Archive for category: Zach Newlin

Newlin was forced to dive right in Sunday night.  Group time trials set the heat lineups for the 23-car field, so his first laps in the Ron’s RV Sales, Butler Hill Maple Farm, Tuscarora Roofing Co., Dillman Hauling, FIT Transportation, Grove Financial & Associates, Precision Auto Repair Services, Snyders Knob, Christine Booker Realtor, Newlin Bar Service No.11z were on the clock.

After timing 7th quick in group 3, Newlin started and finished 7th in heat three as well.  

Newlin took what he learned from those laps, discussed the information with brother Lance Newlin, and the pair made adjustments for the 30-lap finale.  It made a difference.  He was able to climb as high as 16th during the first half of the race and ultimately finished 17th.

“It’s good to be back at the track with the family team.  We have been working on building this RPM car all year as finances allowed.  The final piece was the engine.  We didn’t even get a chance to come out and test, so tonight was like a test for us.“, Newlin said.

“It took some time to get comfortable tonight but we definitely made a lot of progress by the end of the night.  There are a couple components I want to change before we race again.  Hopefully we can use the rest of this year to shake the car down so we have something solid to start 2024 with.“

Newlin’s night started off with a decent pill draw that put him on the front row for his heat race.  A poor start dropped him back to 3rd on the opening circuit and by mid-race he found himself nearly a second back from the runner up spot.  He continued to grind and close the gap, finally reclaiming the 2nd spot on the final lap.

“I have to give a big thanks to Dereck Locke’s son.  He pulled my pill for me tonight and put me on the front row of that heat.“, Newlin shared with a grin.  

The redraw gave Newlin and the Manchester Hydraulics, Marlow’s Metal Fabrication, Safety Kleen, Lee Chassis Repair & Components, Will’s Lawncare, Mansberger Motorsports No.21m the inside of the second row to start the Summer Series 25-lap feature event.

Newlin got bottled up a bit in traffic on the initial start of the A-main and slipped back to 5th.  He went to work on 4th place Cody Phillips and after a few unsuccessful attempts to slip by on the low side, changed lanes and wrestled the spot away from Phillips using the high side in turn three.

A few laps later he used the high side again off turn two to take 3rd away from Jayden Wolf.  With a car that was clearly on point Friday night, Newlin continued his march forward.  He moved into 2nd on lap nine.

One lap later Newlin took command of the race, snatching the lead away from Chris Frank.  He went on to survive a restart and build a comfortable lead.  Meanwhile, Kody Hartlaub was marching forward as well.  The 7th place starter moved into the runner up spot with ten laps remaining and set his crosshairs on Newlin’s No.21m.

Hartlaub caught Newlin with a power move going into turn one to start lap 21.  Newlin battled back, diving under Hartlaub into turn three and had regained the lead before the line.  The pair ran wheel to wheel and nose to tail, dicing through lapped traffic over the remaining laps. 

Newlin held on for his second career 358 sprint car victory by a mere 0.741 seconds.

“I looked up at the board and saw Kody was in second.  I knew he was really good.  I just got too complacent with the lead and slowed my pace too much. I had the wing in the trunk to get off the corner but that’s not good for running the cushion, so it was a handful.“, Newlin said. 

“He (Hartlaub) certainly woke me up.  He raced me clean.  I don’t know if I raced him clean on the front stretch but it’s been a few years since we were here (in victory lane) so I wasn’t going to give up easily.“

“It feels good to be back here in victory lane.  It’s been way too long.  Getting Dan (Mansberger) a win has been a goal of mine and we finally did it.“

Doug Hammaker shared the front row of the 20-lap A-main starting lineup with Newlin.  Hammaker beat the Millerstown, PA native to turn one on the opening lap and claimed the top spot.

Newlin settled into 2nd and kept the leader in his sights past the halfway point of the race.  As they reached lapped traffic, he watched for an opportunity to challenge for the lead but it never materialized.  Instead, Chris Frank capitalized and slipped past Newlin into the runner-up spot on lap fourteen.

Zach Daddy kept a firm grasp on 3rd through the checkered flag, holding off Derek Locke and Tim Glatfelter, who rounded out the top five.

“Well, we still have a lot of work to do but that was a good run for us.  I should’ve run second there but I hesitated in traffic.“, Newlin said.  “I’m glad it didn’t go any longer because we were about out of fuel.”

“We’re still figuring some things out with this car and I’m trying to make better decisions behind the wheel.  Those things are just a product of not racing enough and not having enough laps this year.”

Newlin has won at Williams Grove Speedway before in 358 sprint car competition.  That was in his own car in his first season in the division.  If he and the Mansberger team can keep this trend going, he may get back to victory lane before too long.

Newlin started the 20-lap A-main in 13th and made some forward progress in the opening laps.  A couple caution flags slowed the field during the first half of the race.

Running 11th as the race neared the halfway mark, Newlin got a little wide coming off turn two and lost a spot.  Moments later his No.21m ended up facing the wrong way in the middle of turns three and four after contact from behind.  

Newlin pushed off again after the spin but realized his right rear tire was going down.  He was forced to pull off and call it a day.

“I thought I messed up off turn two.  Then I tried to hustle the car but I guess I left the door open too far entering three and got bumped enough to turn me.  The tire was probably going down before I realized it.”, Newlin said.  “I still had a little tread left but I must have run over something.  We found a cut and a small hole on the right rear.“

“It’s disappointing because we had a car good enough to run top ten today.  There’s a couple things I could’ve done better.  We will learn from it and try again in two weeks at The Grove.“, Newlin concluded.