Bloomington, Ind.— October 31, 2012— It seems like it was just yesterday that the trailer door on Kraig Kinser’s No. 11K transporter opened at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida in February to kick-off the 2012 World of Outlaws season. After nine-plus months of racing and tens of thousands of miles traveled, the final event of the season is on-tap for the driver of the Hendrickcars.com Maxim, as he visits The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the Sixth Annual PEAK Motor Oil World of Outlaws World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts.
Kinser opens the marquee event, which also features the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series on Thursday, Nov. 1, with two rounds of time trials. The first round of qualifying will set heat race lineups for the race program on Friday, Nov. 2, while the second round of qualifying will be used to set the grid for the heat races on Saturday, Nov. 3. The finale of the World Finals on Saturday night will air live on SPEED beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: The Dirt Track at Charlotte
“We have two races left and would like nothing more than to pick up another win or two, especially in Charlotte, right in the backyard of Hendrickcars.com,” said Kinser. “It’s been a busy week with the appearances we’ve had at the Hendrickcars.com stores and we’ve had a great time meeting with a lot of fans and folks from Hendrickcars.com. Charlotte is a great place to wrap up the season.”
Kinser finished fourth on May 25 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in the Circle K Nos Energy Outlaw Showdown. He opened the night as the eighth-fastest driver in time trials, which put him on the outside of the front row for the second heat race. He won that heat to earn a spot in the dash. Kinser started second in the dash and was victorious to earn the pole position for the 30-lap main event.
“We ran good at Charlotte back in the spring, so I’m really looking forward to getting back on the track,” shared Kinser. “I’ve been close there a couple of times, and we want to really end the season on a strong note. All in all, we’ve had a pretty good year and we want to take some momentum into the off-season as we gear up for next year. Charlotte is always a track I’ve enjoyed racing at and we have some good notes for there.”
The native of Bloomington, Ind., has competed in each of the first five editions of the World Finals. He finished a career-best second in the finale of the 2008 season-ending blockbuster event, which is the only time all season the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws Late Model Series and Super DIRTcar Series compete on the same bill. Last season Kinser came home 13th in the first A-Feature of the weekend and was ninth in the finale.
“We’ve had a good car for most of the year,” he noted. “The competition is so tough out here right now that you really have to put together a whole night to be there at the end. Getting in the dash is so important, especially in an event like the World Finals with so many good cars. We’ve been fast in qualifying most of the season and should have a pretty good set-up when we roll off the truck this week and we’ll try out best to put ourselves in a good position.”
Kinser made his debut at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in 2002, finishing 13th and 17th in a pair of main events. He has earned five career Top-10 finishes at the state-of-the-art four-tenths-mile in his career, with two of those being Top-five showings. Kinser has raced at Charlotte in eight different seasons with the World of Outlaws, who made their debut at the track in 2000, which was Kinser’s first year behind the wheel of a sprint car.
Heading into the season-ending event, Kinser is sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings on the strength of four wins and 44 Top-10, of which 20 are Top-five performances. The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals has stopped the clock first seven times in qualifying this year and has led 101 laps in feature racing event. In his most recent pair of starts with the World of Outlaws at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Oct. 13, Kinser finished fifth in both ends of a doubleheader.
The finale of the Sixth Annual PEAK Motor Oil World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts on Saturday, Nov. 3 will air live on SPEED, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, as part of a four-hour broadcast.
0.4- Miles around The Dirt Track at Charlotte
2- A-Feature events scheduled for the World Finals
3- Main events this season for the World of Outlaws at Charlotte
4- Finishing position at Charlotte earlier this season
5- Career Top-10 finishes at the four-tenths-mile
6- Position in the World of Outlaws championship standings
7- Fast time awards in 2012
11.889- Track record at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
14- Average finishing position in 16 career main event starts at the track
16- Career starts at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
20- Top-Five finishes earned in 2012
44- Top-10 finishes this season
101- Laps led in feature races in 2012
616- Miles from the Steve Kinser Racing shop in Bloomington, Ind., to The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C.
2002- Year of first start at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
2007- Year of the first World Finals
Keep up with all the action
For the latest news on Kraig Kinser, visit the recently redesigned http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ShortTrackRacingPR/38a1a10309/573ed91d45/e370377dd8, and follow Kraig on Twitter at http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ShortTrackRacingPR/38a1a10309/573ed91d45/b3a593cae3 and receive live updates from the track each and every race night.
On-the-air
Kinser will be a live on-air guest during a special edition of Winged Nation on MotorRacingNetwork.com tonight (Wednesday, Oct. 31) as part of the Second Annual Bash at the Brickhouse Tavern Presented by Hendrickcars.com. The show will air from 7–9 p.m. Eastern on MotorRacingNetwork.com. Kinser’s No. 11K Hendrickcars.com car will also be on display from 4–9 p.m. Eastern at the Brickhouse Tavern, which is located at 209 Delburg Street in Davidson, N.C.
TV Time
The finale of the Sixth Annual PEAK Motor Oil World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts on Saturday, Nov. 3, will air live on SPEED, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. The broadcast will encompass four full hours as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws Late Model Series and Super DIRTcar Series all put a wrap on their respective 2012 seasons.
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 http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ShortTrackRacingPR/38a1a10309/573ed91d45/58372d6845 for live audio of each and every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event. Live streaming video will also be available for purchase on Thursday, Nov. 1 and Friday, Nov. 2.
