Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 8/05/23 – Brad Grim Makes Late Pass for Grandview Sportsman Win

Kenny Bock took the early lead only to see Nat Horn take over the lead position on lap 8 and checkout on the field.  Nat checked out and extended his lead to 2.5 seconds on lap 17 but that’s when second place Brad Grim began reeling Horn in each lap until Grim moved into the lead on lap 24 and drove into victory lane for the win.

Heat race winners for the 36 car sportsman field were Kenny Bock, Addison Meitzler, Dylan Swinehart, and Joey Vaccaro.

Jesse Hirthler and Ryan Graver won their consolation races.

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

1. BRAD GRIM, 2. Nathan Horn, 3. Addison Meitzler, 4. Kyle Smith, 5. Kenny Bock, 6. Mike Schneck Jr., 7. Logan Watt, 8. Joey Vaccaro, 9. Brian Hirthler, 10. Parker Guldin, 11. TJ Mayberry, 12. Michael Burrows, 13. Cody Manmiller, 14. Decker Swinehart, 15. Dylan Swinehart, 16. Logan Bauman, 17. Jesse Hirthler, 18. Ryan Graver, 19. Nathan Mohr, 20. Adrianna Delliponti, 21. Ronnie Solomon, 22. Molly Struss, 23. Steve Young, 24. Kyle Hartzell, 25. Zane Roth, 26. Mark Gaugler, 27. Brett Gilmore

DID NOT QUALIFY: Mark Mohr, Tyler James, Zach Steffey, Brandon Banos, Colton Perry, Nick Faust, Monte Pool, Bastian Miller, Tom Miller Jr.

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES –  8/05/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 13

Brad Grim took the win from his 8^th starting position.  On lap 15 Brad moved into 2^nd behind leader Nate Horn who was leading by over 2.5 seconds. But in 9 laps Grim closed the gap and passed Horn on lap 24 for the lead and his first win of the season. Brad was the 12 different winner in 13 races at Grandview with only Logan Watt winning twice this season.

In victory lane Brad reflected “It’s been a while and we just needed a decent handicap and here we are in victory lane.  After all the tangles and breakage this year; this win couldn’t have come at a better time for this team.”

“I really didn’t think I had a shot at the Nate with five to go but then he slowed up for some reason.  I showed Nate my nose underneath and he went to the bottom to block as I expected so I went to the top and got by him for the lead with one lap to go.”

Back at the trailer Brad noted “We finally got out of the back of the field and into the handicap this week in both the heat and feature.  The car didn’t feel good in the heat, so we made some changes for the feature and apparently they were the right ones as the car was really good.”

In the feature I really thought I lost the race when it took me too long to get around the 88.  I got into 2^nd with 10 laps to go and Horn was out there, but I keep hitting my marks and running my race.  With five to go I could see him tighten up in the center and I started to run harder, and I was getting closer to Nate every lap.  I tried the bottom and showed my nose and Nate decided to plug the bottom which I knew that was coming so I went to the top and into the lead. The track slicked off on the bottom and that’s just the way I like it.  Tonight’s win makes a tough season all worth it now.”

Nate Horn finished 2^nd from his 3^rd starting position after leading 20 laps of the feature and posting a podium finish for the second week in a row.

Nate commented “In the heat I started pole and finished 2^nd after the pole sitter was a DNS.  That set us up another good handicap in the feature to a 3^rd starting position.  On lap 8 I passed Kenny Bock for the lead.  The race stayed green, and I opened up a sizeable lead but with about five laps to go the car wasn’t the same and I began to miss my marks. Brad made sizeable gains and he got under me coming to the white flag and he took the lead on lap 24.  A 2nd is our best finish of the season and just one spot off where we want to be.  We started a streak of podium finishes in the last two weeks and hopefully we can continue the streak and move up one spot.”

“Kudos to Brad and 611 for a well-deserved win after having a rough stretch this season in the past month or so.”   

Addison Meitzler finished 3^rd from his 12^th starting position.  Addison has moved into 5^th place in the points standings and within 12 points of 4^th place Cody Manmiller with 5 weeks to go in the 2023 points season.  Addison has posted 3 top five finishes in his last 4 races with one was a win.

Addison noted “We had an interesting day, and this podium finish was one that the crew earned for us today.  In our heat race we won a caution less heat from our 7^th starting position but broke the drive shaft coming to the checkered flag.”

We fixed the driveshaft and went back to our basic setup for the feature.  In the feature the track was full of bite which made it hard to make passes since everyone was fast, but I was still able to drive to the front and just ran out of laps.”

Kyle Smith finished 4^th from his 17^th starting position. Kyle currently maintains a solid 3rd in the Grandview sportsman points standings with only five races remaining in the season.

Kyle reflected “The heat race was strange with cars in the back of the field spinning and tangling to the point we ended up with a single file restart with only 6 cars. It so happened that I was in 6^th and only 5 were qualifying.  Everyone was running around the bottom on a very heavy heat 1 track so on the restart, so I went to the top and got into 5^th on the final lap and qualified without having to go to the consolation.”

“In the feature I tried the top early but ended up staying on the bottom for the majority of the race.  There was a jingle on the top it was sliding down the track when the 97 hit Addison Meitzler’s back wheel which saved me from getting hit by inches.  The track started taking rubber and I was hoping for a double file caution with about 5 to go but didn’t get it.  Still able to use the bottom and get one more spot to a 4^th place finish on the night.”

Kenny Bock finished 5^th from his 4^th position.  Last week Kenny had the rear and drivetrain blow apart so violently that debris burned his driving socks.  Kenny didn’t even expect to be able to have the car repaired for this week.  But once again dad’s will, found a way and it paid off with their third 5^th place finish of the season.

Kenny stated “In the heat we were able to take the lead from our 3^rd starting position on a bottom lock down track. There were a lot of late cautions which I can do without when I’m leading.  There were so many cautions the last one was single file, but we still won the heat and handicapped to 4^th starting position in the feature.”

“In the feature we took the early lead, and I just went to the bottom too soon and it came back to bite me as I quickly got passed by the top.  The bottom just scrubbed off too much speed and I had to settle into 4^th.  On the last restart I tried the middle and lost a spot to Kyle to finished with a 5^th place finish.”

Mikey Schneck finished 6^th from his 10^th starting position for his best outing since changing to his Big Diamond crate car two weeks ago after frame damage sidelined his regular #2 Grandview sportsman motor entry.

Mikey noted “The heat race went OK.  It was heavily watered when we went out for the first heat of the night, and I was on the outside.  I backed off the start and went high and around three cars early and rode to the checkered to put myself in the handicap.”

“This was only our 2nd race with a completely different car and a crate motor at Grandview. Jason and my dad already have the set up where it needs to be.  In the feature, I started on the outside and got around some cars early.  I went on the bottom and got stuck behind some slower cars and a couple cars went around me on the top until I was able to get going again.  The track slicked off after about 10 laps.  We were all bunched up and I had a good back and forth race with Logan Watt.  Good clean back and forth racing that was actually a lot of fun.  I’m happy to break out of a bad two-week jingle slump and to already have the crate motor in the top ten at Grandview after only two weeks on track.”

Logan Watt finished 7^th from his 15^th starting position and continued to add to his over 400 points lead with five races to go in the season.  Logan is the only Grandview sportsman driver with two wins this season.  He has seven podium finishes; 5 top ten finishes and one finish in 11^th so consistency has not been a problem even though he consistently starts 15^th or further back.

Joey Vaccaro finished 8^th from his 5^th starting position to post his third straight top ten finish.  Joey commented “The past three weeks have been great with 3 top ten finishes in a row along with 3 heat wins in a row and a straight car at the end of the night.  I can’t complain one bit considering everything we went through earlier this year from a totaled car to blowing up our number one motor.  We have turned the corner with our last resort motor which is an eight-year-old crate motor that has given us amazing results in the last three races.  In the feature I slowly fell back to 8^th as the track slicked off which I didn’t expect, and I was only one adjustment off from the car being better for the feature.”

Brian Hirthler finished 9^th from his 14^th starting position.  Brian noted “Track was pretty good in heats with two lanes.  In the feature I was good but didn’t have any restarts go my way and the track made it difficult to make up a ton of track position otherwise.  We were passing cars but took about 3-4 laps to pass a car which was just too much time to make a hard run to the front this week.”

Parker Guldin finished 10^th from his 6^th starting position posting two solid weeks in a row after two months of  mechanical issues, wrecks, DNQ’s and back of the field finishes. 

Parker noted “We lost a few positions in the final laps but all in all we are very happy with a back-to-back top ten finishes after going through two months of attrition.  We hope to finish the season out with 5 weeks of strong top five runs and of course a strong showing at the season ending 38er.”

TJ Mayberry finished 11^th from his 24^th starting position.

TJ recalled “I got a bad start in the heat race and continued to pick the wrong lane which quickly shuffled me back. The car felt good but lost too much track position.  Made some minor changes before the consolation.  The car felt really good on the bottom and when I moved to the top it felt even better.

“Starting 24th in the feature, I knew I would have to be cautiously aggressive.  I had a great initial start and held my line on the bottom.  We had a great car all the way through the feature.  I wish I tried the high side; but overall 24th to 11th in an only two caution feature was a huge win for us without one panel on the car bent.  We had a rough previous two weeks filled with tangles and hard contact, so this week felt great and couldn’t come at a better time for us.”

Next on Saturday August 12^th will be the 53^rd annual 50-lap Forrest Rogers Memorial paying $10,000 to win, plus the NASCAR Sportsman and fireworks.  The program will consist of qualifying races leading up to the 50-lap Modified and 25-lap Sportsman main events with racing starting at 7:30 P.M.