Howard Piling Up Wins At Grandview

Duane Howard has four wins in the Modified Division at Grandview Speedway in Bechtesville, Pa. Chris Budihas/Racerboy Marketing

Consistency Has Veteran Moving Up National Standings

Duane Howard knows what it’s like to be standing on the stage at the Convention Center at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and be honored as one of the top NASCAR Whelen All-American Series drivers in the nation.

And he knows what it’s going to take to get back to Charlotte.

After dropping from third in 2010 to 57th last season, Howard is having the start to the season that has him in position to contend for the title through the summer and into the fall.

“We really geared up for this season over the winter,” said the 48-year-old Oley, Pa., driver. “We felt we needed to be a lot better if we were going to contend in NASCAR points. So yes, our start to this season has been more satisfying.”

With another win this past weekend in the Modified Division feature, Howard has four wins and six top fives in seven starts on the banked clay of Grandview Speedway in Bechtesville, Pa. He moved from 10th to sixth in the standings.

More importantly, he’s scored an average of 40 points per race – the highest among drivers with more than five starts.

“We seem to have strong starts and strong finishes in our seasons,” Howard said. “We just need to carry that momentum through the mid-season.”

Anthony Anders leads the standings with 476 points. He has 11 top fives in 20 starts at his asphalt Late Model at Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway, Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway, Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway.

NATIONAL TOP 500 | STATE/PROVINCE TOP 20

Nate Monteith is second with three wins and 377 points while competing against Anders at Kingsport and Greenville.

CE Falk III is third overall with six wins and 350 points racing at South Boston, Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., and Motor Mile in Radford, Va. Matt Bowling (South Boston, Langley and Motor Mile) and Daniel Pope II (Kingsport) round out the top five.

The championship points standings will become clearer and more accurate as drivers get more starts.

A driver’s best 18 results through Sept. 16 are counted toward their state and national points totals, and the champions are decided on overall points total. Once a driver reaches 18 starts, their total would increase incrementally as they replace some poorer runs with better results.

Under the points structure for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, the race winner receives two points for every car in the event up to 20 cars. Second place receives two fewer points, and so on through the field. Race winners receive an additional five bonus points. For example, if 20 cars are in the field, the winner receives 45 points, second place 38 and third, 36. If there are 15 cars, the winner receives 35 points, second 28 and third, 26.

Of drivers with five or more starts, Howard leads Pope (35.4), Falk (35.0), Tom Roger Jr. of Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway (34.0) and Burt Myers of Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. (33.83) in points-per-race-average.

Howard, a four-time champion at Grandview, knows he has his work cut out to keep up his pace.

“It’s getting tougher each week this season at Grandview,” Howard said. “It’s taking later and later in the races we’ve won to take the lead. At Grandview, part of what you have to do is take your time, get to the front and take whatever points you can.

“It’s so difficult to race for points at Grandview because the two guys behind us in track points, Jeff Strunk and Craig VonDohren, finished every race. That’s part of what makes it so difficult to compile wins. We’re averaging 44 entries each week and 28 cars start the feature. We’ve been starting about mid-pack. We started 15th last Saturday. Chad Sinon and BPG are have put together everything we need to contend every week.”

Track, state and provincial champions and the top-three finishers in the national standings earn invitations to the 2012 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet in December.

NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Top 25

Pos Driver Track Starts Wins T-5 T-10 Points
1 Anthony Anders Greenville, Myrtle, Kingsport, Hickory 20 0 11 18 476
2 Nate Monteith Greenville, Kingsport 13 3 9 11 377
3 C E Falk, III Motor Mile, Langley, S Boston 10 6 9 10 350
4 Matt Bowling S Boston, Langley, Motor Mile 10 1 8 9 295
5 Daniel Pope, III Kingsport 8 3 7 8 283
6 Duane Howard Grandview 7 4 6 7 280
7 Deac Mccaskill Southern Natl, S Boston 9 6 8 9 278
8 Zeke Shell Kingsport 8 2 7 7 270
9 Keith Rocco Stafford, Waterford 10 5 5 5 263
10 Austin Mcdaniel Hickory 8 2 8 8 260
11 Toby Porter Greenville 8 4 7 8 246
12 Chris Spieker Adams, I-80 8 0 4 8 236
13 Jason O'brien Adams, I-80 8 1 5 7 235
14 Tyler Chadwick Waterford 8 2 5 6 232
15 Joe Gada Stafford, Waterford 11 0 1 5 232
16 Marty Ward, Jr Greenville 8 4 7 7 230
17 Jeff Strunk Grandview 7 0 5 7 230
18 Jeff Pearl Waterford 8 0 6 7 226
19 Jesse Lefevers Hickory 8 3 6 7 225
20 Joe Aramendia Houston, Thunderhill 9 6 9 9 220
21 Rob Janovic, Jr Waterford 8 0 4 6 216
22 Nichole Morgillo Waterford, Stafford 11 0 2 6 208
23 Burt Myers Bowman 6 1 3 5 203
24 Tom Abele, Jr Waterford 8 0 5 6 202
25 Tommy Lemons, Jr Caraway, Motor Mile, Southern Natl 11 0 6 7 200