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Hartlaub was among a field of 28 drivers set to do battle Friday night, September 1st at Williams Grove Speedway.  The heat lineups were set using a handicapping system, which put point leader Hartlaub outside the fourth row.  That improved to outside row three when two lesser experienced drivers opted to start at the rear of the field.

By the time one lap was complete, Hartlaub was already 4th and poised for more when the caution appeared.  On the ensuing restart, he dove into turn one but the hole he thought he saw closed quickly.

With little time to adjust, Hartlaub spun and was collected another car.  He pushed off and restarted at the back of the pack, but the car was wounded.  He managed to finish 6th to transfer into the A-main 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.

There was significant damage to the front suspension but with help from Steve Owings, Doug Hammaker and others, the team patched the car back together to put Hartlaub on track for the feature.

Hartlaub’s car wasn’t its competitive self though and the East Berlin, PA driver just survived to salvage a 19th place finish.

“I made a mistake and paid for it.“, Hartlaub said of the misjudged passing attempt in the heat race.  “I owe a big thanks to Steve Owings, Doug Hammaker and everyone else that came down to help us salvage what we could in the feature.“

Upon returning to the shop late Friday night, the team spent several hours swapping their 358 motor into their 410 sprint car so they could race at Lincoln Saturday night.

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.