Grandview Modified Pit Notes  07/26/25  –  Jeff Strunk Posts Second Modified Win of Season  

Jeff Strunk posted his second Grandview win of the season coming from his 10^th starting position to 5^th on lap 6 and then moved up one position each lap until taking the lead on lap 10.   Jeff held off Jon Kellner for the next 20 laps to take his 2^nd Grandview win of the season and be the first modified driver with two Grandview wins this season. 

Ron Haring took the early until his lap 9 spin on a restart relinquished the lead to Jeff Strunk who took over the lead and held off Jon Kellner for the final 20 laps.  After 5 cautions in the first 13 laps the final 17 laps ran green right to the checkered flag.

Points leader coming into the night Mike Gular was involved in a lap 8 contact incident which destroyed his front end and ended his night dropping him to 4th in the points standings.

Heat race winners for the 34-car field were Bobby Trapper Jr., Ron Haring Jr., and John Willman.

Consolation winner was Craig Von Dohren.

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

DID NOT QUALIFY: Justin Grim, Darrin Schuler, Bobby Gunther-Walsh, Chris Gambler, Tim Buckwalter, Bobby Trapper Sr.

HARD CHARGER: Eddie Strada +16

MODIFIED PIT NOTES  – 7/26/25

Jeff Strunk finished with the win from his 10^th place starting position.

In victory lane Jeff reflected “We had a good run, made some last minute decisions when we found out we were running after the Crates, and I was originally skeptical of but turned out we made the right calls to get this win.”

“We have been struggling here at Grandview for the past few weeks so tonight we switched to the Big Diamond car which did have a win already at Big Diamond.  Not sure which car we will have next week.”

“Early in the feature when we had all those cautions the car fired good on every one of them and we ran the middle to get up to 3^rd place.”

Back at the trailer Jeff noted “Great night for us.  Making the handicap in the heat race is a must at Grandview and we did that tonight from the back of the heat.”

“Running the sportsman feature 1st made for drier slippery surface so passing early in the feature was key which we were able to do to get the lead and control the race early.”

“We been terrible at Grandview for the past 3 weeks, so it’s great to get back on track and in victory lane with a good car. Huge thank you to Norm, Jay, our crew, their families for all the sacrifices they make to support our race team, and to all our loyal fans. “

Jon Kellner finished 2^nd from the 4^th starting position.  Earlier this season it was Strunk chasing Jon for 10 laps with Jon holding the lead for the win.  Tonight, it was Jeff’s turn holding off Jon for 20 laps to take the win.

Back at the trailer Jon stated “Had a good car in the heat race.  Made a few changes for the feature.”

“In the feature I got pinched into the homestretch wall on an early restart trying to take the lead.  I got some minor damage but was able to continue.  Once Jeff got the lead he was just better and drove away, but we were good enough to hold off the rest of the field and maintain 2nd place.”

Louden Reimert finished 3^rd from his 12^th starting position.  Louden currently sits 5^th in the mid-season points standings.

Louden reflected “Finally made the handicap in the heat this week which put us starting 12^th in the feature.  We slowly worked our way up to 3^rd.”

“We didn’t change anything around even though we were running after the crate feature this week.  The crates seemed to burn the track up and widen it out at the same time, so we had a nice wide track to work with from the crates running before us tonight.”

Jared Umbenhauer finished 4^th from his 16^th starting position.  Jared currently sits 3rd in the mid-season points standings behind Duane Howard in second and points leader Brett Kressley.

Jared stated “We started 10^th in the first heat and missed the handicap by one position putting us 16^th in the feature.  I expected this to be a difficult night to get a top ten since we were changed to running after the crate feature.  I watched the consolation, and they were rolling through the middle, but I didn’t expect the middle to be there for the feature.  We did make some adjustments for the feature when we heard we were running after the crate feature.”

“The early cautions in the feature just happened to all be out of my way.  The car was good and much to my surprise I could roll the middle with success.  When everyone went to the bottom I stayed up top and ran it hard.  Seemed like I raced with Louden and Logan for the entire race.”

Logan Watt finished 5^th from his 11^th starting position.  Logan continues to hold the 7^th position in the mid-season point standings.

Logan noted “We got in a jingle in the beginning of our heat race and had to run from last to 4^th and qualified in the invert.”

“In the feature, I was cautious in the beginning and fell back a few positions.  I then got in a hard battle with Louden and Jared Umbenhauer for the rest of the race.”

“We choose a softer tire that didn’t fire right away during the caution but when the tire did come in during the green flag laps we were rolling.  Car could have been better in turn 1&2.”

Next up on Saturday, August 2 will be Modifieds & Sportsman with hot laps at 6:15 and racing at 7:30 pm.

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