Tony Stewart Racing's Kraig Kinser Continues World of Outlaws Campaign

INDIANAPOLIS May 27, 2009: Last weekend began with all the racing hysteria a Memorial Day weekend night in Charlotte can muster and concluded with a visit to central New York for Tony Stewart Racing’s (TSR) Kraig Kinser and the World of Outlaws (WoO). This weekend, Kinser will resume the 2009 WoO schedule behind the wheel of the TSR No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider Maxim with a pair of single-night events in the Midwest. Friday night, they’re at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park, and Saturday evening at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich.

During each of the first three weekends in May, Mother Nature took at least one race off the schedule. Instead of having a dozen races over the 31 days of May, the races at Attica and I-96 will be nights eight and nine for the month. As a young driver, Kinser wants to be on the track as much as possible and is hoping to get two full nights of experience this weekend.

Kinser will look to build on his recent seventh-place finish when he returns to action at Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park. Friday’s race at the 1/3-mile dirt oval will be the sixth appearance by Kinser. He has three top-10 finishes and his best result came in June 2001, when he finished ninth. Last May, Kinser qualified ninth in the 46-car field and won the first heat race before finishing 11th in the 40-lap feature.

On Saturday night, Kinser will make his fourth career appearance at I-96 Speedway. The 24-year-old posted his best finish at the track in June 2005, when he had a fourth-place run. Last July, Kinser qualified the TSR No. 20 Bass Pro Shops/Chevy/J.D. Byrider Maxim fifth and went on to score a ninth-place finish in the feature race.

Kinser had a busy Memorial Day weekend with three races in three states. After taking to The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C., to kick off the weekend, he was the third-fastest qualifier in the field at Virginia Motor Speedway in Saluda on Saturday night. On Memorial Day, he raced from 12th to finish seventh at Canadaigua (N.Y.) Speedway to close the weekend.

Monday night’s race in New York was the 21st of the 84 scheduled 2009 WoO races that Kinser and the Bass Pro Shops team have completed. Kinser has three top-five finishes, eight top-10s and currently ranks ninth in the WoO Sprint Series championship standings with 2,608 points.

On Friday at Attica Raceway Park, the pit gates and grandstands will open at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with the grandstands opening at 4:30 p.m. Racing is scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. For more information, call Attica Raceway Park at (419) 680-5606 or visit www.atticaracewaypark.com.

On Saturday at I-96 Speedway, the pit gates will open at 3 p.m. EDT, with the grandstands opening at 4 p.m. Hot Laps are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. For more details and ticket information, call I-96 Speedway at (616) 642-0555or visit www.i96speedway.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:

After a busy weekend that included a lot of travel, do you enjoy getting back to the Midwest to race?

“In our world, you always look forward to the next part of the schedule. We’re close enough so that the guys can be back to the shop (near Indianapolis) for a couple of days to get ready for upcoming races. Any time you can leave the shop the morning of a race, it’s got to help. I know I enjoyed being home in Charlotte last week. There’s just something about sleeping in your own bed.

“Getting back to the shop will help the guys fine-tune our Bass Pro Shops car. We raced at both Attica and I-96 last year and, hopefully, we can build on those performances.

“The other thing about Attica is that it’s just down the road from Paul Kistler’s shop. Paul builds our Chevy motors, and I know he’ll be there to help us out in any way we need. With our schedule, it’s tough for some of our manufacturers to get out and be with us when we race. I sure would like to have a great night for Paul and everyone who stands behind this Tony Stewart Racing team.”

It looks like this weekend will be another test of racing on a smaller track one night and then a bigger track the following night. Is that tough on a driver, to be able to adjust?

“That’s just part of being a World of Outlaws driver. Every time you hit the track, it can be different. That’s why having a good team behind you is so important. This is only my fourth year racing with the Outlaws, and experience plays a big factor out here. I’ve got total confidence in the guys who work on this team.

“Of course, going from a short track to a bigger track, your approach is slightly different. Take this weekend, for example. In the past, Attica has been known to end up pretty slick, so maybe we can use some of the things we learned in New York. (Canadaigua) was probably as slick as we’ve had this year, and we were able to drive forward. I’ve only been to I-96 a few times, and it’s like a lot of the big tracks, where you have be able to get your speed up and keep the momentum.

“Momentum is something we’d like to build right now. We’re getting more consistent and, hopefully, we can continue getting better results.”