eleventh place finish in 12 races this season.

Logan stated, “We race this car at Big Diamond on Friday night, and it didn’t feel as fast as it  normally does, so we changed the carburetor and then the car would not start.  It turned out to be a problem with the battery and it was causing us to lose speed.  We put a new battery in the car for Saturday at Grandview and it made a night and day difference in the car today from last night.”

“We had a good car in the heat, and I worked the outside line from the 9^th starting position and took the heat race win.”

In the feature I started 15^th again this week and there were a couple early red flags, and they didn’t present any problems with our tires sealing over or the car heating up during the delays.  I was good on the red flag restarts and was able to pick up 2 or 3 spots on each restart. Then the next 17 laps went green, and I was able pick off cars one by one until I was in 2^nd place when the 3^rd red flag came out for Kyle Smith’s flip down the from stretch while he was contending for the lead.  On the next restart, I was able to overtake Joey Vaccaro for the lead and then once in clean air I was able to check out for the final 5 laps and take my second win of the season at Grandview.  This car was perfect all night long and I tighten up a bit for the feature which turned this thing into a rocket on both the top and bottom of the feature.”

Joey Vaccaro finished 2^nd from his pole starting position for his best finish of a season which has been filled with mechanical failures and wrong place wrong time tangles.  Just two weeks ago Joey lost a motor while leading his heat race. 

Joey reflected “This year has just been an awful year for us.  We destroyed a car early in the season and had put another car together. We honestly just haven’t had any luck on our side and I’m glad we finally found some.  We blew up our primary engine two weeks ago, so this motor is an old and tired crate, but it obviously didn’t seem too old and this week.”

“When we destroyed our new car, we decided to change our suspension from bars to coils so we have also been trying to figure out our coil suspension in our limited track time this season.

“With starting on the pole for both our heat and feature, my main goal was just to get out front and make some good laps, but our luck finally changed.  We stayed out in front and made good laps all night long.   The car was fantastic all night, I could put it wherever I wanted to, and it had good drive, but I just fell a little short in the end.   I saw Kyle’s front bumper peak in on the outside around lap 15 and knew he likes to rip the lip, so I made the quick move to the top to hold him off the best I could which I did until he had an unfortunate  parts failure that sent him flipping down the front stretch.”

“We have it on rails this week and we are going to keep tweaking on it to get faster. We want to keep this success going for the second half of the season since we finally found some.  Boy, we needed this 2^nd place finish for this team which has been never wavering through some pretty rough times this season.  I can’t thank my sponsors and crew enough for all their support.”

Logan Baumann finished a solid 3^rd from his 9^th starting position.  Logan stated “I just didn’t seem to have any drive in practice, so we went to work on the car before the heat.  It was a night and day difference in the car for the rest of the night. We did tighten the car up a little too much for the feature and we were also down on power, but the car was still fast.  This week’s feature was definitely a trial of attrition with all red flags, and we were lucky to avoid all the tangles. We’ll be ready to roll next Saturday and hopefully our luck stays around.”

Addison Meitzler finished 4^th from his 21^st starting position with a right-side pan hard setup and took the $500 for highest finishing right-side pan hard car. Addison changed from his left side pan hard setup that just won the $3,250 Firecracker 40 at his previous outing with the car.

Addison stated “Yeah finally got it figured out, then we go and do the right-side pan hard challenge for the $500 bonus.  The car was loose in heat race, and we made it better for consolation. We added a couple more adjustments for feature.  They heavily watered the track for the feature and there was a lot of bite for the first 15 laps. Then the typical right-side hanging kicked in on the last 5-10 laps. All in all, we accomplished what we wanted to and got the bonus money but if you want to be fast at the end of the race and win the race, I think you need the left side pan hard.”

Cody Manmiller finished 5^th from his 11^th starting position and moved back into 4^th in the mid-season point standings.

Cody noted “The cards finally fell my way in the heat race, and we finally made the handicap.  This was only our 2nd time this season that we made the handicap and I’ve finished top five both times, so it definitely makes a difference and I just need to get in the handicap more often.”

“We had a better starting spot in the feature because we made the handicap and that makes things so much easier in the feature.  I was all over Logan Baumann but just couldn’t pass him before that yellow with 6 laps to go.  Unfortunately, I spun tires on the final restart and gave up two positions.”

Brian Hirthler finished 6^th from his 14^th starting position and was another one of seven cars that took the “right side pan hard challenge.”

Brian stated “ I don’t think the car was better or worse with right side pan hard. I completely messed a few things up when switching the car to the right side pan hard setup; and it really resulted in a poor finish in the second half of the feature.  You do drive a left side different than a right side pan hard.”

Kenny Bock finished 7^th from his 6^th starting position.  Kenny recalled “We hooked up pretty good in the first heat of the night and it was a fight for the bottom.  The heat did get rough as we came off with a broken shock.”

In the feature we started 7^th worked up to 5^th then got hit hard and was freight trained back to 10^th.  We had some real good racing with Adie and others.  With all those red flags, it was apparent that it was not a good night for equipment, but we came out of this race in 6th place and in one piece.”

“The red flag restarts killed me because my tires sealed over.  I had a real good green flag run, but the red flags were tough.”

Adie Delliponti finished 8^th from her 17^th starting position posting her best finish of the season. Adie “In the heat we quickly went from 7^th to 4^th but ended up 5^th and missed the invert, but I was still happy to qualify without having to run the consolation.

“In the feature we had a really good car and the harder I drove it the better it got.  I missed the first big wreck and fortunately was not involved in any of the four red flags.  In all my racing I have never been involved in a race that had that many red flags.  I made a mistake early that cost me a few spots, but the car was definitely a top five car.  During the lengthy red flags, we didn’t have any problems with tires sealing over but I was concerned with keeping the motor cool.  On the 3^rd yellow I originally didn’t know it was Kyle that flipped but when I found out on the radio I rode up to his car and he gave me a thumbs up which was a big relief for me.”

 “This was the best our car has been all year and without a doubt our best run of the season.  We made one change that made a big difference and everything on track went our way too.  Also, I didn’t come into the feature with a banged-up car and just had some trouble finding a way around a couple cars to get into the top five.”

Brett Gilmore finished 9^th from his 13^th starting position and continued to hold down 5^th place in the mid-season points standings only 13 points behind Cody Manmiller in 4^th.

Brett recalled “In the heat the car was fast and smooth, and we rolled from 9^th to 3^rd to secure a provisional spot in the feature.”

In the feature we started 12^th which was the best opportunity we had all season long.  Unfortunately, people were driving over their heads on lap 1 and Molly Struss got took out in front of the whole field and we were one of the other cars caught up in that incident.  The red flags bunched the field and helped us a little. We restarted 20th and just tried moving around gaining positions. The red flags bunched the field up and helped me a little.   My car was set up for the bottom and unfortunately the tires came out to the wrong size, and I had too much stagger.  Disappointing night to say the least.” 

Nathan Mohr finished 10^th from his 7^th starting position. Nat recalled “We had a good heat race going from 5^th to 3^rd which put us in the handicap for the feature.” 

“We started 7^th in the feature and got stuck on the outside.  We got some help from the red flag restarts and overall, we had a great night.”

To say this was a rough night for the sportsman division may be the understatement of the season.  It started in the heat races and went right to the four red flags in the feature with way too many cars flipping, on the hook, with extensive equipment damage, and not to mentioned dinged up drivers being checked out by medical staff.  At least five cars were involved in heavy tangles in the heat races and at least another eleven cars were involved in the four red flags during the feature with several cars being involved twice and some even three times.  This was the roughest night of the season by far and hopefully it will not be repeated any time soon.

Kyle Smith started 13^th and was on the leader Vaccaro’s bumper for six laps contending for the lead when he had a wheel fail, and his tire came off causing the rear to dig in and flip the car down the straight away.

 Kyle recalled “We had a great car in the heat and went from 9^th to take the win.  In the feature we were a little tight early, but when the moisture went away the car was perfect.  The early red flags did not give us any problems with tires sealing and actually gave our motor a chance to cool down as we have been running hot recently.  I was able to run the top to the bottom and get under three cars on one move.  I was a lap away from passing Joey.”

“I felt the car bounce once and then a second time when it dug in and knew I was going over.  I am really grateful that I had the good fortune of not getting hit by anyone coming down the front stretch.  At first look the car does not seem too bad and surprisingly was not beat up too bad except for some cosmetics and we will have to see about how damaged the rear is when we take it apart this week.  We were unlucky but then got lucky too.”

  Next up on Saturday, July 29 will be back to the weekly 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.