BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— Nov. 10, 2013— Wrapping up the season on a strong note is what every driver shoots for, as it generally helps the long months of the off-season go by a little faster. Kraig Kinser was able to turn in a very solid performance on the final night of the Seventh Annual World Finals for the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Saturday, Nov. 9, finishing fourth in the Bad Boys Buggies/Mesilla Valley Transportation/Casey’s General Store Maxim.
Kinser started eighth in the 30-lap main event in front of a sold-out crowd at Charlotte, and ran as high as third in the late going. The third-generation driver fell back a few spots to 11th in the early going, but by the eighth lap was all the way up to sixth. Just past the halfway point of the race, he battled Friday night’s winner Donny Schatz, along with Brian Brown, for several laps for the fifth spot.
Kinser would get around Brown for fifth on lap-16 and two laps later would work his way around Schatz for fourth. He found himself in third, following the final caution flag of the night for Sammy Swindell, who lost a tire while running second. Kinser ran third for the next 10 laps, before Schatz slipped by him with two circuits remaining. Crossing the line fourth, earned the 29-year-old his 10th top-five finish of the season.
“The car was great in the feature and really would go wherever I put it,” said Kinser. “We got a couple of breaks with a few of the cars in front of us having trouble and falling out, but we definitely had a fast car and it showed by the caliber of cars that we passed on our way to the front. After having not the best of nights on Friday, it was great to have a strong run and end the season on a note like that.”
Qualifying for the Saturday portion of the World Finals took place on Thursday, Nov. 9, with Kinser timing in 16th-fastest, which put him on the pole of the first heat race in the five heat race format. He would win that eight-lap contest to earn a spot in the dash. Kinser both started and finished eighth in the dash, and lined up on the outside of the fourth row for the 30-lap A-Feature.
“With the number of cars that were at the World Finals, qualifying was of the utmost important,” he noted. “It showed in the first qualifying session, when we qualified back a bit and really had to fight and claw our way forward on Friday. For Saturday night, we were in the perfect spot on the pole of the heat race and were able to win that and get in the dash, which really made the rest of our night go a lot smoother.”
During Friday night’s portion of the World Finals, Kinser used a provisional to start the main event in the 26th position and wound up finishing 23rd. He finished sixth in the first heat race, after starting eighth, coming up two spots short of transferring to the main event. Kinser finished second in the C-main to earn a spot in the B-main, where he came home 10th. In time trials that took place on Thursday, Nov. 9, and Kinser stopped the clocks 36th out of the 53 cars that took a time.
The native of Bloomington, Ind., wrapped up the 2013 World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season with one win, with that coming at Orange County Fair Speedway in New York. He recorded 34 top-10 finishes and was 11th in the overall standings. Kinser will spend some time in Australia during the off-season competing in a number of races Down Under.
“The competition out here was as tough as ever this year,” Kinser said. “Like I’ve said a few times this year, you have to have everything fall your way on a given night to be in contention. We had our ups and downs this year and learned quite a bit that will hopefully help us down the road. It’s always tough to see the season end, especially when you are running pretty good the last part of the year. We worked hard all year and I really have to thank everyone that helps us and sticks behind us.”
Action from the World Finals was taped by the CBS Sports Network and will air on Sunday, Dec. 15 and Sunday, Dec. 22.
Kraig Kinser Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, Mesilla Valley Transportation, King Racing Products, Maxim, Aerodine Composites, Sander Engineering, Integra Shocks, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bell, KSE Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, Schoenfeld Headers, Donovan Engineering, Fel-Pro, Brodix, Wilwood, Dyer’s, Barnes Systems, Ringer Gloves, Jakes Custom Golf Carts, and Ben Cook Racing Limited for their continued support.
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- Admin Account on Nov 11, 2013
- Article Date: 11/11/2013 by Kraig Kinser Racing PR