Bloomington, Ind.—May 28, 2012— Kraig Kinser has said all season that the key to contending for wins was to be in the right spot and consistently run among the Top-Five. He did just that over the Memorial Day weekend, as he finished a season-best second at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana on Monday night, after battling Chad Kemenah for the top spot for several laps late in the race. The third-generation driver opened the weekend with a fourth-place showing at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Friday night live on SPEED.
Kinser, who started fourth in the 35-lap main event at Lawrenceburg took the lead from Kemenah on the back straightaway on lap-28 and was out front for two circuits before Kemenah got back around him on the high side of the high-banked three-eighths-mile. Kinser had a spirited battle with Kyle Larson for the runner-up spot over the final four laps. Larson took second on a lap-31 restart, with Kinser getting back by him on the last lap at the line to record the runner-up performance, which was his eighth Top-Five finish of the season aboard the Hendrickcars.com Maxim.
“That was a lot of fun to be able to run that close to somebody, control your car and know that you don’t have to wreck anyone to get by,” said Kinser of his battle for the lead with Kemenah. “It was good racing. I would have loved to have won, but Chad (Kemenah) buzzed right back by me on the top and it was over. I wish we would have gotten back in traffic, but we’ll take a second.”
Kinser was 10th-fastest in time trials at Lawrenceburg, which put him on the outside of the front row for the second 10-lap heat race. He finished second in the heat to earn a spot in the dash, where he lined up fourth. The native of Bloomington, Ind., finished in that same spot, which put him on the outside of the second row for the 35-lap main event.
“Our Hendrickcars.com car was good from the get-go tonight,” said Kinser. “We qualified well enough to get in the inversion. The cars was good throughout the feature. I had a little trouble on the double file restarts on the high side of the track with how dirty it was, but otherwise it was a great night. I have to really thank all the fans for coming out and spending their holiday with us on a very day. Hopefully we’ll be back next year.”
At Charlotte on Friday, May 25, Kinser started on the pole for the main event during the Circle K NOS Energy Outlaw Showdown and ran among the Top-Five for most of the 30-lap contest at the state-of-the-art four-tenths-mile en route to a fourth-place finish. He battled three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart for several laps for the fourth position. The feature was slowed by six cautions, with Kinser restarting on the low side of the track on each of the double file restarts.
“It was a pretty good run,” said Kinser. “We didn’t have the best start to the feature and you never want to back up when you start on the pole, but we’ll learn from it and move on. It was good to get another Top-Five finish and we are getting closer to our first win of the season.”
Kinser opened the night at Charlotte by turning the eighth-fastest lap in time trials of the 29 cars in attendance. He lined up on the outside of the front row in the second heat, and took the lead from four-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz on the start and would led all eight laps to pick up a spot in the dash. Kinser started second in the dash and took the lead from polesitter Ed Lynch Jr. on the opening lap and would pace all six circuits to earn the pole for the 30-lap main event.
“It was a fun week in Charlotte,” Kinser shared. “We had a chance to visit with a lot of the folks from Hendrickcars.com and a lot of fans as well and that was great. It felt good to have a strong showing with everyone there on Friday night as well.”
Kinser, who is currently sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings, returns to action on Friday, June 1, at the high-banked one-third-mile Attica Raceway Park in Ohio, followed by a visit to I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., on Saturday, June 2, where the World of Outlaws will compete for the first time on a reconfigured three-eighths-mile surface.
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: The Dirt Track at Charlotte & Lawrenceburg Speedway
0.375- Miles around Lawrenceburg Speedway
0.4- Miles around The Dirt Track at Charlotte
2- Laps led at Lawrenceburg Speedway; Career Top-Five finishes at Charlotte
3- Career Top-Five finishes with the World of Outlaws at Lawrenceburg
5- Career Top-10 finishes at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
6- Current position in the World of Outlaws championship standings
7.2- Average finish in five main event starts with the World of Outlaws at Lawrenceburg
8- Top-Five finishes this season
10- Average finish in 23 main event starts this season with the World of Outlaws
12.042- Lap in time trials at Lawrenceburg Speedway
14- Average finish at Charlotte in 16 main event starts
14.001- Lap in time trials at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
15- Top-10 finishes this season
16- Feature event starts with the World of Outlaws at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
3012- Points earned through May 28
42,310- Dollars earned through May 28
Up Next
June 1: Attica Raceway Park, Attica, Ohio
June 2: I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa, Mich.
Keep up with all the action
Follow Kraig Kinser on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kraigkinser11k and receive live updates from the track each and every race night.
Tune in
Listen live to each and every World of Outlaws event on DIRTVision.com with “The Voice of the Outlaws” Johnny Gibson on the call. Visit www.DIRTVision.com for live audio of each and every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event.
- Admin Account on May 29, 2012
- Article Date: 5/29/2012 by Kraig Kinser Racing PR