Grandview Modified Pit Notes 7/29/23 – Jeff Strunk Captures Saturday Modified Victory at Grandview Speedway  

Jeff Strunk passed Carroll Hine III for the lead on lap 20 and then checked out on 2^nd place Ryan Grim to take a 4 second margin into victory lane for his 95^th career win at Grandview Speedway.

The only caution of the feature flew on lap 2 for a heavy front stretch tangle which ended the night for Jesse Leiby, Eric Biehn and Ron Haring Jr.  After the lap 2 restart; Jeff Strunk moved from 13^th to first in 18 green flat laps of racing and then checked out to a 4 second lead in the final 10 green flag laps of the feature.  

Heat race winners for the 32 car modified field were Ron Haring Jr., Nate Brinker & Kevin Hirthler.

Chris Gamble won the consolation race.

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

1. JEFF STRUNK, 2. Ryan Grim, 3. Brett Kressley, 4. Mike Gular, 5. Jared Umbenhauer, 6. Doug Manmiller, 7. Carrol Hine III, 8. Mike Lisowski, 9. Nate Brinker, 10. Craig Von Dohren, 11. Ryan Watt, 12. Tim Buckwalter, 13. Darrin Schuler, 14. Eric Kormann, 15. Kevin Hirthler, 16. John Willman, 17. Justin Grim, 18. Eddie Strada, 19. Bobby Trapper Jr., 20. Jimmy Leiby, 21. Craig Whitmoyer, 22. WB James, 23. Chris Gambler, 24. Mark Kratz, 25. Ron Haring Jr., 26. Eric Biehn,  27. Jesse Leiby, DNS – Ray Swinehart

DID NOT QUALIFY: Chris Esposito, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Kevin Graver Jr., Mark Malcolm

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 7/29/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 13

Jeff Strunk finished 1^st from his 15^th starting position to take his first Grandview Saturday night points race win of the 2023 season.  His first Saturday points race win of 2023 comes almost to the day of his first win in the 2022 racing season and both were last Grandview race in July for their respective years of 2022 and 2023.

Jeff’s season has almost mirrored Craig von Dohren’s except his one 27^th place finish.  Craig has 10 top five finishes a 6^th, 9^th, and this week his worst finish of the season with a 10^th place in 13 points races.

Jeff also has 10 top five finishes along with a 7^th, 9^th, and the outlying 27^th place finish on June 17 when he was involved in a wreck early in the feature and suffered an DNF.

To tighten the points race up even more, Brett Kressley has also posted 10 top fives along with a 6^th, 11^th and 15^th.  When the math is all done, this week Brett Kressley has moved back into the points lead by a narrow 33 point lead over Craig Von Dohren with Strunk 3^rd about 300 points back in 3rd with six point races remaining.

In victory lane Jeff reflected “I like a dry slick track so tonight was right up my alley.  I just had to go where they  were not, so I made most my passes using the top lane.  We had a great car all night long and I could go anywhere I wanted to get around the lapped traffic.”

Back at the trailer Jeff stated “ The track was definitely to my liking tonight.  We have a great combination at Grandview when the track slows down and gets slippery like it did tonight.  After being very consistent all year, it was good to finally get a Saturday night win.  Like always the case at Grandview, you must be fast to catch some breaks to win and the breaks went our way tonight .  I narrowly missed the wreck which was the only caution of the feature.  We quickly got good track position and I had a very maneuverable race car in lapped traffic that helped us to go unchallenged.  We have made some changes in recent weeks with help from Dale and Brandon Planck of dig shocks & race products that has definitely helped us with the car’s setup this week.”

Ryan Grim finished 2^nd from his 11^th starting position and posted his second runner-up finish of the season.  Ryan also posted his 9^th top ten finish in his last 10 races to move up to 8^th in the points standings with only six races remaining. 

In the feature Ryan was up to 5^th by the second lap which was the only caution of the event.  By lap 13 Ryan moved into 2^nd place but he couldn’t move past  Hine for 2^nd or hold off Jeff Strunk as he past both Grim and Hine to take the win.

Ryan commented “We ran in the back for the entire heat race and after a lap 6 restart the car became better and I was able to pick off a few more spots and make it into the handicap for the feature.  The car was just awful until the first restart on lap 6 and then the car came to life.”

 “In the feature we had a great car early on and went from 11^th to 5^th by lap 2 which was also the only caution of the race.  I got held up a little after the restart with the top four cars running side-by-side.  I did get into a rhythm in 5^th and cruised around the bottom all night long trying not to make any mistakes. 

“Jeff was really good and probably would have passed me no matter what I did.  I think I may have been able to make it a little harder for Jeff if I could have gotten around the 114 sooner than I did, but it took me awhile to get around the 114 and by that time Jeff was gone with the lead.”

“The car wasn’t great but is getting better early week and we are going in the right direction.  We are taking a step in the right direction which isn’t bad for my first year on coils.  Tomorrow morning, we will pull the motor and it’s time to get our motor freshened up.”

Brett Kressley finished 3^rd from his out of the handicap 17^th starting position.  Brett moved back into the Grandview points lead and continues to lead the Big Diamond points standing by approximately 150 points.  With only six point races, Brett certainly has a chance to win both his first and second championships in 2023 with a Friday night championship at Big Diamond and a Saturday night championship at Grandview.  Only time will tell as the final six weeks of the season unfold one points race at a time.

In lap 1 of his heat race Brett made head on contact with a spinning car but was still able to finish in 6^th and qualify for the feature without going to the last chance consolation.

Brett reflected “The track threw us a curve in the heat race. We didn’t hit the heat race out of the park like we have in the past few weeks, but we qualified with a 6^th place finish and missed the invert.”

“We put our heads together and had a good well balanced car in the feature.  A caution would have helpful and may have given a shot at the win.  All in all, a 3^rd from 17^th in a 28 green flag race is one I’ll take every time.”

Mike Gular finished 4^th from his 24^th starting position.  Mike came into tonight with two consecutive wins at Grandview.  In the heat race Mike’s bid for his 3^rd straight win made an early turn for the worse when he was involved in a tangle which sent him to the pits with damage and he ended up finishing last in his heat race.”

In the consolation, Mike moved forward and qualified for the feature in 24^th starting position.   Mike’s pit crew had a busy night repairing the car for the consolation and then making changes for the feature in what was a very fast ten minutes of time between the consolation and feature.

After one caution on lap 2 and then 28 green flag laps; Mike finished 4^th from his 24^th starting position posting an extremely solid back to front run through the field.

Mike stated “We got into a jingle in our heat and had to head to the pits for repairs.  We were not able to make repairs quick enough and ended up riding the back to a  10^th place finish in the heat.  We  qualified through the consolation race but had a good car all night long and just had to overcome some bad luck early in the heat race.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 5^th from his 13^th starting position.  Jared posted his 4^th top five finish in a row which has moved him from tenth into a solid 6^th place in the points standings with six races to go this season.

Jared noted “The heat race went pretty good, and we went from 9th to 2nd.  The track conditions were very tricky last night, and it was a lot slicker than usual.  We didn’t make enough adjustments for the feature.  I knew I didn’t have a winning car when Strunk got by me, and I was just trying to hold on and get the best finish I could.”

Doug Manmiller finished 6^th from his 14^th starting position and posted his 3^rd consecutive 6^th place finish.

Doug reflected “In the heat race we made the invert for the feature and that is always a key to the night.  In the feature we were going good at the start but after we got into the fence we faded later in the race . I don’t think the long green hurt me, but the car seemed to drop off after we got into the fence which seemed to hurt our chances of going forward.”

Carroll Hine III finished 7^th from his 4^th position and posted his best finish of the season after moving into the lead for nine laps but then fading a bit to a 7^th place finish.  Carroll has two 7^th place finishes this season but two weeks ago his bad lucked peaked when he got wrecked during the parade lap before the green waived for the feature and ended up with a DNS.

Back at the trailer Carroll recalled “Our car didn’t run well last week.  We were able to make changes to the car this week because we didn’t have any damage from tangles to fix last week.  But through a tough season of racing luck, our car is starting to come around and this was our second 7^th place finish of the season.”

“For the heat our car stuck like glue, and we were able to stay up front with a 2^nd place finish.  We changed back to our original shock setup for the feature this week.”

“In the feature the track was slick, but we had a rocket of a car early and moved forward from 4^th to take the lead until lap 19.  By the end of the feature, we had no drive or side bite and was just hanging on until the end.  Dad blamed our tires, but I think it was our shock package giving up on us, so we’ll see what we find when we look at the car this week.”

Mike Lisowski finished 8^th from his 20^th starting position and currently sits in the top ten of points at both Grandview and Big Diamond while also posting consistent top five and top ten finishes each week at both tracks this season.

Mike stated “We just simple missed the setup in our heat race and I didn’t expect the track to be that slick.  We made some adjustments and had a good car in the feature. I was able to stay out of trouble and post a solid run this week after some bad luck in last week’s feature.”

Nate Brinker finished 9^th from his 4^th starting position posting his 2^nd top ten of the season along with his first win this year.  Motor troubles has plagued the team this season taking them out while leading a heat race by more than a full straight away and then losing their motor in the final laps of Nate’s first modified win at Grandview.  This week was a clean solid run which the #4 team hopes to be able to build off in time for the Forrest Rogers Memorial $10,000 race in two weeks.

Craig Von Dohren finished 10^th from his 18^th starting position.  Craig has 10 top five finishes this season along with a 6^th, 9^th and 10^th finishes which puts him 2^nd in the current points standings only 25 points behind Brett Kressley with six points races remaining in this season.

Timmy Buckwalter finished 12^th from his 12^th starting position driving the Breitenstein # 14 this week while his 23x was waiting on parts to repair a damaged rear from last week.

Timmy commented “We had a good heat race and made the invert.  In the feature we got the front end bent up on lap 2 so we didn’t get to show what the car could do in the feature but that’s part of racing.  Car felt good and you put yourself in the right positions that you can try to get out of but sometimes you just don’t.  We are waiting on parts for the 23X and expect to be back on track next week in the 23x.”

WB James made a change in plans while enroute to his home track of Bridgeport who cancelled due to weather conditions, so he simply made a few extra turns and rerouted to end up at Grandview for the first time this season.  A whirlwind and completely impromptu night turned out well for WB who qualified & finished in his first feature at Grandview.

WB commented “We left Delaware today heading to our home track of Bridgeport but halfway there we got word they cancelled.  We were all dressed up with no place to go so we made a few turns and added a few miles and headed to Grandview since we wanted to race today and were ready to do so.”

“We arrived late due to our change in plans and knew we were had a lot to do in a short time since we didn’t have the car ready for Grandview.  After the consolation, we didn’t have time to grind our tires and make all the adjustments we would have liked too, but we were very pleased to qualify for and finish the feature.  The track changes a lot more than what we are used to at Bridgeport.  It ended up being 7 hours round trip for us from Delaware, but we got some track time which is what we wanted tonight.   We left a lot of our adjustments on the table due to time restraints and are looking forward to returning for 76er weekend and getting some test and tune laps on Friday.”

After last week’s 9^th place finish Kevin Graver’s 7A entry was smoking a bit at the end of the feature so they pulled the engine last week and sent it to engine builder Gary Bouc to be checked out to hopefully avoid any major engine issues before they happen.  So, this week Kevin jumped in the seat of Brett Kressley’s brand new car and ran some shake down laps for Brett in the heat and consolation while he also was able to maintain his weekly handicap.

Kevin stated “We have our motor out to the engine builder for maintenance.  Ron Seltman of Fast Four Shocks let us know that Brett Kressley was looking for someone to shake down a brand new car this weekend.  With our engine issues, this turned out to be a win-win situation allowing me to maintain my handicap.  It was really a privilege to shake-down a car of this caliper and this experience can only help our program.  I can’t thank Brett and Ron enough for this opportunity to drive a 19K car and maintain our handicap at the same time.  We are hoping to have our 7A engine back by the Forrest Rogers Memorial.”

On Saturday August 5 will be Hall of Fame Night with 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.