Modified Pit Notes 4/13/23 – Brett Kressley Rebounds to Modified Win at Grandview  

Brett Kressley drove from his 10^th starting position to first place in 14 laps to take his first win of 2024 and rebounding from an opening day crash & subsequent DNQ last week at the Bruce Rogers Memorial.

Polesitter Eric Biehn held a strong lead for 9 laps until Jared Umbenhauer took over the lead a few laps until Kressley charged from 10^th to 2^nd in the first 13 green flag laps and then took the over the lead from Jared Umbenhauer on the first restart of the night on lap 14.  Kressley then held off Mike Gular who in 2^nd and Jared Umbenhauer in 3^rd.

Heat race winners for the 41car modified field were Jared Umbenhauer, Brandon Edgar, Eric Biehn & Ron Harring.

 Michael Storms and Ryan Watt won the consolation races.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED VP RACING FUELS BRUCE ROGERS MEMORIAL FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):

1. BRETT KRESSLEY (10), 2. Mike Gular (14), 3. Jared Umbenhauer (1), 4. Alex Yankowski (13), 5. Jeff Strunk (16), 6. Duane Howard (17), 7. Mike Lisowski (8), 8. Eddie Strada (23), 9. Michael Storms (21), 10. Brandon Edgar (5), 11. Nate Brinker (4), 12. Craig Von Dohren(15), 13. Ryan Watt (22), 14. Jimmy Leiby (26), 15. Kevin Graver Jr.(20) , 16. Nick Rochinski (18), 17. Ron Haring Jr. (7), 18. Chris Esposito (27), 19. Doug Manmiller (24), 20. Justin Grim (11), 21. Tim Buckwalter (12), 22. Eric Biehn (2), 23. Louden Reimert (6) , 24. Brian Hirthler (4), 25. John Willman (9), 26. Jon Kellner (25), 27. Kevin Hirthler (19) , 28. Kyle Smith (28)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Chris Gambler, Bobby Trapper Jr., Carroll Hine III, Eric Kormann, Mike Laise, Ryan Grim, Frank Yankowski, Darrin Schuler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Ryan Beltz, Joe Funk, Bryan Rhoads, Ray Swinehart

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 4/13/24

Defending 2023 Grandview Modified champion Brett Kressley came into the 2^nd points race at the bottom of the points standings after an opening night DNQ and a wreck in lap 1 of his first heat race of the season.  Kressley’s crew & car were ready despite not having any 2024 laps in competition as they turned things around and literally went from worst to first with a win in their 2^nd race of the season.

In the feature Brett moved from 10^th to 2^nd in thirteen green flag laps and then took the lead from Jared Umbenhauer on lap 14 and the first restart of the night.  Brett held off 2^nd place Mike Gular for the remainder of the race to take his first 30 lap feature win of the season.

In victory lane Brett noted “Our good start in the heat was a big help to us in the feature.  The car worked well in the first 13 laps of the feature as we moved from 10^th to 2^nd under green then we took over the lead on a lap 14 after a restart.  In the final laps, I did see Gular’s nose in turn one and two, but I was able to pull away from him down the straightaways.”

Back at the trailer Brett “I was very happy with our first actual race with this car.  We definitely have room for improvement in our heat & feature setup, and we had a fairly generic baseline setup our first time in competition this year.  We are excited to see were our season goes from this point.”

Mike Gular posted a solid 2^nd place finish from his 14^th starting position and coupled with a 9^th place finish at the season opener.  Mike is off to a fast 2^nd place in the early season points standings.  Last season Mike missed four early season races and still posted four wins while attending only 13 of the 17 regular season points races.   

Post race at the trailer Mike noted “We got a couple of quick breaks getting through early traffic as well as some spots off the restarts.  We have been trying a few new things in hot laps and heat race that Ron is trying to get comfortable in the car for me.  In the feature Ron dialed in his usual stuff, our car was good and going forward anywhere I put it.  Tonight, we could have used one more caution which would have given me a good shot at Kressley.  This place is always tough, and tonight was top dominate with the 19K up on the top side again where he likes to be.”

Jared Umbenhauer rebounded from a just miss season opener DNQ & first alternate to post a solid 3^rd place finish from the pole position in the second points race of the season.

Jared finished 3^rd from his pole starting position.  Post race back at the trailer Jared stated, “Our hot laps didn’t start our too well with a vibration that we traced to the driveline which we were able to change out before our heat race with help from Craig Von Dohren’s crew.”  

“Well, this week was a lot better result than last week when we missed qualifying by one position, but we did benefit from last week with the pole position in the handicap for the heat race which we turned into a heat race win.”

“We also handicapped to the pole in the feature, but the pole position can be something you don’t really want since you don’t have any idea which line is best and what is going on behind you.  On the first restart at lap 13, I chose the top but the 19K got the jump from the bottom and took over the lead.  I had a problem getting the car to fire on restarts but once we got going, we held our own.”

“In the first two races this year the track was different from prior years as it has been slicked off and not as heavy in the past.”

Alex Yankowski returned for a second week in a row Rich Stankewicz’s 2rs and posted a 4^th place finish from his 13^th starting position which coupled with a 10^th place finish last week has landed Alex 4^th in the early season point standings.

Alex noted “We had a pretty smooth night from start to finish. The challenge of the night was to be able to keep up with the track and how it was changing.  Rich and I plan to continue to monitor the schedules and pick and choose some shows at Grandview this year.  I do enjoy coming to different tracks in the beginning of the year before the New York racing starts.”

“I think Grandview has some of the best track prep in Pennsylvania and they are the raciest track for a Spec Small block in the state of Pennsylvania. The track was very wide and slick, you can move all over the place which is great racing.”

Jeff Strunk finished 5^th from his 16^th starting position and continues to impress in his return driving the Norm Hansell 357 entry.  Jeff has already ripped off two early top five finishes at Grandview and sits atop the early season points standings.

Jeff reflected “It was a good solid night for us.  Anytime you start last in a heat race at Grandview; it’s priority number 1 to get to the 4^th and final handicap spot and we ran 3rd so that was a good start to our night. We passed a bunch of good cars early in the feature going from 16th to 7th by half-way through the feature, but we did get caught up in a skirmish that put us back a bunch of spots and bent the front end up.  So being able to run back up to a 3rd place finish was a good run all considered. Dale and Brandon Planck from Dig Shocks have done a great job with our shock and spring program.  We have been working with Mike Gular and Ron Seltman since the end of last year and into the beginning of this year and they have helped me a bunch.  Special thanks to Norm, Jay and my crew Dan, Jake, Wally, and Dave for their hard work to get us off to a solid start.  Hats off to Grandview track crew for giving us a great racetrack again despite some tough weather conditions and all the fans for their support through a cold and windy day.

Duane Howard posted another good outing in his return to Grandview with a 6^th place finish from his 17^th starting position.

Duane reflected “In our heat race we were a little off, and we made some big changes for the feature.  I felt we had a decent car in the feature, but we were just maybe just not quite as balanced as the we were the week before. The track has been very good, just a little too top dominant this early in the year. But we are very pleased with the speed we are showing and knowing we need to survive and finish every lap!”

Mike Lisowski finished a solid 7^th from his 8^th starting position.  Mike stated, “We had a solid night and were able to stay clean and out of trouble but ultimately we were just a little off with our setup in the feature from where we want to be.”

Eddie Strada finished 8^th from his 23^rd starting position.  Eddie started the night with an ill handling car in hot laps and his heat race which landed him in a consolation race were he finished 2^nd and qualified for the feature in the 23^rd starting position.  After some quick adjustment Eddie had a good back to front feature run to an 8^th place finish in a four caution feature race.

Eddie noted “Yeah, we’re working on a couple different set up changes that we’ve been liking for the feature.  I have started to drive the car a bit differently.  Alex Yankowski and Kevin Bates have been helping me with both setup & driving.  I seem to have figured it out last night or at least going in the right direction now.  I still have the sprint car mentality of tossing the car into the corner which uses my stuff up too early, unsettles the car and with coils once it starts bouncing it’s hard to get car to settle the car down.  I adjusted braking point in the feature and drove in straighter. I also used more front brake than normal and that seemed like we were good from beginning to end in the feature as a result of the driving changes.  We didn’t change a whole lot in the car, just the right things and I think we are going to look more into those things in the future which will hopefully get us up front every week.  We got a lot of help with our setup and driving tips from Doug Manmiller and Jeff Strunk.   Grandview is tough place with a great field of cars and anytime you’re in the top 10 it’s a good night.”

Michael Storms posted a 9^th place finish from his 21^st starting position in the Miller and Miller 28 entry and has qualified for the feature two weeks in a row.

Michael commented “In hot laps we were not very good, but we made adjustments, and the car was really good in the consolation and feature.  I’m getting back into the groove with driving again.  I’ve known Gary Miller for years and we finally got time to put something together.  We plan on racing weekly this season.”

Brandon Edgar finished 5^th from his 10^th starting position and qualified for his first modified feature at Grandview with a top 10 finish.  Brandon also posted his first modified heat race win in only his 2^nd career modified outing.

Brandon noted “I felt a lot better and more comfortable this week in hot laps than our first time in competition with a modified last week.  In the heat race, I watched Umbenhauer run the top but when I passed Swinehart for the lead running on the bottom I thought my best bet was to make them go the long way around me.  The car felt really strong, overdrove a couple corners but was happy to pick up our first modified heat win.”

“In the Feature we really missed the setup. I was incredibly tight, and the track just never came to me. The restarts in the middle of the race just killed us as we dropped behind some of the really experienced guys. All in all, our goal was to qualify, run every lap and hopefully come away with a top 10.  We were very happy with our night in our 2^nd race of the season.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 12^th from his 15^th starting position after getting a contact flat sending him to the pits and rear of the field.  Last season Craig’s worst finish in a points race was a 10^th so if history repeats, he has nothing but wins, top five and top ten ahead for the 2024 season. 

Louden Reimert ran as high as 4^th but on lap 13^th had a power steering hose break ending his night.

Eric Biehn made a lot of changes over the winter switching from alcohol to gas, a new Bicknell chassis and changing from bars to coils.  Eric is off to a good start with 2^nd alternate run at the opener in a field of 52 cars.  In his 2^nd week out, Eric won his heat race and led 9 laps of the feature until a mechanical failure on the lap 13 restart ended his night.

Eric noted “We are very happy with our early performance in the first two races with a baseline setup with a lot of new stuff so we will see what the car likes and are building our notebook as we go.  We had a very good car and despite the 19 and 19k getting by us I felt like we could run with them in lapped traffic.  On the first restart the lower jack shaft on the rear snapped so I was coasting on the front stretch without power.”

Doug Manmiller posted a DNF after moving to 11^th from 24^th in 17 laps but hit the yuke tire which was knocked onto the racing surface and broke his steering to end his night.

Next up on Saturday, April 20 will be a 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.