Bloomington, Ind.—Nov. 4, 2012— Kraig Kinser has one goal for the Sixth Annual PEAK Motor Oil World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts — finish the season on a strong note and carry momentum into the winter. He was able to accomplish this during the blockbuster event, finishing third in the opener and fourth in the finale, which gave him three finishes of fourth or better this season at the state-of-the-art four-tenths-mile, making him the only driver who finished among the Top-Five in all three races at The Dirt Track in Charlotte in 2012, with the cameras from SPEED rolling for two of those contests, including on Saturday night.
“The Hendrickcars.com car was great all weekend,” said Kinser. “We always want to finish a couple of spots higher, but with the caliber of cars that were at Charlotte, to finish third and fourth, we are very happy with that. The track was pretty racy both nights and we had some great battles out there and most importantly put on an amazing show for the fans.”
Kinser lined up fourth for the opening main event of the World Finals on Friday, Nov. 2, in the Hendrickcars.com Maxim. He ran fourth for the first five laps, before dropping back a spot on a restart, following the first caution of the night. He would move up to third on the eighth circuit, as he engaged in a spirited three-car battle with Craig Dollansky and Brian Brown for the lead. With two more drivers joining that mix, Kinser swapped third, fourth and fifth for several laps. He would move into third with six laps remaining.
The second caution flag of the night flew on Lap-24, with Kinser restarting in the third spot, behind leader Brian Brown and Sammy Swindell. That trio went three-wide for the lead on the 27th go-around with Brown taking the top spot. One lap later Swindell would take the lead with Kinser in tow in second. Brown would slip back by Kinser on the last lap to grab second. The third-place performance for Kinser was his 21th Top-Five of the season.
“There was definitely a lot of action going on in front of me,” said Kinser. “I tried to go where they weren’t, while they were racing each other. I thought I might be able to sneak by them, but it wasn’t meant to be. We had two quick cars ahead of us and we had a great car as well. It was a fun race and a great race for the fans. I wish I would have been standing on the top of the stage, but we gave it everything we had and I’m proud of everyone on this team and everyone that helps us out and makes this all happen.”
Kinser lined up fifth on Saturday night for the main event and gained a couple of spots on the opening lap to move into third, before falling back to fifth on Lap-5. He was running seventh on the 10th lap and worked his way back to sixth three laps later. The first caution flag of the night flew on Lap-13 with Kinser running sixth.
The third-generation driver would use a strong restart to move up to fourth and then found himself fifth with 10 laps-to-go. He restarted third following a Lap-24 red flag, when a couple of cars ahead of him were involved in an incident. Kinser would have engine trouble late in the race, nursing his machine home in fourth, with the car stopping just after he took the checkered flag.
“To come home fourth after having some engine problems in the late going was a great finish for us,” said Kinser. “It was a long race with all the cautions and red flags and restarts and one of those nights where you just try to survive and pick off spots when you can. The car felt great the whole race, we just ran into the engine trouble late and were thankfully able to hold on for another solid finish.”
Kinser timed in ninth for the Saturday portion of the World Finals. He finished second in the fourth eight-lap heat race to earn a spot in the dash. The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals started seventh and finished fifth in the dash, which put him on the inside of the third row for the final main event of the season.
In time trials for the Friday portion of the World Finals, which were held on Thursday, Nov. 1, Kinser turned the third-fastest lap of the 50 entrants. He lined up fourth in the third heat race and finished in that same position to earn a spot in the dash. Kinser both started and finished fourth in the dash, and found himself on the outside of the second row for the start of the 30-lap main event.
“We qualified where we needed to in both sessions and that’s definitely important when you have 50 strong cars at the track,” noted Kinser. “We’ve put a big focus all season on qualifying and then getting into the dash and we were able to do that both nights at Charlotte and that’s all you can ask for. If you put yourself in a good position and start up front, then you have a good chance to finish up front and content for wins.”
Kinser opened the World Finals with a couple of Meet & Greets at the retail locations of his sponsor, Henrickcars.com. On Monday, Oct. 29, he was at the Hickory, N.C. store and on Tuesday, Oct. 30, he was at the Charlotte location. He followed that up with an appearances at the Second Annual Bash at the Brickhouse Presented by Hendrickcars.com in Davidson, N.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 31, with a live special edition of MotorRacingNetwork.com’s widely-popular Winged Nation highlighting the evening.
“It was a fantastic week in Charlotte,” said Kinser. “We were able to visit with a lot of the great folks from Hendrickcars.com. We also were able to meet and greet quite a few fans at a couple of their stores, as well as at the Brickhouse and also in the track. The World Finals is definitely a great event and to race in front of that many fans each night is pretty special.”
Kinser wrapped up the World of Outlaws season sixth in the championship standings, on the strength of four A-Feature wins, along with 46 Top-10 finishes, of which 22 were Top-Five performances. He stopped the clocked fastest in time trials seven times, which was third-best in the series and also led 101 laps in feature racing competition.
With the World of Outlaws season complete, Kinser will take to the track twice more next weekend, during the Battle at the Border for the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) at El Paso Speedway in Texas on Friday, Nov. 9 and Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday, Nov. 10.
PEAK Motor Oil World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts Results
|
Date |
Time |
Heat |
Heat Finish |
Dash Start |
Dash Finish |
Feature Start |
Feature Finish |
Points |
|
Nov. 2 |
3rd |
4th |
4th |
3rd |
4th |
4th |
3rd |
6th |
|
Nov. 3 |
9th |
3rd |
2nd |
7th |
5th |
5th |
4th |
6th |
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: The Dirt Track at Charlotte
0.4- Miles around The Dirt Track at Charlotte
3- Finishing position in the first A-Feature during the World Finals
3.7- Average finish in three starts at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in 2012
4- Career Top-Five finishes at Charlotte
6- Final position in the World of Outlaws championship standings in 2012
7- Career Top-10 finishes at The Dirt Track at Charlotte; Fast time awards in 2012
12.8- Average finish in 18 career starts at Charlotte
13.078- Lap in time trials for the Friday portion of the World Finals
13.284- Qualifying lap for Saturday’s event at The Dirt Track at Charlotte
18- Career feature event starts at Charlotte
22- Top-Five finishes earned in 2012
46- Finishes among the Top-10 this season
101- Laps led in feature racing events in 2012
9442- Points earned this season
Up Next
Nov. 9: El Paso Speedway, El Paso, Texas
Nov. 10: Southern New Mexico Speedway, Las Cruces, N.M.
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