Grandview Modified Pit Notes 9/21/24 – Alex Yankowski Captures Freedom 76er Win

Alex Yankowski passed Jeff Strunk for the lead on lap 47 and held off Kevin Hirthler and Eddie Strada to win his first Freedom 76er championship.

Polesitter Cole Stangle held the early lead with Justin Grasso briefly holding the lead until Jeff Strunk swept into the lead on lap 12.  Strunk continued to lead for 35 laps until Alex Yankowski took over the lead on a lap 47 restart. Strunk continued to run 2nd but dropped out on lap 65 with mechanical issues.  Alex Yankowski pulled away from the 13 cars still running to take the checkered flag and his first trip to the Freedom 76er victory lane.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FREEDOM 76 FEATURE FINISH (76 laps): 1.) ALEX YANKOWSKI (10) ($32,262), 2. Kevin Hirthler (4), 3. Eddie Strada (31), 4. Ryan Watt (7), 5. Brandon Grosso (16), 6. Billy Pauch Jr.(27) , 7. Craig Von Dohren (34), 8. Logan Watt (14), 9. Kyle Smith (9), 10. Rick Laubach (28), 11. Jared Umbenhauer (23),  12. Brian Hirthler (11), 13. Duane Howard (18), 14. Cole Stangle (1), 15. Jeff Strunk (8), 16. Michael Maresca (25), 17. Mike Gular (24), 18. Doug Manmiller (19), 19. Justin Grim (2), 20. Tim Buckwalter (22), 21. Justin Grosso (5), 22. Dom Buffalino (12), 23. Stewart Friesen (33), 24. Ryan Godown (20), 25. Bobby Varin (30), 26. Tyler Dippel (32), 27. Coleby Frye (17), 28. Danny Creeden (15), 29. Brett Kressley (13), 30. Ryan Krachun (26), 31. David Hunt (3), 32. Sean Weiss (6), 33. Jim Housworth (21), 34. Louden Reimert (29)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Cody Manmiller, Max McLaughlin, Chris Gambler, Eric Kormann, Frank Cozze, Craig Whitmoyer, Kevin Graver Jr., Joe Funk, Mike Laise, WB James, Jon Kellner, Tanner Van Doren, Matt Stangle, Danny Bouc, Lex Shive, Sam Martz Jr., Ryan Beltz, Corey Renninger, Dylan Swinehart, Mike Lisowski, Sam Martz Sr., Matt Yoder, Michael Storms, Nate Brinker, Jesse Hirthler, Chris Esposito, DJ Hunt, Adrianna Delliponti, John Willman, Bobby Trapper Jr., Paul Mancini, Cale Ross, Ron Haring Jr., Bobby Trapper Sr., Darrin Schuler, Bryan Rhoads, Ryan Grim, Kevin Hartnett, Frank Yankowski

SCHAEFFERS MOTORSPORTS MINUTEMAN 20: (Top 8 to Freedom 76): 1. MICHAEL MARESCA, 2. Ryan Krachun, 3. Billy Pauch Jr., 4. Rick Laubach, 5. Louden Reimert, 6. Bobby Varin, 7. Eddie Strada, 8. Tyler Dippel, Cody Manmiller, Max McLaughlin, Chris Gambler, Eric Kormann, Frank Cozze, Craig Whitmoyer Kevin Graver Jr., Joe Funk, Mike Laise, WB James, Jon Kellner, Tanner Van Doren, Stewart Friesen, Matt Stangle, Danny Bouc

HEAT RACE WINNERS: Mike Gular, Kevin Hirthler, Jared Umbenhauer, Brandon Grosso, Logan Watt, David Hunt, Dom Buffalino

CONSOLATION WINNERS: Stewart Friesen, Eric Kormann, Matt Stangle

CASH DASH WINNER ($1000) – Ryan Godown

HARD CHARGER AWARD – ($1776) – Eddie Strada +28

FREEDOM 76ER PIT NOTES – 9/21/24

Alex Yankowski won his first Freedom 76er from his 10th starting position to make the $32,062 trip to victory lane.  By lap 10 Alex moved into 5^th position and then by lap 35 into2nd with a tough pass of a resilient Justin Grasso.  On the lap 47 restart Alex passed Jeff Strunk for the lead.  A final caution on lap 65 for Jeff Strunk’s linkage failure ending his night and bunching the field one final time for leader Yankowski who pulled away from Kevin Hirthler to take his first Freedom 76er win.

In victory lane Alex noted “Grandview is usually one of my worst tracks and I just flat out suck here.  I just can’t figure this place out and I’ve had a lot of conversations with Uncle Strunk, and he has done a lot for me to get better at Grandview over the years.” 

Jeff was good, and on the first lap 47 restart I showed my hand by taking the lead from the top but then the start was recalled due to a red flag.  I had the top for the 2^nd lap 47 restart, and I got off the line well again.  This one stuck and I ended up coming out with the lead over Jeff.”

“The final caution on lap 65 may have saved us the race by getting us out of lapped traffic and back into clean air for the final 11 laps.  To win a crown jewel event at Rich’s home track is just awesome.”  

Back at the trailer Alex noted “The 76er is my biggest win to date. I really think luck of the draw is the biggest factor. In a longer race like the 76er you have to balance the car for the entire race, so you are good at the end but also not too tight in the beginning and fall behind.”   

Kevin Hirthler finished 2^nd from his 4^th starting position to post his career best 76er finish.  His 76er started early Saturday morning preparing his car.  He left his car home on Friday to focus on the family sportsman cars driven by Jesse and Joe Toth to a 2^nd and 4^th place finish.  After arriving home early Saturday morning the focus turned to preparing the modified for the 76er.

In victory lane Kevin reflected “This week I checked my scale book for different setups we used throughout the year as I am always searching for different packages to match changing track conditions.”

“The car was good right from hot laps.  The race was a war of attrition, and I got up on two wheels and almost ate the boilerplate but after that we settled in and moved forward again.”

“This was my first racetrack and between last night and tonight we had six family cars on track in the past two days.”

Kevin stated “So the best finish was a couple years back when I finished third to the winner Jeff Strunk and Craig Von Dohren in 2nd.  This 2nd place finish will prove to be my best Sixer run ever.  The car had great speed right off the trailer and was very comfortable in hot laps.  Kayla drew a great pill to put us on the pole in the heat. We won the heat with ease as the car was hooked up hard.  The track was still narrow as it was only the 2nd race of the night. Didn’t pick so good for the cash dash, so we tried some stuff to see how the car would respond. Felt pretty good but still needed some minor adjustments.  We went to work, and I talked with a few guys in the pit area to gather some advice, made a few final adjustments and we put 3 new tires on for the 76-lap event.”

“Got another great pill draw for the feature and started 4th on the grid. I knew it was a long race so patience would be key.  I went to go to the high side for third spot and contact from a car on the inside sent me up on two wheels and almost flipped into the boiler plate. Somehow, I drove out of it and kept my cool and went back to work passing cars. The car still felt good, had a couple of restarts that we capitalized on and made our way up to second place.  All in all, very happy with the event and I do feel we were probably a third-place car to Alex and Jeff.  I think they were just a bit better than we were.  Got to thank my entire crew, family, all my sponsors and partners for their support throughout the entire season.  Side note, very proud of our sportsman effort at the 38er, Jesse and Joe Toth ran their hearts out and we almost had two cars on the podium.”

Eddie Strada finished 3^rd from a 31^st starting position.  In the heat Eddie finished 5^th from 5^th.  He qualified in the 12^th starting position for the Minuteman 20 and finished 7^th which put him 31^st in the Freedom 76er.

In victory lane Eddie reflected “We went from 31^st to 3^rd and I really think it was all mostly just luck.  We had a good car all year but no luck.  Tonight, I was pounding the boards and put one together.  I was worried about tires which did fade a bit.  On the last restart we went from 5^th to 3rd, so we actually had some left in the tank.”

Back at the trailer Eddie commented “Struggled in heat, on the first start we were in a qualifying spot or just about to be and that start got called back.  Driver error on the next restart put us back a couple spots but lucky we were up far enough to get to the Minuteman.

“Nothing broke, car was good all night, we just needed some luck and when we got some luck in the feature, we passed a ton of good cars and all but two cars on the track. The car was good off the bottom of 4 and top was around long enough on a restart to get us into the top 5. On the last restart it helped being on the bottom after the track started to latch down.”

Ryan Watt finished 4th from his 7th starting position.

Ryan reflected “We had a guaranteed starting spot, so we got to run behind the heat race and there were a lot of cautions, so we didn’t get much of a feel from that heat. We used the cash dash to see what we could find out about the track and setup, but the motor felt flat. This was only the second time we ran this car this season and it had a win at the Forrest Rogers Memorial.  The car has been sitting around so we changed the battery and hoped it would solved the issue.”

“In the feature we started 7^th, shuffled back early and was tight until the fuel load ran down and the stagger improved as the race went wore on.  All of a sudden around lap 46 the track rubbered up and locked down around the bottom.”

Brandon Grosso finished 5^th from 16^th starting position.  Brandon commented “Practice went well on Friday and both Justin’s and my car came out of the box and had good speed all weekend.  We were fastest in our group all practice long on Friday night.”

“I was lucky and picked the pole in the heat and sometimes its better to be lucky than good.  We won our heat race from the pole position.”

In the feature there was a lot of mayhem to navigate through.  We only race here once a year so I am literally feeling my way around.  The track was good early on but then locked down to the bottom when the rubber came in for the second half of the race.  You just can’t set the car up for rubber.  Still made a nice push forward to 5^th before the track rubbered up.”

Billy Pauch Jr. finished 6^th from his 27^th starting position and stayed with it all night long to turn a “nothing” night into a top ten finish in the end.  Billy missed qualifying from the heat by one position which sent him to qualify from the Minuteman 20 resulting in his 27^th starting position in the 76er.  In the 76er a lap 4 tangle sent Billy to the back of the field from where he moved back through the field to a 6^th place finish.

Billy recalled “Yeah, we were able to make something out of nothing tonight.  The car was good all night, but we ended up dead last in the feature after an early tangle and managed to get back up to 6^th.  The heat race was a disappointment, we just missed qualifying by one position and that set the tone for our night.  We were able to come through the Minuteman and then come through the field in the 76er.”

Craig Von Dohren finished 7^th from his 34^th starting position.  Craig’s struggled all night but then came to life in the feature to run from last to 7^th.  Craig’s night started with missing qualifying for the Minuteman 20 by one position after finishing 6^th from an 8^th draw.  In the consolation Craig lead from the start only to have mechanical issues on the final lap drop him to 8^th and a DNQ position.  Craig had his trusty past winner provisional which he dusted off to enter the field in the 34^th starting position.

Craig was able to use his 34^th provisional starting position and move up to 13^th place by lap 47.  On the lap 47 restart he was able to pick up 6 more spots to 7^th just before the rubber came in and locked the track down.  Craig rode the race out and finished in a solid 7^th place.

Logan Watt finished 8^th from his 14^th starting position to round out a very successful weekend with a modified top ten and a sportsman win at the Freedom 38er after winning the 2024 Grandview points championship last week.

Logan started 14^th in the 76er and fell back to 20^th until the restart on lap 47 when he moved into 12^th place and progressed in the final 30 laps to a strong 8^th place finish.

Kyle Smith finished 9^th from his 9^th starting position.

Kyle reflected “We had a good draw of 2^nd in our heat race.  We were able to hold Alex off in 3^rd during the heat race.”

“9^th in the 76er is awesome plus we have a straight car.  We started with a 9^th draw out of 24 for the feature which was just outstanding.  I got up to 6^th but made a mistake and fell back to 13^th.  I was tight on a restart and got doored and lifted because it was early, and we were able to work back up to 9^th.  We put on slightly used tires that worked perfectly for us and the car never got over 200 degrees during the 76 laps which is better than we do at a regular 30 lap race.”

Rick Laubach finished 10^th from his 28^th starting position and continues to post quality top five and ten 76er finishes in recent years. 

2023 Freedom 76er champion Ryan Godown won the $1,000 ten lap cash dash from the outside pole.  Ryan redrew 20^th and pulled off at lap 47 for a 24^th place finish.

Mike Maresca won the Minuteman 20 from the pole position.  Mike noted “I’m just happy to be in this race with 73 cars here it is a nerve-racking day.  We had a problem with the transmission and were running late but the guys worked their butts off to get us here.”

73 cars entered this year’s Freedom 76er with 34 cars taking the green flag in the feature.  Cody Manmiller was the 1^st alternate in a strong list of 39 DNQ entries.

Jeff Strunk led for 35 laps only to have a mechanical issue on lap 66 end his 76er with a DNF.

Cole Stangle had a run of a lifetime in his first 76er. Cole ran the entire race in 6th or better and 17 laps with a LF flat until a caution flag on lap 65 when track rule required him to pit and change the tire which dropped him to a 14th place finish

Justin Grosso had a strong top run in the top 3 for the first 47 laps only to fall out as a DNF after damage from contact on a lap 47 restart forced him to pull in for the night.

Stewart Friesen came to his first 76er in recent memory and it turned out to be a forgettable weekend for the 44f team.  An 8^th starting position in the heat race only turned into a 6^th place finish which sent Stewart to the consolation where he was able to move into the Minuteman 20 but pulled off with a DNQ.  Stewart was able to cash in his past 76er winner provisional to start the feature in the 33^rd starting position next to fellow past winner Craig Von Dohren.  Stewart worked his way up to 18^th and pulled off on lap 47 when the track rubbered up.