Granger, IA—June 12, 2011—Knoxville Raceway has been pretty good to Kraig Kinser over the years. In 2005, he won at the track for the first time and later that same season he made history winning the Knoxville Nationals, to make he and his father Steve, the first father/son duo to ever win Sprint Car Racing’s biggest event. The famed track continued to smile on the third generation driver this past weekend as he made his first start at the legendary half-mile aboard the Casey’s General Store Maxim for the Parsons Motorsports team, based less than an hour away in Granger, Iowa. Kinser picked up a solid ninth-place finish in the 25-lap main event of the Mediacom Shootout on Saturday, June 11.
The night began with the native of Bloomington, Ind. turning the fifth-fastest lap in time trials with a solid 36-car field in attendance. Kinser then lined up third in the first heat race, finishing fifth in that 8-lap contest to earn a starting spot in the 25-lap main event. In the feature, Kraig started 11th and endured a couple of complete restarts on the initial start. He gained two spots on the second lap of the race, getting around Lynton Jeffrey and Paul McMahan to move into ninth. Jeffrey would get back by Kinser on the 10th lap, relegating him to the 10th position. The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals continued to battle Jeffrey and retook ninth on the 13th go-around. Kinser would run in that same sport for the remainder of the event to earn his eighth Top-10 finish of the season and his eighth career Top-10 with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville. The opener of the Mediacom Shootout at Knoxville fell to rain on Friday and will not be rescheduled. The World of Outlaws will return to Knoxville Raceway, August 10–13 for the 51st Goodyear Knoxville Nationals. Kinser is currently 11th in the World of Outlaws championship standings on the strength of eight Top-10 finishes and is just 20 markers out of the Top-10 heading into a two-race weekend at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D. Knoxville Raceway Results Date Time Trials Heat Start Heat Finish Dash Start Dash Finish Feature Start Feature Finish Points June 11 5th 3rd 5th – – 11th 9th 11th Kraig on the weekend: “We were able to stay out of trouble and turn in a pretty good run. The start of the feature was a little tricky and we were able to keep our nose clean. The car got better later in the race and we were able to pick up a few spots. We were really hoping to get two nights of racing in, but that’s kind of been the story of this season. We are looking forward to heading up to Grand Forks next weekend and hopefully Mother Nature will let us race two nights in a row.” Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Knoxville Raceway: 0.5- Miles around the famed Knoxville Raceway 1- Bonus point earned for turning the fifth fastest lap in time trials 2- Visits this season for the World of Outlaws to Knoxville 3- Starting position in the first heat at the half-mile 4- Nights of racing for the World of Outlaws at Knoxville Raceway this season 5- Position in time trials 8- Career Top-10 finishes with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville; Top-10 finishes this season 9- Finishing position in the main event 11- Starting spot in the 25-lap main event; Events on half-mile tracks this season through June 11 15.468- Lap in time trials 21- Main events completed through June 11 22- Career starts with the World of Outlaws at Knoxville Raceway 25- Laps in the main event at the half-mile 2569- Points earned through June 11 28,400- Dollars earned through June 11 Up Next: June 17: River Cities Speedway, Grand Forks, ND June 18: River Cities Speedway, Grand Forks, ND Keep up with all the action: Follow Kraig Kinser on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kraigkinser6 and receive live updates from the track each and every race night. Also keep up with Kraig online at the recently redesigned www.KraigKinser.com. 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 www.DIRTVision.com for live audio of each and every World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event.
