ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. — Kyle Hardy would’ve like to have competed in every Appalachian Mountain Speedweek event. But after Tuesday’s fourth-round event at Path Valley Speedway Park in Spring Run, Pa., where failing deck-height requirements after time trials set him back the rest of the evening, he figured that was his sign he and his Stephens City, Va.-based race team needed a reset.

“We’ve run the same thing for the last three years,” the 31-year-old Hardy said. “Something’s had to change eventually. You eventually have to step out of your comfort zone and change your car. That’s what we’ve done here. We’ve changed up some stuff.”

Indeed, following Tuesday’s 13th-place finish at the quarter-mile Path Valley that shuffled him out of the top-10 in miniseries points, Hardy labored all day on his No. 45 Sommey Lacey-owned race car Wednesday and skipped Thursday’s miniseries race at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway so he can reap the benefits of a night like Saturday at Lincoln Speedway.

A third-place effort at the 3/8-mile weekly sprint car track has Hardy finally feeling better about himself ahead of Sunday’s miniseries finale at BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven, Pa.

“Tonight we came with a whole different setup,” Hardy said. “Just stuff kind of old-school that we ran years before on somewhat of a shorter track. We tore the body off the car, pretty much pulled the rear-end out. The front-end was stripped. Tore everything apart. It just shows if you work on your stuff hard, you get good runs. Just glad to know the car is still good. We just need to make a little gains here and get a little better.

“Just really cool to have some speed back in the car. We hot-lapped good. We were first in our qualifying group. It’s completely all car setup and you have to … these cars are so technical nowadays. Just glad to know how to set up a car again. Just try to go off this package, see what we can do the rest of the year.”

As DirtonDirt.com's top 2023 performer from Virginia, Hardy had high expectations entering the second-year return of Appalachian Mountain Speedweek. He felt like he could do better than last year’s fifth-place points finish on the minitour where he finished on the podium once and appeared in two dashes.

Then he endured four straight midpack finishes — 14th at third-mile Clinton County Speedway in Mill Hall, Pa., 10th at half-mile Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, 16th at half-mile Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and 13th at Path Valley — which left Hardy buried 11th in the miniseries points.

Being a six-time winner across the Super, Limited and Crate divisions this year at tracks in four states — Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia — Hardy’s had to keep up with the nuances of each division. But even then, he’s not going to make those excuses for himself, like having to find the right setup for every tire rule he races.

“I’m kind of over just blaming a tire because that’s what we have to run up here in the Northeast,” Hardy said. “It’s all purely car setup, and shocks and springs. And manipulation of the chassis. We completely showed up with old stuff that we ran a long time ago and it made it 10 times better. Definitely something you can unload with moving forward and be a lot better.”

Saturday’s third-place run at Lincoln where he also went fast time in Group B had been even more encouraging because of the slick, technical racetrack throughout the 35-lap feature. Growing up at 3/8-mile Winchester (Va.) Speedway, the Virginian’s made slick racetracks his wheelhouse and his good runs this year show that.

On Jan. 25 at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., he bested an 89-car field and passed Ashton Winger around the bottom with seven laps remaining to win a Crate Racin’ USA Winter Shootout Clay by the Bay feature. He also won April 20’s season opener at Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway over Zack Dohm mastering the bottom of the 3/8-mile oval. He has four victories at Winchester and another May 24 at Pennsylvania’s Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Fastrak Racing Series competition for Crate Late Models.

“This is what I’m used to,” Hardy said. “I’m really good on stuff like this, hard and slick. (Lincoln) started off a little wet early. We just really hit the setup great tonight off the truck. It made it just much easier to race throughout the night without having to run a heat or a B-main given how the format is. Yeah, just so much easier being fast when you unload.”

Hardy’s also open and transparent about why he failed to meet minimum deck height requirements after Tuesday’s third-place qualifying run in his group at Path Valley, which knocked him out of a dash appearance.  The miniseries desk-height ruling aligns with the ruling on the national series, that drivers must not exceed 51.5 inches after qualifying. Hardy was found a quarter-inch over that minimum height Tuesday and accepted the penalty that changed the trajectory of his week.

“Of course, I’m completely legal most of the time,” Hardy said. “We made some adjustments on the car and I guess it got out of hand a little bit. It was a quarter-inch high. Nothing against the series. They did their thing. Obviously we came back and raced. No hard feelings.

“Yeah, very simple. We made adjustments on the car and it going out of hand. That’s how technical these cars are. You make a turn here, a turn there. A spring adjustment here or a rod adjustment and that’s how close it gets out of whack.”