Grandview Modified Pit Notes  07/12/25  –  Logan Watt Posts Career First Modified Win at Grandview

Logan Watt charged from his 13^th starting position and on lap 21 passed Ray Swinehart for the lead to take his career first modified win at Grandview Speedway.

Darrin Schuler took the early lead with Ray Swinehart taking over the lead on lap 7.  Logan Watt Moved into 2^nd on lap 14 and then battled Swinehart to take the lead on lap 21 and cruise to the checkered flag by nearly a two second margin for his career first modified win.

Heat race winners for the 35-car field were Ron Haring Jr., Ray Swinehart and Ryan Beltz.

Consolation winner was Brett Kressley.

T.P. TRAILER NASCAR MODIFIED FEATURE FINISH (30 laps): 1.LOGAN WATT (13), 2. Ray Swinehart (2), 3. John Willman (9), 4. Duane Howard (25), 5. Craig Whitmoyer (11) , 6. Craig Von Dohren (21), 7. Ryan Watt (12), 8. Darrin Schuler (1), 9. Jared Umbenhauer (14), 10. Mike Gular (19), 11. Clay Butler (5), 12. Brett Kressley (22), 13. Logan Bauman (7), 14. Louden Reimert (26), 15.Eddie Strada (23), 16. Brian Hirthler (10), 17. Cody Manmiller (8), 18. Eric Kormann (16), 19. Ryan Grim (27), 20. Doug Manmiller (24), 21. Bobby Trapper Sr. (28), 22. Jeff Strunk (17), 23. Ryan Beltz (3), 24. Eric Biehn (6), 25. Bobby Trapper Jr. (18), 26. Ron Haring Jr. (4), 27. Jon Kellner (15), 28. Rick Laubach (20)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Kyle Smith, Tim Buckwalter, Justin Grim, Carroll Hine III, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Chris Esposito, Mike Laise

HARD CHARGER: Duane Howard + 21

MODIFIED PIT NOTES – 7/12/25

Logan Watt won from his 13^th starting position and posted his career first modified win.  Last week Logan was involved in an on-track incident and ended up on his roof, so it was a wrecker to checkers and victory lane from last week to this week.

In victory lane Logan reflected “I can’t believe this!  We have been trying a lot of new stuff in the past few weeks but never really find out if it works because we have keep getting in wrecks.  Last week we ended upside down in the feature.  The crew has been working hard to keep us out there on track.  Tonight’s winning car is the same car that was on its lid last week.”

“The track tonight was very slick like a NY track which really fits my driving style.  We really needed this one.  On a restart I got hung up behind dad and it was like ‘come on dad let’s do something here’.  The battle with Ray for the lead was fun and good clean racing.  I was cautious and went low and high until I found the place to get around him.  Ray has a lot of wins, and it is special to race with him.”

“Postrace Logan reflected “Overall we had a very solid night. In the heat race the track was slick and smooth like a New York, so I used my recent New York experience to cruise to 3^rd place in the heat race.”

“For the feature we got a surprise when the track was graded and watered, so we were 50/50 on our tire selection but ended up opting for the harder 50 tire which played out in our favor on a long green flag run and when the track rubbered up.  Ray was running the middle, and he was getting a good runoff the corner but eventually I got ahold of the top and got around him to run away for the win.”

Ray Swinehart finished 2^nd from his 2^nd starting position and led the feature from late 8 to lap 20 until Logan Watt took over the lead on lap 21.

Ray reflected “It’s no secret we have been struggling this year, so this week we put the same motor into the car we ran last year.  We struggled for 8 races this year with a car with an asphalt suspension before we changed back to last year’s car.  We were able to shake down the old car on Friday night at the Enduro race and it was good right away.

“In the heat the car just went right away, and we won.  I don’t mind the dry and slick track and that’s the kind of track we had every week at Penn National years ago.  If your car is hooked up it doesn’t matter.

In the feature the car was good until 8 or 10 laps to go when the right rear started to give up because I sipped it too deep and it started to chunk out.  Rest assured that won’t happen again.  The car got loose but I hung with him pretty well.”

John Willman finished 3^rd from his 9^th starting position posting his second podium finish of the season.

John noted “What a difference in the track from the night we won a few weeks ago.  Tonight, you had to tip toe around and could hardly go full throttle while when we won a few weeks ago it was hammer down all night.  We probably would have been better off if we had reversed the car selection for the two different track conditions.  We expect to have our winning motor back next week.”

“Last week this car had one side destroyed in the first lap of the heat race and we worked all week to get this car back here tonight.  Everything including the headers on the one side was crushed.”

“We were a little behind all night and too free, but we went with a 48 tire and that helped early in the feature but did hurt us in the end.  Tonight, the track helped equalize the power advantage of the fast guys and put it in the hands of the drivers and their setups.”

Duane Howard continues to be on a tear with another top five finishing 4^th from his 25^th starting position in the feature.  The night started out slow for Duane as he started 11^th and finished 11^th in his heat race and couldn’t get forward.  In the consolation the car improved as Duane moved from 12^th to 4^th and secured the 25^th starting position in the feature.

Duane stated “This car has been very consistent this year after changing cars after opening day.  We had some issues in the heat race but then made the right adjustments for the consolation race.  The car was super in the feature and I could maneuver high / low and even through the middle.  We were very pleased passing a lot of good cars.  Great rebound from the heat race on a very tricky track surface.”

After an opening day DNQ, Duane changed cars and has now ripped off an average finish of 4^th in the last seven races which has quietly positioned him 3^rd in the points standings only 135 points behind points leader Brett Kressley.

Craig Whitmore finished 5^th from his 11^th starting position to post his best finish of the season.

Craig recalled “Last week we found the car was bent and fixed it.  This week it was like a completely new car.  We had a good run in the heat race and made some adjustments for the feature.

“In the feature we had our best car of the season.  The track was slicker than normal and very smooth, which I think helped with the racing.  We hope to build off this outing and carry our momentum into the upcoming big shows.”

Darrin Schuler put together his best finish of the season posting 8^th from his pole position starting position.  After a string of early season DNQ’s, Darrin has now found his way into the feature in the past two weeks and has cashed in with a solid top ten finish.  Darrin was on the verge of a top five finish this week, but a late race restart along with some restart contact dropped him from 4^th to a still solid 8^th place finish.

Darrin commented “We have definitely improved our setup in the past two weeks and excited to be around again at feature time.”

“The track was slick in warmups, and we made some changes for the heat race.  We did have a midturn tight condition which we adjusted for in the feature.”

“After the Sportsman 40 lap feature the track crew had the track in great condition – hard and slick.  I liked the changes we made for the feature but late in the race the car got a little loose in midturn.  Overall good run and the driver didn’t make any mistakes.”

Next up on Saturday, July 19 will be Modifieds & Sportsman featuring $10 Grandstand General Admission – Hot laps at 6:15 and racing at  7:30 pm.