Kraig Kinser Heads to the East Coast to Tackle Lernerville, Williams Grove & Lebanon Valley

Kraig Kinser and Joey Saldana. - Mermaid Racing Photos

By Kraig Kinser Racing PR

Bloomington, Ind.—July 16, 2012— When things are clicking, drivers want to behind the wheel of their race car as much as possible. That’s the feeling that Kraig Kinser has right now, as he has been one of the fastest and winningest drivers on the World of Outlaws circuit over the last few weeks. The “Month of Money” continues for Kinser this week with five main events as part of the second East Coast swing of the season for the World of Outlaws.

Kinser will open the week at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., in the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s Presented by GottaRace.com on Tuesday, July 17, with $10,000 awaiting the winner in each of the two main events, and $5,000 going to the overall Silver Cup champion. He will then head to the famed Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa., for the Summer Nationals on Friday, July 20 and Saturday, July 21, with $25,000 on the line in the finale. An overnight trip to New York will find Kinser piloting the Hendrickcars.com Maxim on Sunday, July 22, at Lebanon Valley Speedway.

Kinser took the high-banked four-tenths-mile Lernerville Speedway for the first time with the World of Outlaws in 2004. He has made a total of 14 main event starts at the track in Western Pennsylvania, and finished a career-best fifth in the Commonwealth Clash last fall.

The format for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup Twin 30’s will be the same as last year, with the first feature being a normal World of Outlaws event, while the second 30-lapper will invert the lead lap finishers from the opener. The driver with the best average finish of the two main event winners will be crowned the 2012 Silver Cup champion.

“The main thing is going after that first feature, because that’s where the points are,” said Kinser. “You try to approach them both the same way, but obviously the first one is a little more important in the long run, and the second one is kind of a bonus. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. We’ll go in with our standard set-up and make changes from there, depending on what the track does.”

Earlier this season at Williams Grove Speedway, Kinser finished 14th and 19th in a pair of A-Features. In his career, the native of Bloomington, Ind., has competed in 25 main events at the half-mile, including preliminary features. He finished a career-best sixth at Williams Grove in the finale of the Summer Nationals in 2004 and backed that up with another sixth-place effort in the finale of the two night spring event at “The Grove” in 2005.

“It definitely helps having a couple of races under our belt at Williams Grove this year,” noted the third-generation driver. “We struggled a little bit last time we were there, so we are really looking forward to going back and seeing what gains we have made since then and where we stack up. The competition is always tough out there and a pretty intense couple nights of racing.”

Kinser competed at ultra high-banked and blazing fast half-mile at Lebanon Valley Speedway for the first time in 2004, the same season he was named the World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year. He finished 10th in that 25-lap, which marked his best-career showing at the track. He matched that again in 2009. Last season, the 2005 Knoxville Nationals winner finished 13th at “The Valley of Speed.”

“Lebanon Valley is a very tough track,” shared Kinser. “It’s a challenging track to pass people on, because of the way it’s shaped. Having your car working and having good track position always helps there. It’s a grueling race, that’s for sure.”

Kinser begins the second East Coast swing of the season sixth in the World of Outlaws championship standings. He has four wins on the year, to go along with 28 Top-10 and 14 Top-Five finishes. Kinser is just 15 points out of the fifth spot and 75 markers out of the lead.

Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Lernerville Speedway, Williams Grove Speedway & Lebanon Valley Speedway
0.4- Miles around Lernerville Speedway
0.5- Miles around Williams Grove Speedway and Lebanon Valley Speedway
2- Top-10 finishes at Lebanon Valley
3- Feature events scheduled at Lernerville this season for the World of Outlaws
4- Nights of racing in New York in 2012 for the series
6- Main events at Williams Grove Speedway this season for the World of Outlaws; Career starts at Lebanon Valley Speedway
12.334- Track record at Lernerville Speedway
14- Career feature event starts at Lernerville Speedway
14.5- Average finish at Lebanon Valley Speedway in six main event starts
16- Average finishing position in 14 main event starts with the World of Outlaws at Lernerville
16.140- Track record at Williams Grove Speedway
16.383- Qualifying record at Lebanon Valley Speedway
25- Main event starts at Williams Grove Speedway, including preliminary feature
28- Top-10 finishes this season
39- Main events completed this season by the World of Outlaws
101- Laps led in main events this season
211- Miles from Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., where the World of Outlaws compete on July 17 to Williams Grove Speedway
317- Miles from Williams Grove where the series races on July 20-21 to Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y.
2003- Year of first start at Williams Grove Speedway
2004- Year of first start at Lernerville Speedway and Lebanon Valley Speedway

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