BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. – Jeff Strunk came through the pack from his 11th starting spot to win Saturday’s TP Trailers NASCAR 358 Modified 30-lap feature at Grandview Speedway.
It was John Willman taking the early lead at the start of the Modified feature with pressure from Ron Kline, Jesse Leiby, Mike Lisowski and Briggs Danner.
Kevin Hirthler spun in the second turn to bring out the yellow with four laps completed. A two-car second turn incident voided the restart. On the next attempt Kline charged past Willman to become the new pacesetter.
While Kline showed the way Willman and Ray Swinehart engaged in a side-by-side dual for second occasionally swapping paint.
By the halfway marker the front runners now comprised of Kline, Willman, Strunk, Swinehart and Lisowski encountered lap traffic.
At the conclusion of the 22nd lap Kline, Willman and Strunk were all vying for the lead with neither one giving in.
Strunk overtook second on the 27th lap and set his sights on Kline, who was in search of his first career win in the division gathering many wins and even a championship in the Late Model division before making the switch to the Modified ranks.
Kline’s hopes of victory were erased by Strunk with one lap remaining. After several tries Strunk finally succeeded to pass him to claim his 73rd Saturday night win. Posting his best finish was Kline trailed by Willman. Swinehart and Lisowski, fourth and fifth place finishers finally had a changed of luck to have their season best run.
Brad Arnold overtook rookie leader Scott Kohler on the 15th lap of the 25-lap TP Truck Equipment NASCAR Sportsman feature and went on to become the 13th different winner in the division when he claimed his first win of the season over runner-up Jack Butler in the caution-filled event.
Former late model driver Andy Ressler, now competing in the X-cel 600 Modified class, collected the checkered flag Saturday. He passed leader Matt Warner with two laps to go in the 20-lap feature and went on to score the win.