Bloomington, Ind. — June 24, 2012 — What a difference a night makes. After having one of the fastest cars on Friday in the opener of the Boot Hill Showdown for the World of Outlaws at Dodge City Raceway Park in Kansas, and not much to show for it, having endured more than his fair share of bad luck, Kraig Kinser made up for that on Saturday night, as he again had one of the fastest cars, and would lead all 30 laps of the A-Feature to pick up his first career win at Dodge City and his third victory in the last seven races aboard the Hendrickcars.com Maxim.
Kinser used a thrilling turn four pass on the last lap of the dash to get around Joey Saldana and earn the pole position for the main event. The third-generation driver would negotiate lapped traffic for a majority of the 30-lap contest, which he won over his father Steve, marking the second time in the last four races that the father/son duo has finished first and second.
“This is pretty amazing,” said Kinser after his win on Saturday night. “The one-two finishes are pretty nice, especially when I’m in front. This Hendrickcars.com car was unbelievable tonight and really all weekend. We had a lot of mishaps on Friday night and I’m glad to be in Victory Lane tonight. Everyone worked so hard all weekend, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Starting from the pole, Kinser endured a yellow flag and then a red flag before a single lap was completed. On each of the complete restarts, he charged into turns one and two to take the lead heading down the back straightaway of the state-of-the-art three-eighths-mile. The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals quickly began to open a gap over his father, and found himself in lapped traffic by the seventh circuit. In the late going, Kraig got held up a bit by the slower cars, allowing his Steve to close in a bit during the waning laps.
“I knew the bottom would be tough to beat early,” explained the native of Bloomington, Ind. “It can be a challenge sometimes leading the race, because you don’t know if you should get off the bottom or top or move around a little bit. The lapped cars kind of pushed me up a little bit to get around them and that worked out running around the middle. The car worked where I needed it to and was fast all night.”
Kinser began the finale of the two-night Boot Hill Showdown as the third-fastest driver in time trials, and that lined him up on the outside of the second row for the third eight-lap heat race. He finished fourth in that heat race, which put him in the dash, where he snagged the last lap win to earn the pole position for the main event, which was his second pole of the season.
“The last lap of the dash really helped us, because I got to start the feature on the bottom,” noted Kinser. “It takes a complete night to win out here and we definitely put a complete night together You have to go as hard as you can every single lap, and that showed tonight in the dash.”
Kinser opened the Boot Hill Showdown on Friday night by recording the fastest lap in qualifying of the 31 entries, which marked the third time this season he has been fastest in time trials. He lined fourth in the opening fourth-lap heat race and was caught up in an accident not of his making, which forced him to the pit area with substantial damage. Kinser would start on the pole of the B-Main and handily won that 12-lap contest, which put him on the inside of the sixth row for the 30-lap main event.
On the initial start of the 30-lap main event, the first caution flag of the night flew for debris on the track, leading to a complete restart. The second start found Kinser involved in a three-car incident, which sent him to the work area to get a new front nose wing put on his car. He just barely made it back onto the track for the third start and lined up at the back of the 24-car field. When the green flag flew, yet another caution was displayed, leading to the fourth start of the race.
Kinser would gain four spots on the opening lap and steadily worked his way back through the field. When the fourth and final caution flag of the night was displayed on the 14th-lap, the 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year was running 16th. He would gain five more spots over the final half of the race to finish 11th.
Kinser is currently sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings on the strength of three wins, 21 Top-10 finishes and 11 Top-Five showings. The top-six drivers are separated by just 107 points. Kinser returns to action on Friday, June 29, at the Belleville High Banks in Kansas, followed by a visit to Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City on Saturday, June 30.
“This stretch we’ve had recently has been great, with the exception of Friday night,” shared Kinser. “The car has been great and has been there every step of the way. That definitely makes it fun and a lot easier to do my job. Right now we’re at that point where we can’t wait to get to the race track every night, and that’s a great feeling.”
Dodge City Raceway Park Results
|
Date |
Time |
Heat |
Heat Finish |
Dash Start |
Dash Finish |
Feature Start |
Feature Finish |
Points |
|
June 22 |
1st |
4th |
10th |
N/A |
N/A |
11th |
11th |
6th |
|
June 23 |
3rd |
4th |
4th |
2nd |
2nd |
1st |
1st |
6th |
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Dodge City Raceway Park
0.375- Miles around Dodge City Raceway Park
1– Finishing position in the main event and dash in the finale at Dodge City
3- A-Feature wins this season through June 23
4- Nights of racing in the state of Kansas this season for the World of Outlaws
6- Position in the World of Outlaws championship standings
7- Career Top-10 finishes at Dodge City Raceway Park
8.6- Average starting position in main events this season
9.3- Average finish in 31 main event starts this season it the World of Outlaws
10.5- Average finish in 13 main event starts at Dodge City
11- Top-Five finishes this season
13- Career feature starts at Dodge City Raceway Park, including preliminary features
13.481- Lap in time trials on Friday night
13.507– Lap in time trials on Saturday night
19- Appearances in the dash this season
21- Top-10 finishes this season
30- Laps led on Saturday night en route to the victory
35- Bonus points earned in the World of Outlaws championship standings through June 23 for being among the Top-Five in time trials
78- Laps led in A-Feature events this season
4117- Points earned through June 23
76,960- Dollars earned through June 23
Up Next
June 29: Belleville High Banks, Belleville, Kan.
June 30: Lakeside Speedway, Kansas City, Kan.
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
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