Tag Archive for: #centralPA

Thirty teams were on hand for the regular show Friday night at Williams Grove, which set heat lineups by the track’s handicapping system and the feature lineup was ‘heads up’ based on the heat race finishes.

Newlin started 7th in the third and final heat race of the evening.  He made quick work of the cars directly in front of him, racing into 5th on the opening lap.  He continued his push, claiming 4th on the following circuit and eventually 3rd on lap seven.  He pulled even with Justin Foster coming to the checkered flag but fell 0.030 seconds short of a runner-up finish.

The heat race charge provided Newlin with the 9th starting spot for the 20-lap A-main.  On the initial start he slipped back a couple spots but recovered within two trips around the legendary Mechanicsburg, PA half-mile. 

Once he found his rhythm, Newlin began to chip away toward the top five.  He took the 8th spot on lap three, then 7th the next time around.  A few laps later he moved into 6th and began his pursuit of Kody Hartlaub for a spot in the top five.

It never materialized and Newlin closed out the night with a 6th place finish.  The productive night brought his streak of top ten finishes to five, including a win in late July in the Manchester Hydraulics, Marlow’s Metal Fabrication, Safety Kleen, Lee Chassis Repair & Components, Will’s Lawncare, Mansberger Motorsports No.21m.

“We haven’t been out of the top ten anywhere we have gone with this car since May 5th, and that was an 11th place finish.“, Newlin said.  “We passed a lot of cars tonight.  We went forward every time we hit the track.  Almost had second in our heat from seventh.”

“It feels good to have Dan’s (Mansberger) car running the way it should be.  We struggled with odd issues and bad luck the last couple years, so it’s good to finally have things going our way and showing what we are capable of.  You have to be consistent and be there first, then the wins will come.  We have one so far and hopefully we can get a couple more before the season ends.“

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.“