Grandview Modified Pit Notes 6/22/24 Race # 8 – Louden Reimert Battles Kressley to Checkered Flag and Scores 3rd Win of the Season  

Louden Reimert battled through six restarts and held off Brett Kressley’s final ten laps charge for the lead to take his 3^rd trip to Grandview’s victory lane this season out of eight regular season points races.

Eric Kormann took a strong early lead until the 3^rd caution brought him back to the field and Louden Reimert took over the lead on lap 15.  Reimert had to hold off a hard charge from Brett Kressley in the final ten laps with the final five laps being virtually side by side with Louden holding the slimmest of leads at the checkered flag.

Heat race winners for the 36-car modified field were Doug Manmiller, Ron Haring, Eric Kormann and Frank Yankowski.

Ryan Grim and Mike Gular won the consolation races.

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

1.) LOUDEN REIMERT (9), 2. Brett Kressley (10), 3. Doug Manmiller (11), 4. Jeff Strunk (25), 5. Jared Umbenhauer (13), 6. Justin Grim (7), 7. Ryan Watt (20), 8. Eric Kormann (2) , 9. Frank Yankowski (4), 10. Jimmy Leiby (8), 11. John Willman (6), 12. Duane Howard (14), 13. Craig Von Dohren (16), 14. Carroll Hine III (5), 15. Eddie Strada (15), 16. Mike Gular (22), 17. Eric Biehn(24), 18. Ryan Grim (21), 19. Michael Storms (28), 20. Kevin Hirthler (12), 21. Tim Buckwalter (19), 22. Kevin Graver Jr. (23), 23. Jon Kellner (17), 24. Darrin Schuler (1), 25. Mike Lisowski (18), 26. Ron Haring Jr. (26), 27. Chris Esposito (26), 28. Craig Whitmoyer (28)

DID NOT QUALIFY:

Ray Swinehart, Ryan Beltz, Bryan Rhoads, Cody Manmiller, Bob Trapper Sr., Kyle Smith, Mike Laise, Michael Toth

HARD CHARGER: Jeff Strunk +21

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 6/22/24 Points Race # 8

Louden Reimert took the win from his 9^th starting position and posted his 3^rd Grandview in 8 races this season after returning to Grandview as his Saturday night home for the 2024 season.  At Grandview Louden has posted wins from 6^th, 6^th, and 9^th place starting positions and these wins have moved Louden into 9^th the early season points standings.

In addition, Louden was able to post back-to-back Friday-Saturday night wins with a win at Diamond on Friday and then Grandview on Saturday.  Louden took his Friday night win at Big Diamond by coming through the field from 17^th starting position to take his first Big Diamond win of the season.

In victory lane Louden reflected “It was definitely hard racing tonight and with being the leader there is no telling where the cars behind you are at.  Once you get out there you just have to try to conserve and run a balanced line and not to jump the top and let everyone by you on the bottom or not make a mistake on the bottom and let everyone by on the top.  Once we got out in front, we felt confident and when Brett showed his whole car, I knew he was there.   The final five laps were a workout and I’m ready to go home and go to bed.  In our return home this season to Grandview I never dreamed we would win three races before the half way point of the season.  We will keep working hard and stay consistent from week to week.”

Back at the trailer Louden noted “Both Friday at Diamond and Saturday at Grandview started out pretty typical and we got through qualifying smoothly with no problems. The track at diamond on Friday was the raciest it’s been all year with multiple grooves which made it possible to come through the pack. As usual Grandview had another racy track for the feature. I just stayed patient and picked my way to the front then until I had to contend with Kressley in the closing laps.  I was just searching around trying to find the best line once I got out front.”

“It’s pretty special to win this many races this early in the season but we just have to keep our heads down and keep working hard to keep the good finishes coming.”

Brett Kressley finished 2^nd from his 10^th starting position and ran side-by-side with Louden Reimert in the final five laps of the race.  After last week’s disappointing DNQ, Brett was right back on point in the heat race and made the invert with a 3^rd place finish.

Brett noted “We fixed the car, and it turned out to be much better this week.  We just didn’t adjust enough for the feature and were too free at the end of the race.”

Doug Manmiller finished 3^rd from his 11^th starting position.   Doug continues to have a strong and solid car every week and finally has his racing luck has improve enough to finish in a podium position.  Doug also continues to climb in the early season points standings each week and now sits in the 7^th place in the modified points standings.

Doug noted “The car was good in the heat.  I found a good passing lane and the car felt really good.  We were just a little off from the first two in the feature and they were just better, but we were still happy and are gaining confidence back in our car and driver.”

Jeff Strunk finished 4^th from his 25 starting position to continue his string of top five and top ten finishes on Saturday racing at Grandview this year.  Jeff also padded his points lead to nearly 300 points over 2^nd place Craig Von Dohren.”

The heat race was a tough draw as Jeff was his in his usual last place starting position but to add to the difficulty degree on this night, he was also in the first heat with no cautions which lead to a 7^th place finish in his heat and a trip to the consolation race where Jeff qualified into the 25th starting position in the feature.

The feature had 6 cautions that re-racked the field and gave Jeff opportunities to continue to move through the field.

Jeff commented “It’s always competitive at Grandview but this year more so with car counts up and every high-profile car staying home this year or returning home to Grandview.  In both heat and feature every lap is more intense than ever.  The track has been very technical but there are so many good drivers and cars with a lot of experience and success that it’s got to be hands down the best racing for the fans ever.  It’s extremely hard to be the points leader when you have Reimert, Strada, Manmiller, Buckwalter, Umbenhauer, Watt, Von Dohren, Howard, Gular and Kressley all in front of you and 30 laps to try to get to the front.  So, getting 4^th tonight was a solid run for us especially coming from the 25^th starting position.”

Jared Umbenhauer continues to string together top 5/10 finishes with another 5^th place finish from his 13^th starting position.  Jared continues to edge his way forward each week in the early season points standings and is currently in the 5^th position in the points standings.

Jared reflected “In the heat we used the bottom and went where they weren’t to get into the feature.”

In the feature the car was really good early, actually too good early because in the last ten laps I was just hanging on to stay where we were.  We had good grip on the restarts, but the carb had a blubber on the restarts, and it was a miracle we were able to hang onto 5th through 6 double file restarts.”

Justin Grim finished 6^th from his 7^th starting spot and posted his 3^rd consecutive top ten finish.

Justin stated “Hot laps and the heat race went fairly smooth, just need to get a bit better on the feature setup and passing cars especially early in the race.  Still an overall good night, and I am thankful to everyone that helps me to be able to have a car that performs at this level right now.”

Ryan Watt finished 7^th from his 20^th starting position.   It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Ryan with the Bicknell being junked a few weeks ago from heavy wall contact and forcing him to pull the backup Troyer out into service again on Saturday night.   Ryan did well with the Troyer 2^nd time out and was on his way to a top three finish when he had a flat tire with only 6 laps to go last week.

Ryan reflected “We had a flat in the feature last week while running 2^nd and this week picked right back up where we left off with another flat tire in hot laps to start the night.  In the heat the car was not good and did not handle with any consistency.  By chance Eric Kormann found a bind in the radius rods and that was our problem in the heat.”

“In the feature I was not confident in the car at the beginning.  Jeff & Gular got by me, but I got more comfortable as the race progressed.  We were able to move from our 20^th starting position to 7^th.  We will start working on getting a new Bicknell but in the meantime, we are using the Bicknell for parts to keep the Troyer going.”  

Eric Kormann finished 8^th from his 2^nd starting position posting his best finish of the season in the Bailey 81.  Eric lost a motor a few weeks ago which kept the Bailey 81 entry from attending the Eastern Storm Thunder on the Hill race.   Eric rolled out his #16 for the first time this year.  The moons aligned and Eric ran up front all night and took the $5,000 Thunder on the Hill win.

Eric noted “We have been working bugs and gremlins out of the Bailey 81 car all season. I think I picked the wrong tire choice and didn’t have the car tighten up enough. We were just happy to put an entire night of racing in with this car.  It was great to have no mechanical issues and just be able to focus on going faster.  The car felt good all night until the second half of the feature when we faded toward the back, but it felt like we finally have some to work with for the rest of the season.  This season’s struggles have been many different things with the worst being breaking a motor 2 weeks ago.  Most of the things that have happened this season have been out of our control and flat-out bad luck.  We look forward to building from what we finally have now and are looking to put the 81 in victory lane later this season.”

“I would like to thank several folks who helped and were instrumental in the Thunder on the Hill win.  First, Dietz and Watson who have been partners with us for many years.  2^nd, Dan Sommeling and Danny’s Pizza Pizzazz for always being there and helping me get back out there no matter what.  And then there’s Dennis Bailey who gave me the weekly ride at Grandview which gave me the Grandview experience necessary to be able to pull off the Thunder on the Hill win in my car.  Lastly but not least my family for their constant support.”

Frank Yankowski finished 9^th from his 4^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.

Frank reflected “Glad to get a top ten tonight.  We were really good in hot laps and also in the heat which we won.”

“In the feature we are still trying to figure this place out and find some consistency during the features.  We lose a few spots and gain a few spots and struggle on restarts a bit.  This is the first time this year we have been able to stay in the top ten and that should give us a good baseline to improve on our feature performance in future weeks.”     

Jimmy Leiby finished 10^th from his 8^th starting position and posted his best finish of the season.  Jimmy has qualified in all 8 races this season and currently sits 12^th in the point standings.

Jimmy noted “We have struggled the past few weeks and have not able to put together a good run in both the heat and feature on the same day.  We have thrown everything at it and tried many different things but still no improvement in the car until this week.  This week we went with a new suspension set up that we trial ran at New Egypt on Tuesday with our sportsman car.”

“In hot laps the car was a little unpredictable, so we made some changes for the heat race.  We went from 6th to 4th and that was the best the car handled all year.”  The feature was good even with a spin out I was able to rebound for our first top ten of the year.  I made some in race cockpit adjustments that made the car better in the end of the race which helped offset some late race tire fade.  We still have a lot to improve on, but definitely have a good baseline with a new suspension setup and lots of help from many great people.”

Duane Howard finished 12^th from his 14^th starting position after trying his regular Big Diamond car for a Saturday night at Grandview.

Duane commented “We tried something different this week since the black Diamond car has always felt good whenever we brought it here.  We had some early contact in the feature that sent us back of the field and then had issues getting back forward.  We be back with the regular blue car next week.”

On lap 24 Mike Gular and Craig Von Dohren were battling for 5^th when contact between the two cars dropped them out of the top ten with Von Dohren finishing 13^th and Gular finishing 16^th.  Von Dohren and Gular are 2^nd and 3^rd in the Grandview points standing behind points leader Jeff Strunk.

Back at the trailer Mike Gular stated “We buried a car owner today and was racing in his memory.  We had ignition issues in hot laps and then steering issues in the heat race so qualified from the consolation and started 22^nd in the feature.”

“We raced from 22^nd to 5^th and have a fast race car right now.  We are going to win some races this year.”

“We were racing for 5^th place, and I guess CVD didn’t like getting passed so with about 6 laps to go he dumped me.”

Next up on Saturday, June 29 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.