Newlin Back on Track in 410 Sprints, Searching for Balance

Zach Newlin’s weekend was supposed to kick off with 358 sprint car competition at Williams Grove Speedway in the Mansberger Motorsports No.21m, however Mother Nature claimed the victory Friday night, leaving the Millerstown, PA resident to turn his attention to Saturday night’s 410 sprint car race at Port Royal Speedway in the BK Motorsports N0.77.

July 30:  Living Legends Dream Race / Port Royal Speedway / Port Royal, PA

      [27 cars, Qualifying 26th, Heat 9th (9), B-main 5th (9),

        A-main #1 24th (23), A-main #2 20th (24)]

Newlin and the No.77 team have limited 410 sprint car experience and had been working hard to shorten the learning curve, with a goal of establishing a reliable baseline setup to adjust from.  That process had been stalled when the team was sidelined for six weeks for a variety of reasons.

Back in June with only a few races together, Newlin and the BK Motorsports team had a good heat race run and earned a mid-pack starting spot, but they were unable to maintain and faded in the main event.

Tonight, they were ready to get back to work finding a good balance in their X1 chassis at Port Royal’s Living Legends Dream Race.  The format for the 16th annual event took on a slightly new look for 2022.  The PA Speedweek time trial and heat race format would be used to set the lineup for the first of two twin 20-lap features.  The lineup for the second feature would be based on the finishing order of the first race but would use an inversion of either the top 4, 6 or 8 finishers of the first race.  The inversion pill would be drawn by the winner of the first feature.  

Twenty seven teams signed in to compete Saturday night, vying for their share of the $60,000 total purse.  Newlin’s night started off absent any luck.  He drew the highest pill, which meant he would go out last under the clock.  In the PA Speedweek format the field qualifies as one group, so a late slot in the order is not an ideal scenario for a team.

Newlin turned in the 26th quickest lap in qualifying in the Victory Auto / Grove Financial & Associates / Dillman Hauling / Centre Roofing & Contracting / Mattas Motorsports / Ron’s RV Sales / The Roast Post / Tuscarora Roofing Co. / FIT Transportation / Kirby Kitner Excavating / Christine Booher, Realtor / T&M Homebuilders / Strange Oval / Walker Performance Filtration / Newlin Bar Service, BK Motorsports No.77, which meant he and the team had some work to do if they were going to climb out of the early hole.

Just two laps into his 8-lap heat race, the hole got deeper.  Something didn’t feel right and the ill-handling racecar forced Newlin to the pits.

The 9th place finish in the heat race placed Newlin 9th on the starting grid for the 12-lap B-main.  He was able to advance a few positions and work his way into the 6th and final A-main transfer spot, then got a little insurance when a top five car dropped out.

It wasn’t the easiest path, but they were in the Dream Race.  That meant more laps, more experience, and guaranteed start money.

Newlin started 23rd in the first 20-lap A-main and was running 24th on lap nine.  Unable to move forward, the team made the decision to pull in, save their equipment for the second feature, and make adjustments to get better.  While racers want to race and never want to give up, it was the smart decision for the bigger picture.  It gave the team time to assess what they had learned and make adjustments for the second race, which gave them another opportunity to add to their notebook.

While the final finish didn’t show a dramatic improvement, Newlin indicated the car was definitely better in the second race.  He crossed under the checkers in 20th after starting 24th.

“We didn’t time well tonight and that’s tough to overcome, then we had the issue in the heat race and had to pull in, which made it even tougher.” Newlin commented.

“We had really good straightaway speed.  We’ve got bite and enough power, now we just need to get it rotating better in the corner.  We’ve been too tight.  I could enter the corner pretty decent but from the middle off I just have to fight it too much and we lose time & speed.  We’re putting our heads together and getting some other opinions to try and get this car balanced better.  Just have to keep racing and working on it.  We’ll figure it out.”

Up Next

Zach will be aboard the Mansberger Motorsports No.21m Friday night August 5th at Williams Grove Speedway for a first-of-its-kind Match Race for the 358 sprint cars, offering a total purse of over $20,000.  Per Williams Grove’s website, the much anticipated Match Race, including matched sponsorship funds from the speedway, will go 25-laps in distance while paying $2,021 to win and $696 to start.

Saturday night, August 6th, Newlin will be back in the BK Motorsports No.77 410 sprint car at Port Royal Speedway, where the new team will continue working hard to find the right balance and break through with a top ten run.

Season Stats

12 races, 0 wins, 0 top 5’s, 1 top 10’s, 4 top 15’s, 7 top 20’s