Grandview Sportsman Pit Notes 9/13/25 – Mike Loney Wins Sportsman Season Finale and Colin Cox Captures the 2025 NASCAR Sportsman Points Championship at Grandview

Mike Loney passed Stephen Smith for the lead on lap 10 and held off a hard charging Colin Cox to take his first trip to victory lane at Grandview Speedway.

Polesitter Stephen Smith took the lead for the first 10 laps until outside polesitter Mike Loney moved into the lead. The final 21 laps were green as Colin Cox ran from 12^th to 2^nd and Mike Loney took the checkered flag for his first Grandview win.

Heat race winners for the 48 car sportsman field were Stephen Smith, Mike Loney, Parker Guldin, Troy Conrad, and Jimmy Leiby.

Consolation races were won by Brad Force, Kenny Gilmore and Brandon Sheldon.

Colin Cox stormed to a 2^nd place finish to capture his first NASCAR points championship at Grandview Speedway.

T.P. TRUCK EQUIPMENT NASCAR SPORTSMAN FEATURE FINISH (25 laps):

1. MIKE LONEY (2), 2. Colin Cox (14), 3. Parker Guldin (7), 4 Jimmy Leiby (8), 5. Stephen Smith III (1), 6. Brad Brightbill (10), 7. Addison Meitzler (18), 8. Shannon Slaughter (5), 9. Adrianna Delliponti (12), 10. Mark Mohr (9), 11. Nate Horn (24), 12. Gavyn Krupp (13), 13. Decker Swinehart (11), 14. Brett Gilmore (19), 15. Mike Schneck Jr. (28), 16. Joey Vaccaro (15), 17. Nathan Mohr (23), 18. Kenny Gilmore (21), 19. Teague Miller (26), 20. Brayden Shelton (22), 21. Xavier Sprague (17), 22. TJ Mayberry (16), 23. Chase Gular (25), 24. (P) Dylan Swinehart (30), 25. Ebby Ridge (29), 26. Colton Perry (27), 27. Zach Steffey (4), 28. Troy Conrad (3), 29 Mike Stofflet (6), 30. Brad Force (20)

DID NOT QUALIFY: Jason Graber, Del Howell, Brandon Banos, Lawson Szerencits, Kyle Hartzell, Taylor Kramer, Richie Hitzler, Dakota Kohler, Todd Smith, Scott Kohler, John McGeoy, Kaitlyn Bailey, Jesse Landis, Brett Grim, Mark Gaugler, Alex Bartorillo, Jesse Leiby, Dennis Graber

HARD CHARGER: Nate Horn +13

SPORTSMAN PIT NOTES – 9/13/25

Mike Loney finished 1^st from his 2^nd starting position in his first time handicapped to the front of the field.

In victory lane Mike recalled “To be here in victory lane at Grandview is a dream come true and I’m speechless.  It’s an honor to be in Grandview’s victory lane.  I started coming here to help the Trappers and they said I might as well bring my car with me too.”

In the heat I started on the pole, got the lead on the drop and stayed there right to the checkered flag. 

For the feature I put on a new 48 RR and made a spring adjustment to tighten up the car.  The car was perfectly balanced all night long.

“In the feature I didn’t know where to run but then decided to commit to the outside to pass the Stephen Smith.  I ran 8 laps with the leader virtually side by side and actually clipped the wall twice but then finally made the pass for the lead on lap 10.

Once I got into the lead, I dropped back down to bottom and stayed there right to the checkered flag.  I just hit my marks and never felt anyone and fortunately didn’t engage any lapped traffic.  It was pretty much smooth sailing once I got past the Stephen Smith.

Colin Cox finished 2^nd from his 14^th starting position and collected the 2025 Sportsman points championship by 1,012 points over 2^nd place Mikey Schneck.

 Colin noted “Heat race went well hugging the bottom and being patient with a couple cautions.  I was able to get to 3rd and made the handicap in the final position.”

“In the feature started 14th and the only caution was on lap 4.  Restarted 12th and it went green the rest of the way.  I was able to get up to 2nd at the line.  I think maybe I could’ve won if there was a caution towards the later part of the race but that’s how racing goes sometimes.”

“It was an unbelievable year for us, and I couldn’t thank everyone involved enough.  I’m pretty sure I finished every feature with no DNF’s and no DNQ’s this season.  It’s so cool to say I won the championship at Grandview speedway, especially in my first-year racing weekly at Grandview.”

Parker Guldin finished 3^rd from his 7^th starting position.

Parker noted “To reflect on my night I can’t be happier with the outcome.  It’s a shame it took all year for either the luck to come round or the car but either way they’re both were finally working together tonight.  Here lately we’ve been fastest overall in warm-ups which really doesn’t mean anything, but it’s mainly the principle of it since I’ve never been in that situation in consecutive weeks before. That gave me confidence knowing that I had a good car to qualify with.

 With having five heats so I knew it was going to be tough to qualify.  Plus, with the sportsman class all year the front rows are normally pretty dicey. Realistically it’s a toss-up on whether you are going to finish the heat or be taken back to the pits by the tow truck.  Thankfully luck was on my side this time, and I wasn’t the victim of someone else’s situation. Unfortunately, others were caught up which made it a lot easier for me to qualify through the heat race. I was extremely happy with a fourth to first run for my heat race which would put me starting 7th for the feature.

I was able to find the right line early in the feature to make the right moves which would put me up to second somewhere around the halfway point.  I started to run down the leader but when I moved down to the bottom my tire on the right rear was starting to go away.  It was a used tire that I got six features out of, and I should have known it was way past its working point, but I rolled the dice on it one more time.  It was a tough financial decision that ultimately cost me a possible win and a second-place finish which I lost as I drifted back to 3rd on the last two laps.  As bittersweet as that may be, I only lost out on spots because of tires and not because of any misfortune or suspension issues which is enough to consider the night a win for me with the year that I have had.”

Jimmy Leiby finished 4^th from his 8^th starting position.

Jimmy stated “I put a new set of shocks on this week to try stuff for the 38er, and it worked great all night.  In the heat race I got lucky, and the handicap had me  starting upfront instead of in the rear.  I was able to get out in front early and just cruise trying to hit my marks.

Made some small changes for the feature and the car was fast.  I was over driving the car and realized it too late in the race to do anything about it.  The car was fast like it always is.  I just needed the break of starting closer to the front.

Lynn Peters offered the car to me to keep me in STSS points.  He offered it to me for New Egypt since my car was wrecked and we just rolled with it right back to Grandview. I was trying some different things to get ready for the 38er. I think we have a car that is definitely capable of winning the 38er. If Nate and I keep running like this, I think the 38er will be one to watch for the two of us and the Lynn peters motorsports cars.”

Stephen Smith finished 5^th from the pole position in only his 5^th outing of the season.

Stephen commented “I was able to tell traffic was starting to slick the track off even before the heat races, so right after hot laps we made some adjustments to the car which made the car handle perfect for the heat.  I was able to lead the full 10 laps to my first heat race win this season.”  

Towards the end of the night the track was getting dusty, so we had to make some adjustments for the feature which worked well.  We were running the bottom for about half the race. The bottom did start to slick off and then we got passed by the top, so I decided to change lanes and see what was up there. The car was misfiring through the 2^nd half of the feature, but I was still able to get fifth place, and we had the fastest lap of the night.”

“We had a very late start to this season due to me having a full-time job now it is tough to race on Saturdays. Despite that, I think we’re able to keep up with the limited amount of track time.  I was also very happy to be able to start upfront this week due to how Grandview does the handicap which helped me get my first top five finish of my career in my first feature of the year. I have no complaints whatsoever; it was very clean racing throughout the night.

Next up is the Freedom 76er weekend with racing on both Friday and Saturday night:

Friday, September 19 – 12^th annual FREEDOM 38 SPORTSMAN CHAMPIONSHIP – T.P. Truck Equipment Sportsman 38 laps, Modified Practice for Freedom 76 – 7:30 pm. $5 general admission.

Saturday, September 20 – 55^th annual FREEDOM 76 MODIFIED CLASSIC – Modifieds 76 laps – 7 pm (Rain date September 27). $40 general admission.