Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes – 6/22/24 -Gavyn Krupp Grabs Second Grandview Crate Victory of the Season

Gavyn Krupp tracked down leader Randy Graber and took over the lead on lap 13 and then drove off into Grandview victory lane with nearly a 4 second margin of victory for his second win of this season.

Rookie Randy Graber took the early lead until Gavyn Krupp swept by on lap 13 to take over the lead.  Krupp took the win of the only two cautions feature both on lap 17 with nearly a 4 second advantage over 2nd place Lawson Szerencits who was later disqualified due to a technical infraction which moved Randy Graber to 2nd and Addison Meitzler to 3rd place.

Heat race winners for the 39 car sportsman field were Lawson Szerencits, BJ Joly, Toy Bollinger and Zane Roth.

The consolation races were won by  Jesse Hirthler and Andrianna Delliponti.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. GAVYN KRUPP (6),  2. Randy Graber (1), 3. Addison Meitzler (16), 4. Logan Watt (15), 5. BJ Joly III (2), 6. Dylan Swinehart (18), 7. Jesse Hirthler (21), 8. Zane Roth (8), 9. Mike Schneck Jr. (14), 10. Brian Hirthler (25), 11. Nathan Mohr (13), 12. Mike Stofflet (19), 13. Mark Mohr (9), 14. Ryan Graver (24), 15. Kyle Hartzell (23) , 16. Teague Miller (20), 17. Adrianna Delliponti (22), 18. Mark Gaugler (17), 19. Troy Bollinger (3), 20. Kaitlyn Bailey (11), 21. Stephen Laubach (4), 22. Mark Kemmerer (12), 23. Colton Perry (10), 24. TJ Mayberry (26) , 25. Shannon Slaughter (7), DQ – Lawson Szerencits (5)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Jared LaBagh, Brett Grim, Brett Gilmore, Logan Bauman, Ronnie Solomon, Brayden Shelton, Steve Young, Parker Guldin, Kenny Bock, Alex Bartorillo, Jay Garris, Nate Horn, Dennis Graber

HARD CHARGER: Brian Hirthler +14

6/22/24 Race # 8 – SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES

Gavyn Krupp won from his 6^th starting position to post his second win of his rookie season in the Sportsman division at Grandview.  His first win was on right side pan hard setup while his second win was his maiden voyage on the left side pan hard configuration.

In victory lane Gavyn reflected “I just picked them off one at a time and stayed patient as I knew the car was good.  I wish the caution didn’t come out, but we were able to work around it and still get our second win of the season.”

Back in the pits Gavyn noted “After my first win on the right-side setup, we began struggling getting side bite and the changes we made didn’t make the car better.  So, we went up to Hoffman’s Speed Supplies and they helped us go to the left side setup for our first time this week.  I had no clue what the car was going to feel like, so in practice I took it a little easy, but we had so much more grip and I could drive the car a lot harder.  The car felt like it had a lot more side bite then the right side and it rolled me over giving me more drive off the corner. Hot laps were just to get feel a of the car because we changed from the right to the left side pan hard setup this week.  In the heat race I started second and on the second lap I was in the inside of the leader BJ Joly when I hit the uke tire, but I was still able to hold second to the checkered flag.”

“Then for the feature we changed a couple of things so I can have more grip to the track when it got slick and let me tell you it worked for us.  I had a rocket ship and just kept picking cars off one by one hitting my marks, staying smooth and driving calmly to our second checkered flag of the season.”

Randy Graber finished 2^nd from his pole starting position in his first ever feature race.  The 56-year-old rookie lead the first 12 laps of his first feature race on his way to a 2^nd place finish.

Randy reflected “I’m a 56-year-old rookie and have been running around the back of the field during heat races at Grandview and Big Diamond so far this season to get some seat time.  I got more comfortable in the car at Diamond on Friday night, and we changed the gear before Grandview, so the car was strong in the heat, and I qualified in the handicap for my first feature.  I was thinking about opting to the rear of the field, but after getting on track decided to stay on the pole and see how it went.  I ran the first 12 laps like they were timed hot laps.  It did wear me out, as I have never run more than 12 laps but later, I got my second wind.  In the final laps I brushed the wall which broke the caliper, and I lost my brakes but was able to hang on for a 2^nd place finish.  I would like to thank all my sponsors that have helped make this all possible:

Graber Letterin’ Inc.

Dogged Street Garage

Ray Swinehart

Gabelsville Athletic Association

JC Automotive

Mutters Welding & Fabrication

Homewerks Contracting

Printz Mobile Detailing

Addison Meitzler finished 3^rd from his 16^th starting spot.  Addison made another big run in the 2^nd half of the race going from 12^th to 3^rd in the final 15 laps.  Addison continues to make a strong push in the season point standings moving from 4^th to 2^nd this week behind only points leader Logan Watt.

Addison noted “In the heat race a guy springs out in front of us and we get tangled in a wreck, but we were able to stay out with bent steering and no breaks but still got 3rd.”

“In the feature didn’t have much side bite till the yellow at 17.   On the restart another guy spins in front of me and I hit him which got him straight and then we go yellow again.  Then I put it in 4×4 for the last 8 laps and the car was just as good as it was last week when we won.”

Logan Watt finished 4^th from his 15^th starting spot and continues his streak of top 5 and top 10 finishes.

Logan stated “Went on vacation last week so we ran the in hot laps with same setup from the feature last week.  In the heat race we ran from 8^th to 2^nd to make the invert.

“In the feature we didn’t get a yellow until the 17^th lap and both were double file.   On the restart the inside line did not fire, and we got bogged down so I got boxed in and couldn’t advance further than 4^th which is where I started on the restart.  Still another good run for us with car in one piece.”

BJ Joyl finished 5^th from his second starting position to post his best finish of the season.  BJ also traveled to Big Diamond on Friday and finished 10^th.  BJ had a solid night with a heat race win and a 5^th place finish to round out his weekend with both a top 5 and top 10 finish. 

Dylan Swinehart finished 6^th from his 18^th starting position.  Dylan jumped into his brother Decker’s car last week for the feature since his car was damaged in his heat and unable to compete.  Dylan’s car was unavailable again this week due to drivetrain issues, so Decker’s 83 entry was again made available to his big brother Decker. Once again it paid off with a solid run for Dylan who maintained his 3^rd position in the sportsman points standing.

Dylan reflected “In hot laps I tried some stuff I always wanted to try on Decker’s car, and it all sucked so went back to Decker’s setup which worked way better in the heat.”

“Didn’t change anything for the feature and the car was good.  I was able to run back to front in Decker’s car just like I have been doing in my car, but I actually had a better heat race results in Decker’s car then in my car.  I wasn’t back quite as far in the feature as I usually am with my car.”

Jesse Hirthler finished 7^th from his 21^st starting position and posted his second consecutive top ten finish after a couple of rough DNF weeks.  Jesse currently sits 7^th in the Grandview point standings.

Jesse stated “In the heat race the car was not that good and most of it had to do with the track conditions.  I was in the 2nd heat, so the track was still dirty. I was able to finish 6th which put me in the front row in the consolation. I got the lead early, didn’t look back and tried a couple things with the car to see how it would react.”

“In the feature we made a couple more changes and in the first couple laps I was just searching around and waiting for the grip that the water brought back to blow away.  I was able to find a steady line and was going to the front the entire race. The late race caution helped me out big time regrouping the field back together and from there I didn’t stop moving forward.  When we went green, I thought I was going to be lucky to get a top 10, but to get to 7th from that restart was a great confidence booster.  We were able to put together a 6^th last week with a 7th this week and get our speed and consistency back.  Just want to keep our momentum rolling next week.”

Zane Roth finished 8^th from his 8^th starting position.  Zane noted “Last week we had nothing but problems having one of our tires growing 2 inches in the heat and then breaking our steering box in the consolation.”

“So, to get back in the show this week and finish with an 8^th place finish was a welcome turnaround from all our troubles last week.  We started off with a heat win leading all laps the car felt good from start to finish.”

“Feature time we started off strong off using the lip to get us up to 4^th, but then when the top side went away, we had too much stagger which made the car loose and I couldn’t keep it on the bottom, so I faded a bit back to an 8^th place finish.”

Mikey Schneck finished 9^th from his 14^th starting position.  Mike continues to climb in the sportsman points standings and is currently 6^th in the sportsman points standings.

Mikey stated “Guess I was lucky to make it through the night.  The heat was good, and I was able to make some early passes.  I kept trying to get around cars and got slowed by traffic, but it was good racing.  We were in a small pack, and it was back and forth for the last handicap spot which I was able to get.”

“In the feature we started off good and then a car decided to drive over my left front and spin me in front of the entire field on the restart.  It ended up breaking my left front shock.    I didn’t know until after the feature that the shock was completely broken off.  I was still making passes and was able to keep a top 10 finish.  The track was good off the start and got better for me as it went on with a lot of passing in different lanes.”

Brian Hirthler finished 10^th from his 25^th starting spot and was the hard charger of the night.

Brian commented “We were bad in warmups and had a small carb issue which my brother fixed up.  In the heat I felt the car was better, but it was tough to get around anyone being in an early heat.   In the consolation the car had a bad bounce, so I really couldn’t make any ground up and just rode around in 3rd and made sure to qualify.

“In the feature we tried about our 6th setup in 3 weeks, and we were much better, however that may have been a result of the track conditions.  I was able to move from 25th to 10th with only one real caution, as the second caution was on the same lap, which should had been a single file restart by rule.  I was able to pick up the hard charger which shows we finally have some speed; now we just have to get the car dialed in earlier in the night and we should be knocking on the door at victory lane in time for the 40 lapper in a few weeks.”

Lawson Szerencits finished 2^nd on track from his 5^th starting position but was later disqualified in postrace technical inspections due to an illegal carburetor.

Lawson commented “It was a great day on track but a bad day in tech.  We unfortunately bought a new carburetor which we assumed was legal and found out the hard way that it was not, so our 2nd place finish was disqualified.”

“Our night started with a carburetor issue in hot laps, so we swapped to the spare carburetor for the heat race.  The spare ran so well we won the heat race.”

“We threw a lot of changes into the mix this week, with stagger, rear end geometry and pan hard.  Every one of these changes stuck the car to the track like never before and it showed.  We wish it didn’t have to happen this way, as it made the night feel very hollow, but we know that the car itself is great and with a legal carburetor we should be able to get back to the same position next week.” 

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.