Archive for category: Kody Hartlaub

Hartlaub has been at or near the top of the Williams Grove Speedway 358 sprint car point standings almost all season.  That means his heat races become very important since the handicapping system puts him in the fourth row of the starting lineup and the feature starts heads up based on heat race finishes.

With 29 cars on hand on September 15th, Hartlaub got off on the right foot by driving from 8th to 5th in his heat race to earn the 14th starting spot in the main event.

That was the first step.  Now came the longer, harder step. 

In the 25-lap A-main, Hartlaub once again moved forward quickly.  By lap five he was inside the top ten.  He continued to methodically chip his way toward the front, cracking the top five with eight laps remaining.  The progress stalled there, but Hartlaub walked away with a hard-earned top-five finish, passing a combined 12 cars on the night to get it done.

In the span of just over 24 hours August 18th and 19th, Hartlaub logged three 358 sprint car features, two at Williams Grove on Friday night and one at Lincoln on Saturday night.  He finished 5th, 2nd and 10th respectively in the J Fuels, Brewer Home Improvements, Moose Blocks, Smith Titanium, SRR Engines, Siegel Racing, T&N Solutions, Inch & Co. Real Estate, Bigham Appraisals, Pretzel Boy, HAAS Shocks, Chop Designs, Herr Electric, Hartlaub’s Furniture, Kody Hartlaub Racing No.95.

While the main events were certainly not a walk in the park, Hartlaub did the heavy lifting during the heat races that weekend, passing six cars at The Grove and four at Lincoln during qualifying.

Hartlaub was just as good at Lincoln the following weekend, August 26th.  He won his heat race and drove from 8th to 3rd in the A-main that night.

“We’ve been really consistent all year.  That’s a credit to Pat (Brewer), my dad and all my guys who put it a lot of hours by my side to make sure everything is well maintained and we are as prepared as we can be.  I can’t thank them enough.“, Hartlaub said.

Hartlaub has compiled some impressive statistics at the wheel of his 358 sprint car in 2023.  Along with the two wins at Lincoln Speedway, his average finishing position is 5.8 over eleven races.  Just up the road at Williams Grove Speedway, Hartlaub owns an average finish of 3.5 over six races.

It will come as no surprise those stats have put Hartlaub atop the season championship point standings at both tracks.

Hartlaub leads Derek Locke by 70 points at Williams Grove and Logan Rumsey by 120 points at Lincoln Speedway.  Both tracks have 3 races remaining for the 358 sprint cars this season.

The 358 sprint car portion of Friday’s program brought 25 teams to compete.  Heat lineups for the Summer Series event were set by pill draw, with the top four finishers going to the redraw.

Hartlaub started 7th in the final heat race in the J Fuels, Brewer Home Improvements, Moose Blocks, Smith Titanium, SRR Engines, Siegel Racing, T&N Solutions, Inch & Co. Real Estate, Bigham Appraisals, Pretzel Boy, HAAS Shocks, Chop Designs, Herr Electric, Hartlaub’s Furniture, Kody Hartlaub Racing No.95 and he wasted no time, charging into 3rd on the opening lap.  He held that spot to lock himself into the redraw.

The A-main redraw dealt Hartlaub the same hand as the earlier draw, a 7th starting spot.  At the drop of the green, he got shuffled back to 9th in traffic, but he was able to recover the track position within the next two circuits.  

Hartlaub clearly had a good car and when he found his rhythm, the march to the front began.  He cracked the top five on lap nine and reached 3rd on lap thirteen with a calculated but aggressive drive.

When Hartlaub moved into the runner-up spot, he was a full straightaway behind leader Zach Newlin, but he immediately began to visibly close the gap.  In traffic with only four laps remaining, he dover under Newlin in turn one to claim the lead.  

Newlin battled back to reclaim the lead in turn four and the pair waged a wheel to wheel battle, duking it out through traffic over the remaining circuits.  Hartlaub came up just short and crossed under the checkered flag in 2nd.

“Once again, I feel like we had the car to beat tonight in the 358. Driving from the 7th starting spot to running the leader down from that far back just shows how great of a piece my team gives me each and every week. I would have loved to get our new partners with J Fuels in victory lane on our debut night with their logo on the car, but I just made one too many mistakes once I passed Zach and left him the opportunity to get me back. I can’t wait to get our first win at Williams Grove being such a historic track. “, Hartlaub commented.

Hartlaub now sits 2nd in the 358 sprint car season championship point standings at Williams Grove Speedway, just 50 points behind leader Derek Locke.

Thanks to Mother Nature and schedules, Hartlaub didn’t make a lap for three weeks before finally getting the chance to strap in again on July 8th at Lincoln Speedway.  It was a 358 sprint car night for the Littlestown, PA native and 35 other teams were pit-side with him.  The regular format called for the top five finishers in each heat to transfer to the main event, with the top three being handicapped to the front.

Hartlaub started 5th in the final heat.  Nearly halfway through the ten lap qualifying race he was sitting in 4th, in the show but not in the handicap.  He continued to work forward, taking the 3rd spot on lap five and capturing the final handicap spot on the final lap.

Being the current point leader at Lincoln Speedway, Hartlaub assumed the 12th starting spot for the 20-lap feature.  On lap three he moved into 11th but the racing surface had taken rubber, making it a one lane affair around the bottom.  The best he could do was make sure he didn’t miss his marks so he didn’t go backwards.  He finished 11th, his first time outside of the top ten in his 358 sprint car since March.