Staying With It Kinser, Tony Stewart Racing's Bass Pro Shops Team Look to Build on First Podium Finish

INDIANAPOLIS, March 17, 2009: Things happen fast when you’re circling a quarter-mile dirt track in just over 11 seconds. Throw 23 other World of Outlaws (WoO) competitors on the track, all vying to be the first one to the checkered flag, and just about anything is possible. For Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Kraig Kinser, just about everything did happen during last weekend’s 23rd annual Mini Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway (SDS) in Chico, Calif. When the dust finally settled, Kinser brought home the TSR No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider Maxim third in Saturday’s 40-lap finale.

The result was proof that Kinser and the TSR team continue to get better each night as the 2009 WoO season begins to unfold. This week, they remain in California to race on Friday and Saturday night at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif.

Sprint car racing in California can provide some of the most entertaining action fans will see anywhere. It just depends where you are viewing the action. Last Friday, Kinser had several views of the wet and tacky dirt oval in Chico. After a near-rollover in his heat race, the 24-year-old Bloomington, Ind., native worked his way into the feature lineup but found himself upside-down when a car in front of him stopped to avoid another accident just five laps into the race. The Bass Pro Shops crew repaired the car and watched Kinser charge back to finish 13th.

Kinser’s view was a lot better on Saturday night after finishing second in both the fourth heat race and Crane Cams Dash. He raced for the lead early and often in the 40-lap feature before posting his first podium finish of the season when he crossed the finish line in third place.

The 2004 Kevin Gobrecht WoO Rookie of the Year looks to continue his success on California soil this weekend at the high-banked Thunderbowl Raceway. He has six career starts at the track with his best results coming in the fall of 2005, when he enjoyed a solid weekend by leading the opening-night feature for 18 laps and finishing a career-best fourth in the finale the following night.

This weekend’s doubleheader concludes four nights of racing in California during the past two weeks. Kinser and the rest of the Outlaw stars will return to the Golden State in September.

With six nights of action completed, Kinser has two top-five finishes and four top-10s. He currently ranks fifth in the WoO Sprint Series championship standings with 806 points, trailing leader and TSR teammate Donny Schatz by only 45 markers.

On Friday and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway, the pit gates will be open all day, while the grandstands gates will open at 5 p.m. PDT. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more details, contact Thunderbowl Raceway at (559) 688-0909, or visit the track’s official Web site, www.thunderbowlraceway.com.

Race fans unable to attend this weekend’s races can catch all of the action on DIRTVision.com. Fans can listen live as Johnny Gibson, “Voice of the Outlaws,” calls the action as he does at all WoO Sprint Series events on the DIRTVision.com cybercast, as well as on the DIRT Radio Network. Go to www.DIRTVision.com for more information on all the site features, including updated results from each night of racing, as well as a chat room to interact with other race fans.

Kraig Kinser, Driver of the No. 20 TSR/Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider Maxim:

You went through just about everything last weekend in Chico. Is that hard on you as a driver to have to overcome so much?

“Definitely, you would like to have it work out where you qualify the fastest, start up front and win the race with no problems, but we know that just doesn’t happen. The guys who race out in California are really good, and Silver Dollar Speedway is a pretty demanding track. I grew up on fast little tracks like that in Indiana, so I really like spending nights at those places. We just didn’t time in well enough to start up front the first night and found ourselves in the wrong place during the heat race. Same kind of thing in feature, but the Bass Pro Shops guys (Mike Cool, Steve Swensen, and Bob Curtis) stuck with it, and on Saturday night we found ourselves racing up front and battling (eventual winner) Jason (Meyers) for the win.

“That just shows you that Tony Stewart Racing has a done a good job putting together a good team here and that we’re capable of racing up front. Going through adversity is good for team building, and hopefully we’ll get one of those nights where it all happens the right way from the get-go.”

This weekend is round two in California. Thunderbowl Raceway is a little bit of a different track, but most of the variables will be the same. What’s the game plan?

“Actually, pretty much like it has been all year. We have to get qualified where we can challenge for the heat race win. If you’ve got a fast racecar, you should be able to do that. Like I said before, there will be a lot of strong cars there and qualifying is going to be very tight, so I’ll have to do my job and get us in one of those top-16 positions. If we can do that, then we’ll figure out how to make it into the dash and get one of those top-10 starting spots.

“You just have to stay on top of everything as the night goes on. We’ve been to Tulare when the track is one lane early, so you’d rather be qualified ninth to 16th instead of third to eighth. It just depends on how the track is coming. Last Saturday was a really good night for the Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider team. I know we’re all ready to get back to the track and see if we can have an even better night this weekend.”