On lap 18 Dylan Swinehart came from his 15th starting position to pass both Steve Young and Kyle Hartzell moving from 3rd to 1st on a two for one pass to take his second Sportsman win of the season at Grandview Speedway.
Brayden Shelton held the lead until the 2nd and final restart on lap 14 when Steve Young took over the lead. After an intense battle between Steve Young, Kyle Hartzell and Dylan Swinehart, it was on lap 18 when Dylan Swinehart went to the outside groove and passed both Hartzell and Young for the lead on a two for one pass move. From there Dylan motored into victory lane for the second time this season.
On lap 10 the first caution of the race was for a multi-car tangle involving Logan Watt, Teague Miller, Brett Grim, Addison Meitzler and Brett Gilmore. Logan Watt had minimal damaged and stayed on track to run back through the field to a 5th place finish.
Heat races for the 41-car sportsman field were won by Kyle Hartzell, Alex Bartorillo, Steve Young and Brayden Shelton.
Consolation races were won by Ryan Graver and Brett Grim.
T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. DYLAN SWINEHART (15), 2. Steve Young (4), 3. Kyle Hartzell (5), 4. Mike Schneck Jr. (14), 5. Logan Watt (23), 6. Nate Horn (3), 7. Jesse Hirthler (27), 8. Parker Guldin (11), 9. TJ Mayberry (9), 10. Logan Bauman (14), 11. Ryan Graver (21), 12. Jared LaBagh (12), 13. Brayden Shelton (2), 14. Brett Gilmore (13), 15. Ryan Higgs (19), 16. Adrianna Delliponti (18), 17. Addison Meitzler (26), 18. Gavyn Krupp (8), 19. Stephen Smith III (1), 20. Dakota Kohler (25), 21. Teague Miller (24), 22. Alex Bartorillo (16), 23. Colton Perry (20), 24. Brett Grim (22), 25. Zach Steffey (17), 26. Tyler James (7), 27. Jesse Landis (10)
DID NOT QUALIFY: Kenny Bock, Jesse Leiby, Tom Miller Jr., Joey Vaccaro, Kaitlyn Bailey, Stephen Laubach, Mark Gaugler, Shannon Slaughter, Colin Cox, Mark Mohr, Chase Gular, Nathan Mohr, Jay Garris, Dennis Graber
HARD CHARGER: Jesse Hirthler +20
8/24/24 Race # 15 – SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES
Dylan Swinehart took his second win of the season from his 15th starting position. Dylan started the season in his underpowered #38 and consistently qualified from the consolation make back to front top ten runs. But breakage in his 38 car would land him in his brother’s 83 car and since then Dylan has posted two wins in Decker’s car while Decker continues to be sidelined from driving due to doctor’s orders. Sometimes things just work out and it’s always good to have a big little brother with a race car.
Dylan reflected “Well last time we ran the car we broke the frame, left side Panhard and radius rods. We fixed all that and right after hot laps I told my dad the car was horrible. We made a bunch of changes for the heat race, and it was much better. Then a few small adjustments for the feature and we were dialed in right where we wanted to be.”
“In the feature I made a few aggressive moves to get through the field. I was sitting 11th on the lap 10 restart, and I went three wide on the bottom to move into 6th. Then I went 3 wide again on the next restart to get to 3rd on the top. We have just finally found the right balance in the car to be able to move all around the track.”
“My brother is not cleared to race yet, but he should be shortly, and he made the decision to let me drive his car for the remainder of the points season. Decker expects to be back in his car for the 38er.”
“He really has been an awesome brother giving me to run his car since he has been out. My car is fast, but with motor issues in my 38 car, we would have struggled and might not have gotten the 2 wins without Decker’s car, so I can’t thank my brother, parents, crew, and sponsors enough for everything they do!”
Steve Young finished 2nd from his 4th starting position and he has finished 2nd place in three separate features this season.
Steve noted “We were 2nd fastest in hot laps which is the norm for us. In the heat we started on the outside pole and took the lead at the green and went flag to flag for the win by a straightaway and over 5 seconds.”
“In the feature I fired off from 4th and just settled into 3rd until the first caution on lap 10. On the restart I moved into 2nd until the final caution came out on lap 13. On the final restart, I moved into the lead but had to stay on the bottom since my car was still loose and on lap 18 Swinehart flew by on the top.”
“We were a little loose in the feature and that kept us from going to the top and cast my fate as only being only able to run the bottom to a 2nd place finish. I needed one more caution so I could tighter the car up enough to be able to go up top to make a run for the win.”
A big thank you to my crew and sponsors that make this car go around. I wouldn’t be able to do this without the efforts of my crew – Matt Koder, Bob Thompson, Dave Young, Rob Boyer and support of my sponsors:
PPB Pioneer Pole Buildings
Continental Concrete Products
610 Auto Works
Grassroots Lawn Care
BRB Demolition Contractors
Kyle Hartzell finished 3rd from his 5th starting position and posted a season and career best finish. The 6-foot 7-inch driver in his second season at Grandview has had several top 5 finishes get away due to tangles and contact but tonight he stayed clear of all that and got his first podium finish.”
Kyle reflected “During hot laps, the car was good, but a concerning noise was coming from the right rear. We tried to look for what was wrong after coming in, but we couldn’t find anything, so we just kept everything the same and hoped for the best.”
In the heat we started 3rd, the car was hooked up and slow but sure, I was able to pick off first and second to take the lead. I was a bit nervous on the last restart with Gilmore starting next to me on the outside, but we managed to get a couple car lengths on him, and I got my first heat win of the year.”
“For the feature, we made a few suspension adjustments, started 5th and hung out around there for about 10 laps. I couldn’t get by Nate Horn for a while but on one of the restarts I finally got by 3rd and 4th and then another caution came out. On what was the second and final restart on lap 13, we got into 2nd place. Steve Young and I were battling for first, and while I got under him a few times I couldn’t pass him on the bottom. That’s when I noticed Dylan was coming into the mix, so I kept my position safe while still trying to take the lead. Apparently, we went three wide at one point, but I had no idea until Dylan got around both of us and from that point we spread out and I just tried to finish it out. I finished 3rd and it was another career best, so I’m very happy with how the night went. Postrace, we found that the noise in RR was a bearing going bad. Real glad it held up through the night.”
“We are pretty much running the same set up each week with minor changes here and there and playing around with different things to look for more speed. The last 4 or 5 races we started to feel really good and a huge thanks to Ron at Fast Four Shocks, my crew for making the right tweaks, and my family for all their support.”
Mike Schneck finished 4th from his 14th starting position and has posted two consecutive 4th place finishes. Mike currently sits 3rd in the point standings with only three races to go.
Mike commented “In hot laps we tried something a little different and it worked a lot better. I was having issues last week with my steering during consolation and feature so that also was a plus to have working well again in hot laps.”
“Going into the heat everything seemed to finally go my way. Two or three cars slammed into each other on the bottom, and I got around them on the top. I made it into third and ended up getting a vibration and went back to 4th but still made the handicap which is really all we are looking for in the heat.”
“We kind of have a good setup for the features right now. So, we just keep it simple for now. We had a good start in the feature, and I made some passes and then the caution came out. A car on the bottom got pushed up and I went back a couple spots but slowly I was able to work my way forward again. Once I got into 4th it seemed that I was catching 2-3 but there were only 4 laps remaining. The track seemed racy for me, and I had only small amount of tire wear. We were very fortunate to land a good heat race for a change which is very hard to do with 37-39 cars weekly and being handicapped to the last starting position every week.”
Logan Watt finished 5th from his 23rd starting position. Logan has returned to the top five after a couple of rough weeks of tangles sending him to a couple of the back of the field finishes. Once again, this week started with coming from the back and getting into another tangle, but this time he was able to recover and make his way back through the field to a solid 5th place finish.
Logan currently continues to lead the Crate points standings 183 points over 2nd place Dylan Swinehart.
Logan stated “Yeah, the Ronnie’s Auto Repair 4m had great speed right from hot laps. Car was good in the heat race, finished 7th and I just ran out of time due to the heat going non-stop green. We made some adjustments for the consolation to try to keep up with the track and the car was solid and had great speed. Ended up 2nd in the consolation after having a fun battle with Dakota Koehler for 2nd place finish.”
“I started 23rd in the feature and was just kind of buying my time and wasn’t going to force any issues early in the race. I was running about 15th and ended up getting in a tangle coming off turn 2 and luckily it just tweaked the front axle a little bit but nothing major. I was able to keep on going and the car still felt solid and strong. I restarted 19th and just bought my time on the bottom and let everything play out. Jesse Hirthler and I had a great clean battle, in and out of traffic. At the end of the race, I was able to pick up a couple spots late to end up 5th. All and all we had a solid night and happy to come home with a solid 5th place finish.”
Nate Horn finished 6th from his 3rd starting position to post his best finish in the Lynn Peters 28 car.
Nate stated “We had a good car in the heat, but the car was a bit of a handful in the feature to say the least. Thankful for Lynn Peters and the opportunity to drive this car. This was our best finish with only four outings in the car to date. We will push forward to next week.”
Jesse Hirthler finished 7th from his 27th provisional starting position. In the past three weeks Jesse has struggled in the features with a 15th, 17th and DNQ. Early on this week seemed to be much of the same as Jesse just couldn’t move forward in the non-stop green flag heat race. The consolation was a disappointment as Jesse missed qualifying for the field by two positions. Fortunately for Jesse he was able to use a provisional and started 27th in the feature.
In the feature, the Hirthler crew worked some magic as Jesse had his best outing in four weeks going from a provisional 27th to 7th.
Jesse continues to sit 7th in the Grandview points standing with three races remaining in the season.”
Parker Guldin finished 8th from his 11th starting position and continues with his one week up and one week down 2024 season after breaking a transmission in the first lap of his heat race the prior race.
Parker noted “It was nice to have a night with no failures and to be able to just worry about setup and actually getting to run a feature. Sounds ridiculous, but way too many bad nights and long/expensive weeks will humble you and make you appreciate the little things.”
“In my heat, I was okay, given that I was battling a literal hole in the track and a really tight car but lucky enough I was able to hang for a handicapped qualifying spot.”
“In the feature I felt like I made another poor setup change, but it wasn’t terrible. I could’ve finished at least 6th and the person behind me could have salvaged a point advantage spot with a 7th. The driver behind me kept trying to spin us which eventually dropped me into 8th. Not sure what the mindset was there, but overall, I’m happy with a top 10 finish. This year has been extremely sour for me, so I’m just looking forward to a positive end to the season and figure out what’s going to happen for next year.”
TJ Mayberry finished 9th from his 9th starting position.
TJ reflected “Last few weeks we’ve really been working with our feature setups. Last race I felt like we had a strong car, but we got caught in two wrecks. This week we changed a few things setup wise to start the night and the car felt good in hot laps. We’ve been solid in heat races this year and went 6th to 3rd locking in a handicap spot.”
“For the feature we made some minor changes, and it felt decent in the beginning. The car started coming on the longer the race went. Had a great restart getting into 5th or 6th, but unfortunately got run over coming off turn 2 pushing me back to 11th or 12th. It was frustrating because I thought we had a top 5 car.”
Logan Bauman finished 10th from his 14th starting position to post two consecutive good weeks.
Logan said “We definitely have something it’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together. We had a good car in the heat, and just continuing with not much luck this season in the features. We have strung together two top ten finishes so that’s a start and I hope we can keep going for the final 3 races of the season and right into the 38er.”
Next up on Saturday, August 31 will be a full program of modified and sportsman racing. Modified and Sportsman will have qualifying races leading up to the 25-lap Sportsman and 30-lap Modified 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.
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