Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 8/19/23 – Kyle Smith Rolls to Second Grandview Sportsman Win of Season

With the first 18 laps under green flag conditions; Kyle Smith stormed to the front of the field from his 12^th starting position and on lap 14 passed Mark Gaugler for the lead and then cruised into victory lane for his second win of the 2023 season.

Heat race winners for the 35 car sportsman field were Dylan Swinehart, Brad Grim, Nick Faust, and Kaitlyn Bailey.

Nathan Mohr and Jesse Hirthler won the consolation races.

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

1. KYLE SMITH, 2. Ryan Graver, 3. Mark Mohr, 4. Brian Hirthler, 5. Addison Meitzler, 6. Dylan Swinehart, 7. Nathan Horn, 8. Logan Bauman, 9. Mike Schneck Jr., 10. Jesse Hirthler, 11. Mark Gaugler, 12. Kenny Bock, 13. Nathan Mohr, 14. Cody Manmiller, 15. Brett Gilmore, 16. Logan Watt, 17. TJ Mayberry, 18. Nick Faust, 19. Kaitlyn Bailey, 20. Tom Miller Jr., 21. Molly Struss, 22. Brad Grim, 23. Adrianna Delliponti, 24. Kyle Hartzell, 25. Parker Guldin, 26. Keith Haring

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bryan Rhoads, Ronnie Solomon, Nicholas Hamm, Brandon Banos, Bastian Miller, Joey Vaccaro, Steve Young, Monte Pool, Brad Arnold

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES –  8/19/23 NASCAR POINTS RACE # 14

Kyle Smith finished 1^st from his 12^th starting spot to post his second win of the season.  Kyle ran 13 laps dead on the bottom and then switched and ran 12 laps dead on the top to the checkered flag.  On lap 8 Kyle went into turn 1 in 6^th, he stayed on the bottom and went into a four wide and came out of turn 2 in 3^rd place.  In the final five laps, Kyle gained separation from a strong 2^nd place Ryan Graver and took a 1.5 second margin of victory to the checkered flag.  

In victory lane Kyle stated “We switched to our 602-crate motor for this week instead of our usual 604 crate motor.  This is only the second time we have raced the 602 at a regular Saturday Grandview race and we have won both times we had it out.”

“The track was extremely racy, and I could just drive the car hard into the turns.  The bottom was really good early, so I stayed there until I got to the leader, and he protected the bottom which left the top wide open and I found it had real good grip up there at mid-race.  I figured the bottom would go away, so I just stayed up on the top and it worked out.”

Back at the trailer Kyle noted “The 602-motor car we used tonight was faster and better than our regular Saturday weekly car.  I knew this car was fast in hot laps.  In the heat race I wasn’t driving hard enough early and had to move up three spots in the last 2 laps to get the last handicap spot.”

“In the feature I ran the bottom in the beginning of the race and then went four wide to pass three cars at once coming out of turn two moving into 3^rd place. I stayed on the bottom to run down the two leaders Mohr and Gaugler.   The leader Mark Gaugler was protecting the bottom, so I went to the top and found the grip up there and made the pass for the lead.  The grip was so good up there I just stayed on the top right to the checkered flag.”

“There were three restarts around lap 18 and the first one was scary with Mark Mohr jumping the start from 2nd but fortunately it was called back.  The other two were single file and didn’t present any problems whatsoever.”   

Ryan Graver finished 2^nd from his 10^th starting position to post his 3^rd podium finish of the season.

Ryan commented “I definitely think tonight was a battle of being on top of the track and prepared for any changes as the developed.  In the heat race I settled in and just tried to capitalize off mistakes by other drivers which paid off with a 4^th in the heat and a handicap spot into the feature.  This was the first time in weeks that I’ve qualified straight through from the heat race, but I also finished in the handicap, so we were really excited to finally get to start in our best possible starting position in the feature.”

“Come feature time I got to start 10th which was a major factor that played into our 2^nd place finish.  I felt we had a car that could win, it was just a mixture of being a little more aggressive, not over driving the car, and fixing some minor mistakes including nearly spinning out in front of the field which was terrifying to say the least.  Overall, we had a good race with a lot of clean side by side racing.  It’s always fun to race side by side with guys like Horn, Smith, Hartzell, and many other drivers because they always give me a lot of respect on track.  You can run side by side with a lot of these guys here, and you’ll never touch once, which is very hard to have anymore.  I was happy to bring home another solid run and looking to just bring some momentum every week for the rest of the year.”

Mark Mohr finished 3^rd from his 6^th starting position to post his best finish of the season.  Mark started the season off with a 12^th place finish opening night but from there it was tough sledding for the 20M team with mechanical issues, parts failures, jingles, bad racing luck and just the bumps and bruises that come along with Grandview racing for the rest of the season until tonight.

Mark reflected “We have fought mechanical issues for week after week or was involved in accidents that I had nowhere to go or had just plain bad luck.  I felt pretty good in heat race with the car was hooked up around the bottom and just didn’t have a good start.”

“We made adjustments for feature that hooked the car up around bottom for the first 5-10 laps and we went from 6th to 2nd in 3 laps.   The car got loose on the end of the long run 18 lap run and we ended up finishing third.  It felt good to finally get a podium run that we knew was long overdue this year.  We going to try to finish the last three races of the season and 76er with staying in the top 5 every week to close out the season.”

“Beginning of July, we put our new crate motor in the car, and it seemed like we had a jinx of some kind every week for five weeks.  First it was a bad carburetor, then a bad fuel pump, got in a tangle the next week while running in the top ten and seemed to always be something in July.  This was our best outing of the year and now that the monkey is finally off our back, we are hoping to just close season out with a bunch of good runs.”   

Brian Hirthler finished 4^th from his 13^th starting position.  Brian was able to avoid disaster twice by missing sideways cars that were right in front of him early on in the feature.

Brian noted “We have been working on our heat setup in the last few weeks and seem to have a good combination for the heat right now.  We were good in the feature, lost a few spots early which is normal for how I race.  The car really came in and then I made some moves into the top ten.  I probably needed to be up a spot in 4^th to have a chance at the win.  I was making pass for 3^rd at the line but came but about 3 feet short.  We found a few things in the car so we should be better in the last few weeks of the season.”

The Hirthler family posted a 2^nd with Kevin in the modified; a 4^th with Brian in the sportsman car and a 10^th by Jesse rounding out a night with all three family drivers with top ten or better finishes.

Addison Meitzler finished 5^th from his 16^th starting position posting his 4^th top five finish in his last 5 races and moving up into 4^th into the season points with three races remaining.

Addison stated “We were in heat 1 and you couldn’t pass much under the track conditions and didn’t make the invert which make the feature twice as hard from the back.  In the feature we had a real good car going to 6^th from 16^th in 18 green flag laps.   Got one more spot on a single file restart to finish 5^th.”

Dylan Swinehart is waiting for his motor to return for his 74 modified ride but in the meantime, he’s having fun racing his new Crate motor car in the sportsman division.  This week he finished in 6^th from his 8^th starting position and picked up two spots on the final lap.

Dylan noted “Got off to a real good start in the heat with a fast car and I was able to pick my way through to a win.  In the feature my car was too tight and on lap 2 and my RF break line got a hole in it which I didn’t even know it.  I lost like 90% of brakes, so I couldn’t slow the car enough to keep the car around the bottom since the car was also tight. But fortunately, when the track started to slick off, I could make some moves towards the end of the race after falling back to 13^th in the early going.  Got two more spots on the very last lap to move from 8^th to 6^th.”

Nate Horn finished 7^th from his 7^th starting position and posted his third consecutive top ten finish after a rough first part of the season.

Nate stated “Our car was loose all night and I couldn’t really make any ground in the heat on a single lane heat racetrack.  For the feature made some adjustments and the car was still loose but was rolling good in the beginning and moved into the top five until the track slicked off.  Started 7th and finished 7^th, so we will take it. Hopefully we can continue this stretch of good luck and the string of three top ten finishes in a row.”

After a couple of weeks of mid-pack finishes Logan Bauman finished 8^th from his 11^th starting position and returned to moving forward and finishing in the top ten.  He continues to hold 8^th place in the season points with only three races remaining.

Mike Schneck finished 9^th from his 19^th starting position in only his 3^rd outing in his 602 crate entry since the sportsman car was destroyed about a month ago.  Mike hopes to put the sportsman motor in the Crate car for this upcoming week.

Mike reflected “Our heat race was good as we got the final transfer spot.  I knew I got into 4th and just kept trying the bottom while also trying to stay clean.  I saw Brian (Hirthler) on the top and ran next to him for a couple laps.  I was hoping Kenny Bock would go high to break Brian’s momentum and it would open the bottom enough for me to go by underneath.  It didn’t happen and I ended up missing the handicap but did qualify for the feature.”

“I will always applaud the track crew for going out and working the track like they did tonight for us; especially after a 50-lap feature for the mods and fireworks.  Some people said leave it alone and didn’t want the prep, but we always have less spin out wrecks with very minimal tire wear when the track is worked and or watered.  The field bunched up at first and then after couple laps you could really get going.  The first caution didn’t come out until lap 18.  After the second restart I saw the cars started turning so I just stayed straight and was able to make it through a six-car tangle.  My tires resealed and I couldn’t get going for the final single file restart, but I was able to pass another car late in the race and finish 9^th.”

“Our open motor pulls better off the corners and I know we would have finished better if we had the open motor tonight.  After three weeks of racing the crate motor; I now know where I stand when we go exclusively crate racing next year.  I’m going to try to swap motors this week and put our sportsman engine back in the car.”

Jesse Hirthler finished 10^th from his 21^st starting position and continues to hold his 7^th place in the season long points championship with three weeks of racing to determine the 2023 sportsman points champion.

Jesse recalled “In the heat I started 6th and filed in line.  I am getting on a streak of making mistakes in the heat races and want to work on cleaning them up heading into the last couple of races of the season. This mistake cost me a position and finishing 7th putting me 3rd in the consolation.   In the consolation, I just wanted to get to the top line and see what I had up there because I was kind of boxed in on the bottom.  I finally was able to move to the top and it turned into a consolation win.”

“In the feature I started out back in 21st.  A couple cars passed me as I was taking it easy on the lookout for wrecks, but things settled in I started clicking them off one by one.  On the restart with 7 to go; I was 16th or 17th, and after the wreck took out a bunch of cars, I was 11th on the final restart and passed another car to finish 10th.  Overall, a good night given our starting position.  Wish I would stop making mistakes in the heat races, but it is what it is, and we will regroup, make some changes, be back for next week, and hope for a better outcome!

Mark Gaugler finished 11^th from his pole starting position.  After breaking his crate motor last week Mark returned with his crate car this week.  Mark had an encouraging night with leading for 13 laps and staying in the top five for 18 of the 25 laps.  A late driver error and wall contact relegated Mark to an 11^th place finish but was still his best finish of the season.

Mark stated “Yes, my tires sealed over on the restarts, and I tagged the wall on the backstretch which tweaked my suspension. We have the car dialed in tonight, and with some small tweaks and I should be getting better every week as we head toward the end the year.  Last week I blew the motor in my torsion bar car so this week I have the crate motor car which is on coils.”

The feature race was run with only 3 cautions all on lap 18 & 19.  A big tangle collected last week’s winner Brad Grim as well as Cody Manmiller, Logan Watt, Brett Gilmore, and Adrianna Delliponti who are all currently top ten in the points standings.

Logan Watt was running in 7^th when he made contact during the big tangle of cars on lap 18 which gave him a flat tire, a trip to the pits and the rear of the field.  Logan returned from the pits and finished 16^th which maintained his 300 plus point lead over Brian Hirthler with three races to go in the season.

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.