Modified Pit Notes 6/08/24 Race # 6 – Brett Kressley Claims Second Grandview Modified Win of Season   

Brett Kressley posted his second modified win this season at Grandview moving from his 8^th starting position to overtake the lead from Justin Grim on lap 17 and then pull away from the field to take the checkered flag and his second trip this season to Grandview’s victory lane.

Polesitter Frank Yankowski led the first 7 laps until a lap 8 restart when Nate Brinker took over the lead.  Nate Brinker and Justin Grim had a fierce battle for the lead with several lead from lap to lap and even corner to corner until lap 17 when Brett Kressley moved through the middle of Brinker and Grim to take his first lead of the night.  Once in the lead, Kressley pulled away from the field to take the win over second place Kevin Hirthler and 3^rd place Jeff Strunk.     

Heat race winners for the 37 car modified field were Mike Lisowski, Jeff Strunk, Kyle Smith and John Willman.

Louden Reimert and Eddie Strada won the consolation races.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps):  (1) BRETT KRESSLEY, (2,) Kevin Hirthler, (3) Jeff Strunk, (4) Justin Grim, (5) Mike Lisowski, (6) Eddie Strada, (7) John Willman, (8) Carroll Hine III,  (9) Craig Von Dohren, (10) Louden Reimert, (11) Frank Yankowski, (12) Craig Whitmoyer, (13) Duane Howard, (14) Michael Storms, (15_ Jimmy Leiby, (16) Kyle Smith, (17) Jon Kellner, (18) Nate Brinker, (19) Jared Umbenhauer, (20) Tim Buckwalter, (21) Mike Gular, (22) Doug Manmiller, (23) Cody Manmiller, (24) Chris Gambler, (25) Ryan Grim, (26) Bobby Trapper Jr., (27) Ray Swinehart,(28) Chris Esposito

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bryan Rhoads, Mike Laise, Darrin Schuler, Kevin Graver Jr., Ron Haring Jr., Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Glenn Owens, Ryan Watt, Eric Kormann

HARD CHARGER: Jeff Strunk +13 (second week in row)

HALFWAY LEADER: Nate Brinker

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 6/08/24 Points Race # 6

Grandview’s 2023 defending modified champion Brett Kressley took the win from his 8^th starting position to post his second Modified win of the 2024 season at Grandview Speedway.

In victory lane Brett reflected “Everyone was side by side for a while and going the same speed with the top and bottom pretty much equal, and you had to pick your way through there.  Toward the end the track pretty much went down to the bottom.  Kevin was a little upset with some contact coming out of turn two, sorry about that, but he left a lane open and if you give up a spot, you’re probably not going to get it back so you just have to go for it when you can.  I laid back with Nate and Justin going at it for the lead, but then found my spot and just picked my way through to the lead.”

Back at the trailer Brett noted “We had some issues in the heat race with mud in the wheel so I just stayed conservative to not break the car.  Made some setup changes for the feature and the car was comfortable were I could go high or low in the feature.  I just played it easy as the guys up from (Brinker & Justin Grim) were in a heated battle and found my spot in the middle and went through to the front.”

 Kevin Hirthler finished 2^nd from his 9^th starting position posting his second runner-up finish of the season.

Kevin noted “This is my new ride. Ran it last week and the car lacked comfort and the balance was off in the car. Made 3 key adjustments this week to dial the car and engine in for hot laps and I could tell it was a different race car.  I timed fastest in my group in hot laps and ran well in heat race going from 7^th to 3^rd with the car working well both high and low.

“Made some minor adjustments for the feature and rolled off in the 9th position. The car was rolling really well from the drop of the green and I could tell right away it was a race to the front between Kressley and myself.  I had him passed two times and let him back by, then the track started to latch up on the bottom, so we had to move to the bottom late in the race and try to pull Kressley in.  I gained some ground on him but ultimately finished in second place. I am not completely satisfied with this new car yet, so we will work on some more little adjustments and get it dialed in to get a win. The lap 15 stuff with Brett was just two guys running hard for the win, good for the fans for sure, we talked after the race, and we are good.”

Jeff Strunk finished 3^rd from his 16^th starting position and continues to post nothing but top ten finishes or better but is still waiting on his first Grandview win of the season.  Jeff has the early season points lead by 192 points over Craig Von Dohren in 2^nd place and Duane Howard in 3^rd.

Jeff commented “In the heat race we had favorable cautions and was able to run 10^th to 1^st place.”

“In the feature we had another good solid run from 16^th to 3^rd.  We got a slow start and was only up to 12^th by the midway point at lap 15 but then got going in the final 17 green flag laps and pick off cars one by one and moving into 3^rd on the final lap.”

“It is tough being the points leader and having to pass all the good cars in the feature every week.  Got to thank crew for a good and passable track week after week and all the fans for their undying support.”

Justin Grim posted his best performance of the season with a 4^th place finish from his 4^th starting position. 

Justin noted “Our car was just as good last week except we didn’t get to finish last week because our driver had an encounter with the yuke tire that took the front end out.  In the heat we did what we had to and made the handicap which got us the 4^th starting position in the feature.”

In the beginning of the feature everyone was fighting for every inch. We got into a battle with Nate Brinker and swapped the lead back and forth until Kressley went through the middle and passed both of us on lap 17.  I’ve been good friends with Nate since he was five years old when I use to drive him around.  I ran him out of room, and he ran back up on me, and honestly, I would run my mom the same way for a win at Grandview.”

“On the last lap Jeff bated me by showing his nose and I bite, and he went around me to take 3^rd on the final lap.  This was great to get a the top five for the first time this year and get a baseline on how fast you have to be at the end of the feature to be able to run with the big dogs.  This will hopefully be our first step to elevate to the next level at Grandview and be able to run with the top ten and five cars.”

“I ran a used right rear tire and in retrospect wish I ran a new right rear to see what we could have done.  Got to thank my crew guys for putting a good car under me.  Also, a big thank you to all my sponsors who keep us on track week after week:

Spunktown Tavern

Hope Mortgage Team

Gabelsville Athletic Association

Stew’s Tire Center

Fast Four Racing Shocks

Nick’s Precision Machine

Alloy Wheel Repair

Mike Lisowski finished 5^th from his 6^th starting position.  Mike noted “We made progress in the right direction with our car and were much better this week than last week.  We can still get better and clean up a few things but we had a decent night after a rough start to this season for us.”

Eddie Strada finished 6^th from his 17^th starting position.  Eddie stated, “In the heat we found the right lane at the right time to get the last heat transfer spot to the feature.”

“In the feature Jeff and I started 16th & 17^th and by lap 11 we were still only forward about 3 spots, but in the final 17 green flag laps we both came to life and moved forward picking off cars under green.  Our car started to hang up late in the race, but we hung on for a 6^th place finish.”   

John Willman finished 7^th from his 5^th starting position and continues to post top ten finishes no matter where he is racing and that is a huge step forward from last year.

John stated “heat racetrack was to my liking with a black slick track that kept momentum going.  I worked both pedals and won the heat race.” 

In the feature, about halfway through, the track blew off and my car got better so I passed 5 or 6 cars one in the last green flag run.  I was fortunate to miss the wreck when Umbenhauer lost his tire on the restart because we got beat to the line by Buckwalter which put us on the outside for the restart instead of the inside and I had enough room to the top to miss the entire episode.   Everyone is fast and running hard with no pace and you can’t give up anything and must go right away.”

Carroll Hine III finished 8^th from his 2^nd starting position to post his best finish of the season.

Carroll reflected “Well our car was trash in the heat.  Someone got into me from behind and pushed me up and Ryan Watt hopped my tire, and he went airborne.  We were hanging in the corners, but we got lucky and made the handicap.  We changed the shock and spring rate for the feature.”

“In the feature the track was extremely fast and rubbered up on the bottom around lap 10.  I tried the top, but it was rough and like riding a bull.  At the end of the night the track was beautiful, and my car came in.  We finished 8^th and got some more work to do.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 9^th from his 13^th starting position and like prior seasons just keeps posting consistent top five and top 10’s week after week.  This week he jumped from 4^th to 2^nd in points behind point leader Jeff Strunk.  Craig had to go in for a flat on lap 7 and came back out and worked his way back through the field to a 9^th place finish.

Louden Reimert finished 10^th from his 21^st starting position and after a flat tire around lap 10 he was able to come back through the field to a 10^th place finish.

Craig Whitmoyer finished 12^th from 19^th starting position after getting heavy sheet metal damage in his heat race but he still finished and qualifying for the feature.   His crew did an outstanding job getting the car together for feature and sent him out with a car that looked like nothing happened in the heat race.

Craig reflected “The guys did a great job getting the car back together for the feature and we had a pretty good car in the feature.  We need a few more changes to get the car to race better at the end of the night and be able to put ourselves in the position that we need to be in on the final laps.  We will keep working at it.”

Cody Manmiller qualified for his first Grandview modified race this week since he lost his Crate motor last week.  Cody noted “I blew up the Crate last week and we love Grandview so we figured we would stay with the modified.  We are probably done with the Crate car.”

Doug Manmiller continued his great car with no luck 2024 season with getting sent to the pits with a hanging bumper and posted another DNQ after having another good car and solid run get away.

Nate Brinker led several laps and ran in the top three for the first 15 laps until a flat tire with 4 laps to go ended his night.

Jared Umbenhauer had a tire failure turn him in the center of turn 1&2 leading to a pile in tangle that ended the night for three top ten points drivers – Jared Umbenhauer, Mike Gular and Timmy Buckwalter.

Ryan Watt got airborne and hard wall contact in his heat race but walked away without injury. The car was heavily damaged and finished for the night.

Next up on Saturday, June 15 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.  Pit gates open at 4:00 and Spectator gates at 5:00 with hot laps at 6:00 and racing at 7:30.