Grandview Modified Pit Notes 5/10/25 – Brett Kressley & Chris Esposito Split Twin 25 Wins

After four weeks of rain Grandview decided to schedule Twin 25 Modified features to take advantage of what has become the rare opportunity to race in April or May.  Brett Kressley was ready for the task and came from his 16^th starting position to pass Eddie Strada in lapped traffic on lap 23 to take the win of Twin 25 number one.

In the nightcap it was longtime Grandview veteran Chris Esposito starting from the outside pole and passing Carroll Hines III to take the lead on lap 8.  He held off Timmy Buckwalter through 3 restarts and for the final 17 laps to take his first modified win.  

Heat race winners for the 43 car modified field were Eddie Strada ( from 1st), Justin Grim (from 3rd), Duane Howard (from 1st), and Ron Haring (from 2nd) .

 Doug Manmiller (from 1st) and Logan Baumann (from 2nd) won their consolation races.

FIRST T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. BRETT KRESSLEY (16), 2. Eddie Strada (1), 3. Kevin Graver Jr. (2), 4. Logan Watt (15), 5. Duane Howard (3), 6. Ryan Watt (13), 7. Eric Biehn (4), 8. Mike Gular (18), 9. Justin Grim (9), 10. Craig Von Dohren (23), 11. Chris Esposito (8), 12. Matt Stangle (17), 13. Louden Reimert (26), 14. Carroll Hine III (5), 15. Jared Umbenhauer (14), 16. Tim Buckwalter (12), 17. WB James (10), 18. Mike Laise (11), 19. Doug Manmiller (21), 20. Jon Kellner (19), 21. Ray Swinehart (20), 22. Kyle Smith (24), 23. Ryan Grim (27), 24. Logan Bauman (22), 25. Craig Whitmoyer (28), 26. Cody Manmiller (6), 27. Ron Haring Jr. (7), 28. Jeff Strunk (25)

VP RACING FUELS HARD CHARGER: Brett Kressley +15

DID NOT QUALIFY: Bobby Trapper Jr., Nick DeSantis, Eric Kormann, Darrin Schuler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Matt Yoder, Brad Force, Glenn Owens, Clay Butler, Ryan Beltz, Brian Hirthler, John Willman, Hunter Metzger, Chris Gambler, Bobby Trapper Sr.

SECOND T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (25 laps): 1. CHRIS ESPOSITO (2), 2. Tim Buckwalter (4), 3. Louden Reimert (10) , 4. Duane Howard(6) , 5. Mike Gular (14), 6. Brett Kressley (16), 7. Craig Von Dohren (13), 8. Eddie Strada (8), 9. Jared Umbenhauer (11), 10. Matt Stangle (9), 11. Doug Manmiller (19), 12. Kevin Graver Jr (7)., 13. Kyle Smith (22), 14. Craig Whitmoyer (25), 15. Carroll Hine III (1), 16. Logan Bauman (24), 17. Eric Biehn (5), 18. WB James (17), 19. Jon Kellner (20), 20. Ray Swinehart (21), 21. Justin Grim (3), 22. Mike Laise (18), 23. Bobby Trapper Jr. (28), 24. Ryan Grim (23), 25. Logan Watt (15), 26. Ryan Watt (12), 27. Cody Manmiller (26), 28. Ron Haring Jr. (27) DNS – Jeff Strunk

VP RACING FUELS HARD CHARGER: Craig Whitmoyer +11

MODIFIED PIT NOTES TWIN 25’S – 5/10/25

Twin 25 Number 1

Brett Kressley started his night with a strong hear race going from 10^th to 2^nd .  In the first feature he continued to run from back to front using the top to go from 16^th to first for the win in Twin # 1.  In the 2^nd feature Brett again started 16^th and finished 6^th.  Brett is off to a great start to his season with a win, third and 6th place finish.

In victory lane Brett stated “Everyone was freight training around the bottom so I decided I would not follow them and went to the top.  I didn’t have the best car but put my car where they weren’t running and it worked out.”

“In the end the car got too free, and I decided to avoid the top when we got in lapped traffic and instead rolled the middle to just maintain and that was enough to get us here in victory lane.”

Back at the trailer Brett noted “We had a very strong car that preformed well all night long.  The track may have been a little slicker in feature 2 and I didn’t adjust quite enough.”

Brett appears to be well on his way back to his 2023 form with a 3rd, win and 6^th in three Grandview features and going +34 positions so far this season.

Eddie Strada finished 2^nd from the pole position and led the first 22 laps before Kressley took the lead in lapped traffic.  Eddie finished his night with a solid 8^th place finish in the second feature.

Eddie reflected “Had a good night but did chase the set up all night.  We were great off the bottom in the first feature and got to a big lead.  I once lost a race to Jeff Strunk at a TOTH show trying to pass a lap car, so when the lap car was just as fast and just figured I had enough of a lead, and I didn’t have to force the issue to pass. Unfortunately, I didn’t even hear or see Kressley till he was alongside me and then it was too late.”

“In the heat race starting position was a big deal for us.  We battled the 114 for a while and came out with a win.  The handicap from the opening night DNQ gave us a good starting position all night.  Swung all night at set up and think we now know where we need to go from our performance last night. Thanks to my owners, crew chief and all the people and sponsors that help us chase this every week.”

Kevin Graver finished 3^rd from his 2^nd starting position to post the finish he has been looking for since the beginning of the 2024 season.  In the second feature Kevin finished a 12^th, giving Kevin a clean solid night and a baseline going forward.

Kevin noted “Yeah, we definitely knew we had a decent car this year, bad draw in the opener and a flat in the heat killed us at the opener.”

“We’re happy with being able to stay up front for a top three finish in the first feature and just needed to be a little better in the second feature. In retrospect, I probably ran to the bottom too long, but the car is in one piece, and we have a good baseline.  Everything is definitely different this year between the right side Panhard and the new track surface.”

 Logan Watt finished 4^th from a 15^th starting position to post his second 4^th place finish of the season in his first two Grandview starts.  In the second feature Logan had mechanical issues that ended his night early.

Back at the trailer Logan stated “We got in the handicap for both features which got us off to a good start.  In the first feature I was patient and worked up to 5^th and then got by Duane for a solid 4^th place finish.

“In the 2^nd feature the car fired off well early but then during the first caution the car stopped running and I had to pull into the infield and ultimately into the pits.   I never got back out and we appeared to have some dirt in the carburetor.  The car had good speed all night and believe we had another top 5 car if we could have stayed on track in the second feature.”

Duane Howard finished 5^th from his 3^rd starting position in the first feature and then 4^th from his 6^th starting position in the second feature moving forward from an opening night DNQ.

Duane reflected “We needed two good finishes, but I was very disappointed with our finishes after our great starting spots.  We did capitalize by holding on to our great starting positions. Although the track was very challenging, there are no excuses for not being able to move forward into the top three.  Hopefully with the later start next week the track can hold a little moisture.”

Twin 25 Number 2

In the first heat Chris Esposito finished 11^th from his 8^th starting position, which at the moment was a great start to his night but little did he know what was coming up in the next feature.

In the 2^nd feature Chris won his first race at Grandview since 2008, taking the win from his 2^nd starting position.

In victory lane Chris commented “This win has been a long time coming and matter of fact my last win was in 2008.  This win happened because my crew busted it in the garage all week long like they do every week.  I wouldn’t be here without the unwavering support of my sponsors and car owners Debbie and Dennis Becker.”

“Racing with Timmy Buckwalter is always great, he gave me room to race and once I got in clean air I picked by line, and it was smooth sailing.  I kept choosing the top on restarts and was able to get good bite and hit my marks.  I wanted one more win before I hang my helmet up and tonight we got it.”

Chris recalled “Last season we had a couple top 10 finishes that were good for us, and I would say we carried that momentum over from last season. Then Dennis wanted to own a car again, so DB Motorsports came back this season. Dennis and Debbie Becker are fans that love the sport and support the drivers, and I am proud to be driving for them. They gave me a car that we knew we could compete with and we just had to make something happen.”

“Last week we started with a bad draw in our first race. Nobody was really moving anywhere in the heat, and we advanced a couple positions but not enough to get a good starting position in the consolation. The car was not too good, but we knew we were only a couple adjustments away. We got into a mix up in turn one in the consolation and then really no chance of making the show. After talking with Ron Seltmann of Fast Four Shocks, we had a plan to get us on the right path at the next race which my crew put in place before the Twin 25 race this week.”

“So, I felt we came into tonight with a good car and after warmups it wasn’t where we needed to be, but we were close with a couple of adjustments we qualified through the heat which was huge for the rest of our night.

“In the first feature we started 8^th and fell back to 11^th which really wasn’t bad for us.  We made some adjustments for the 2^nd feature and combined with our 2^nd starting position we were able to put it all together for the win.  I really couldn’t believe we won.  This was a great win for our crew, DB Motorsports, Fast Four Shocks, Nick Gatto race engines and all our sponsors.  I really can’t thank all my sponsors enough who continued to support me through all the years and never gave up on us.”

“I think we are a good car now, but we have a lot to work on during the season with consistency and as a driver I need to make better decisions every night.  We made all the right calls tonight and it could be different in the following weeks. So, before I say we found it, I would like to see some more consistent runs and then I could say we found it, but I can say we found it for tonight!  I just love it for the team sponsors, DB Motorsports and everyone that puts effort into the car!”

Timmy Buckwalter finished 2^nd from his 4^th starting position.

Timmy reflected “We qualified in the invert but missed the setup pretty bad in the first feature which set us up for a 4^th starting position in the second feature.  We had a much better setup in the second feature but still needed to find a little more coming out of the corners.”  

Louden Reimert finished 3^rd from his 10^th starting position.  Louden noted “The track was tricky all night, but we were able to get better as the night went on.”

Louden was unable to get forward in the from his 8^th starting position in his heat race but did qualify from the consolation to start 26^th in the first feature where he finished 13^th and secure a good starting position in the 2nd feature.

Mike Gular finished 5^th from his 14^th starting position in the 2^nd feature to adding to his earlier 8^th place finish in the first feature.

Mike noted “The handicap was challenging.  With 5 less laps then usual we had less time to pass cars, but it was still a solid night, and we had a good car again but got to keep working on it.  We had speed but not enough to go from 16^th to 1^st in only 25 laps, so we have some work to do.  We went from 18^th to 8^th in feature one and then 14^th to 5^th in feature 2 so we did pass some cars.”

Craig Whitmoyer qualified from the consolation in the 28^th starting position in the first feature.  He was caught in a lap 5 tangle and ended up rolling over onto his lid for what appeared to be a night ending incident.  But when the call went out for second feature Craig made the call thanks to the tireless efforts of his crew.  Craig not only made the call for the 2^nd feature; but posted 14th place finish from his 25^th starting position.

Craig recalled “After the rollover in the First feature we had front-end and body damage.  The crew worked through the entire sportsman feature to get everything repaired and as race ready as we could with the time we had.  We checked as much as we could, and the car was good but I’m sure there were a few things hiding that we didn’t get to fix.  All in all, we had a very good race car.  John Redner at JRM is helping us with shocks and set-up this year and we are looking forward to running up front this season.”

Defending 2024 Grandview modified champion Jeff Strunk had a night to forget.  Jeff qualified 27^th from the consolation and then lost a motor on lap 1 of the first feature to end his night.  Missing both features tonight puts Jeff in a points chase deficit for the 2025 championship defense, but he will be handicapped well in the weeks to come with Jeff looking to rebound back into victory lane.

Next up on Saturday, May 17 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 with hot laps at 6:15 PM and racing at 7:30 PM.