Tag Archive for: #jandjautoracing

Once again, Reinhardt was fast out of the box in the Capitol Renegade, Coors Banquet Beer, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.91.  He clocked in quickest in group three qualifying with a lap of 12.904 seconds around the 4-tenths mile, high banked facility.

The qualifying effort put Reinhardt 4th on the grid for his 8-lap heat race.  He grabbed 3rd at the drop of the green and held on to that spot to the finish to transfer and lock into the dash.

The dash redraw put Reinhardt on the outside of the front row.  He gave chase to polesitter Justin Peck but settled for a runner-up finish.

Starting on the outside of the front row alongside Peck, Reinhardt wasted no time.  He took command of the race on lap one of the 35-lap finale using the high line off of turn two.  He had Peck and Anthony Macri hot on his heels.

Peck pressured Reinhardt for the next twenty laps as the pair diced through lapped traffic at a torrid pace.  Meanwhile, Danny Dietrich was inching closer to the front.

A caution with sixteen laps remaining turned into a fuel stop.  When the race resumed, Dietrich wrestled 2nd away from Peck.  Meanwhile, Reinhardt caught lapped traffic again and sliced through it quickly, keeping lapped cars between himself and Dietrich.

With three laps remaining, Dietrich had clear track between himself and Reinhardt, but the Neptune City, NJ native dove low into turn one on the final lap, clearing a lapped car and putting a cushion between himself and Dietrich again.  The move sealed the $15,000 victory and ignited a huge celebration with family, friends, and of course a Coors Banquet beer in hand.

“Man, I love racing here.  I love racing in New Jersey.  So many friends and family out here, it’s an awesome deal to win this.“, a very happy Reinhardt said in victory lane.  “We’ve been so close so many times to win a 410 race in NJ, it just means a lot to finally get it done.“

“It got really hairy a few times tonight.  This place is just so fast…badass fast.  We were catching the lapped cars so quickly, it was really hard to judge where they were going.“

“I can’t thank my friends and family enough and of course my crew, Chris, David, Lawnton, Kent, and Mike.  The people who support me, Wayne Quackenbush and Capitol Renegade, Coors Banquet Beer and Ace Distributing, and Henry’s Wrecker Service.  They are the ones behind the scenes who really make this happen for me.“

With 54 of the best sprint cars in the country on hand, Reinhardt’s Tuscarora 50 night didn’t start quite the way he had hoped.  His qualifying lap was only good enough for 16th quickest in Group A but his night took a turn in the right direction in the heat race.

Only the top three finishers would go directly to the Tuscarora 50 A-main, so Reinhardt had his work cut out for him starting on the outside of the third row.  Two laps in and running 5th, the Neptune City, NJ driver got a break when Logan Wagner’s 69k lost a motor while running 3rd.

Reinhardt restarted 4th and immediately began to pressure Dylan Cisney for the final transfer spot.  It only took two laps to wrestle the spot away from Cisney with a power move on the low side of the speedway.  

The battle continued to the checkered flag but Reinhardt held on to the spot, completing the task at hand and earning the 17th starting spot in the 50-lap crown jewel event.

Early on in the A-main, Reinhardt held his ground and eventually gained a couple of spots before engine issues arose.  He slid backward but kept battling, hoping his team could remedy the issue at the halfway break.  Shortly after the break with the issue still plaguing him, Reinhardt retired from the race and was officially recorded as 23rd in the final rundown.

“We battled engine issues in the feature tonight.  It’s a shame because we had a good car and good balance for that race.”, Reinhardt commented.  “We will put a fresh bullet in for tomorrow night.“

Given it was the first trip to Eldora Speedway together for Reinhardt and the Grove Racing team, they hoped to use Friday night’s Befour the Crowns Showdown event to dial in the Grove Racing, Capitol Renegade, Bakers Mobile Home Transport, Coors Banquet Beer, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.45 for Saturday’s final points race of the 2023 All Star Circuit of Champions season.

Unfortunately, the team experienced engine issues during time trials and ended up 23rd in Group A, putting them in a deep hole for the night.

Reinhardt was able to gain three spots in his heat race, which put him into the B-main.  After moving forward somewhat in that race, the engine issues reared their head again and Reinhardt retired for the night.

The All Star five heat group format was in play for the 48 teams on hand Friday night at Port Royal Speedway.  Reinhardt turned the 5th quickest lap in his group.  With only four transferring from each heat, he would need to move forward to get in the show.

After a strong start, an issue developed and Reinhardt faded to a 7th place finish in the Grove Racing, Capitol Renegade, Bakers Mobile Home Transport, Coors Banquet Beer, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.45.

Starting deep in the B-main (13th), Reinhardt needed to get to the top four to race his way into the A-main.  He managed a 10th place finish.

The team used an available provisional to start the A-main.  Reinhardt was able to move forward a few spots to a 21st place finish in the 30-lap Friday finale.

“We weren’t very good in qualifying, then we had an issue in our heat.  Hard to dig out of a hole like that with so many good cars here.“, Reinhardt said.