By Kraig Kinser Racing PR
Bloomington, Ind.—April 26, 2012— Being a veteran of the sport, Kraig Kinser is well aware of the fact that on a tight quarter-mile bullring, such as Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, anything and usually everything can and will happen. Sometimes a driver is the benefactor of such occurrences and sometimes they are the victim. For Kinser, he was the former, as he negotiated and maneuvered his way finish through a caution-filled 40-lap contest on Wednesday night to earn a season-best third-place finish. He also moved to the third position in the World of Outlaws championship standings in the process.
“That was a tough race,” said Kinser, who won the night’s fourth heat race. “We had a really good car all night. I was doing everything I could to catch those top-two cars. When I got to them I just didn’t have anything left for them. They had a little better track position and got through the field a little better than we did.”
Kinser lined up seventh for the main event in the Hendrickcars.com Maxim and lost a couple of spots on the opening lap, before getting around Jason Sides for ninth. The first caution flag of the night flew on the 12th lap, with the native of Bloomington, Ind. lining up ninth on the restart. On that restart, each of the drivers running in the Top-Four got together, with Kraig moving up to fifth for the ensuing restart.
“I didn’t see a thing,” explained Kinser of the four-car incident among the leaders. “I just saw cars turned every which way. I don’t know what caused it. As far back as I was, I was lucky to get through it.”
Kinser battled Austen Wheatley for the fourth spot on the restart, taking the position on lap-14. Another caution followed on the 20th-lap, with Kinser lining up on the inside of the second row for the double file restart. The 2005 Knoxville Nationals winner took the third position from Danny Lasoski on the 23rd circuit, with the final caution of the night coming out on the next lap. As the laps wound down, Kinser battled Brad Sweet for second, coming close a couple of times to taking the position. He ended up third, to earn his fourth Top-Five and 10th Top-10 finish of the season.
“I was searching the track all night long,” shared the third-generation driver. “I was working the top, middle and bottom. Our Hendrickcars.com car was really good. If we would have had some more traffic, we might have had a shot at passing them. We had two good cars in front of us, so I am very happy with a third-place finish.”
Kinser is currently third in the World of Outlaws championship standings, just 27 points out of the lead, on the strength of 10 Top-10 finishes in the first 12 races of the season. He is one of just two drivers that has double digit Top-10 finishes, joining four-time series champion and current point leader Donny Schatz.
The 2004 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award winner will return to action on Saturday, April 28 at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Iowa for the Mediacom Shootout. The Napa Auto Parts Showdown originally scheduled for Friday, April 27 at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska has been postponed due to wet grounds, with more rain expected leading into Friday. That event has been rescheduled for Wednesday, September 19.
Farmer City Raceway Results
Date Time
Trials Heat
Start Heat Finish Dash Start Dash Finish Feature Start Feature Finish Points
April 25 12th 2nd 1st 8th 7th 7th 3rd 3rd
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Farmer City Raceway
0.25- Miles around Farmer City Raceway
1- Race in the state of Illinois this season for the World of Outlaws
3- Position in points; Finishing position in the 40-lap main event
4- Top-Five finishes this season
7.8- Average finish in 12 main events in 2012
8- Appearances in the dash this season
9.3- Average starting position in main events in 2012
10- Top-10 finishes this season
10.868- Lap in time trials
12- Main events contested by the World of Outlaws through April 25
40- Laps in the main event at Farmer City Raceway
1634- Points earned this season
24,750- Dollars earned through April 25
Up Next
April 28: Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville, Iowa
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