A Trip North: Oil City Cup Up Next for Kraig Kinser in Edmonton
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— Aug. 22, 2013— The trek to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is one of the longest trips that Kraig Kinser makes all season and by far the northernmost stop on his schedule, but also it is one of the most enjoyable for the third-generation driver. Kinser will have a chance to visit western Canada again this week as the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series heads to Castrol Raceway for the Oil City Cup.
The Sixth Annual Oil City Cup opens for Kinser, who pilots the Mesilla Valley Transportation/Casey’s General Store/King Racing Products Maxim, on Friday, Aug. 23, with a complete racing program and continues on Saturday, Aug. 24, with another full show. Each night will conclude with a 35-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Feature.
“The weather is usually pretty favorable this time of the year up in Edmonton and we’ve really gained quite a following up there the last few years,” said Kinser. “The surface is always very racy and everyone up there welcomes us with open arms. This is definitely one of the swings of the year that we always look forward to.”
Kinser finished 11th in the finale of the Oil City Cup last season and was 12th in the opener of the two-night event. He was eighth-fastest in time trials on Saturday night and started on the front row of the second 10-lap heat race and rocketed to the lead at the drop of the green, winning that contest to earn a spot in the dash. Kinser started eighth in the dash and finished 10th. On the opening night of the two-night event, the native of Bloomington, Ind., was 11th-fastest in time trials and finished third in the second 10-lap heat race. In the dash Kinser started 10th and finished seventh, which put him on the inside of the fourth row for the main event.
“We qualified in the right spots last year and were able to get into the dash both nights,” he shared. “Getting in the dash is so important right now and starting in those first couple of rows. We were able to come from 14th to sixth the other night at Minot (Nodak Speedway), but if you really want to have a shot at it, you have to start in the top-10 and preferably the top-five.”
Kinser made his debut at Castrol Raceway during the 2008 Oil City Cup, which marked the World of Outlaws second visit to the three-eighths-mile. The 2005 winner of the Knoxville Nationals has a pair of Top-10 finishes in Edmonton, including a career-best sixth-place showing in 2011. He ran seventh in 2009 at the facility.
In a pair of starts this season in Canada with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series, Kinser finish third at Autodrome Drummond in Quebec, and was 13th at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario. Kinser enters this weekend 13th in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series standings. He has one victory on the season to go along with 24 top-10 finishes.
“We’re looking to gain some momentum down the stretch and contend for wins,” said Kinser. “There are a bunch of tracks on the west coast swing that we have traditionally run well at, so that gives us a confidence boost headed into the next few weeks.”
Kraig Kinser Racing would like to thank Casey’s General Stores, Mesilla Valley Transportation, King Racing Products, Maxim, Aerodine Composites, Sander Engineering, Integra Shocks, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bell, KSE Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, Schoenfeld Headers, Donovan Engineering, Fel-Pro, Brodix, Wilwood, Dyer’s, Barnes Systems, Ringer Gloves, Jakes Custom Golf Carts, and Ben Cook Racing Limited for their continued support.
Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Castrol Raceway
0.375- Miles around Castrol Raceway
1- Win this season with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series
2- Career top-10 finishes at the three-eighths-mile
4- Nights of racing this season for the World of Outlaws in Canada
6- Finishing position in 2011 at Castrol Raceway to mark a career-best
8- Average finish in two starts in Canada this season
10- Career main event starts at Castrol Raceway
14- Average finish in 10 career main event starts at Castrol Raceway
24- Top-10 finishes this season through Aug. 18
731- Miles from Nodak Speedway in Minot, N.D., where the World of Outlaws raced on Aug. 18 to Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2008- Year of first start at Castrol Raceway
6625- Points earned this season through Aug. 18
Keep up with all the action
For the latest news on Kraig Kinser, visit http://www.kraigkinser.com, and follow Kraig on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kraigkinser11k and receive live updates from the track each and every race night.
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Kyle Busch wins thriller in the last great colosseum
In the closing laps of the UNOH 200, Kyle Busch was on the verge of being lapped. A late race caution, however, led to a chaotic restart where several lead trucks experienced fuel pickup problems.
After another yellow, Busch found himself with fresh tires and sitting in second place! Busch then battled leader Ryan Blaney for the top spot. Blaney slipped high, and Busch took the lead. Busch would then receive a late race challenge from Timothy Peters who had ran strong all night but had been shuffled back in the late race cautions.
Peters caught Busch with one to go, drove hard to the inside and took a shot but ended up in the inside retaining wall giving the victory to Busch.
The victory was Busch’s 33rd in the Camping World Truck Series in 111 starts.
Timothy Peters led the most laps (125) and has an impressive record in recent events at the Worlds Fastest Half-Mile. He now has four top-10s in his last four starts, including a win here last year where he led every lap.
Peters at one point was challenged by Ryan Blaney. With Blaney charging hard on the outside, got a run on Peters and pulled alongside. Peters moved up the track and forced Blaney into the marbles. Blaney made slight contact with the outside wall and vowed over the radio that if he made back to Peters’ bumper he would get revenge.
Blaney had the opportunity in the closing laps but didn’t take it. He would end up third.
ThorSport Racing’s Johnny Sauter, who has had a recent run of bad luck, performed well and stayed out of trouble to achieve a much needed top-5 finish coming home in the fourth spot.
Pole sitter, Chase Elliott, looked strong early leading 63 laps, but faded with handling issues. The team rallied, however, and Chase fought his way back to a very respectable fifth place finish. Elliott, who tonight became the youngest pole winner in series history, has stats that any seasoned veteran would love to have – 5 starts, with 4 top-5’s and 5 top-10’s and one pole.
Series points leader, Matt Crafton, kept his string of top-10 finishes alive with a tenth place finish. Crafton has scored a top-10 in every race this season. He now has a 49 point lead over defending series champion, James Buescher.
The series now heads to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the Chevy Silverado 250 Sept 1st.
Lap by Lap: UNOH 200 won by Kyle Busch
After suffering a speeding penalty early in the race, Kyle Busch would work his way through lap traffic to take the victory in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night.
Early caution for 45 spinning
Restart lap 9
Lap 15 Elliott leads Peters Crafton Blaney Dillon
Lap 66 Peters leads KyBusch Elliott as they go through lap traffic
Caution lap 70 Brandon Jones spins around. Leaders hit pit road. Busch and Seig were too fast. Peters leads Keselowski Blaney Crafton Elliott
Restart lap 78 Peters pulls ahead off of turn two ahead of Keselowski and Crafton
Lap 79 Blaney moves into third on Crafton
Caution lap 80 Townley spins around
Restart lap 90. Peters takes the lead
Lap 99 Bubba Wallace on pit road with problems. Something electrical.
Lap 100 Peters leads Keselowski Blaney Hornaday Crafton
99 to go Blaney passes Keselowski for second
63 to go Blaney catches Peters for the lead
62 to go Blaney gets to the outside of Peters; Peters slides up a little and Blaney gets into the wall. Keselowski passes Blaney for second.
59 to go Peters leads Keselowski Blaney Crafton Hornaday
40 to go Peters leads Keselowski Blaney Crafton Buescher
36 to go Seig is smoking. No caution yet.
34 to go Seig black flag
Caution 27 to go Agnew gets loose and into the inside wall. 9 of the 13 of the lead lap trucks came to pit road. Peters stayed out ahead of Crafton and Quiroga.
14 to go Quiroga’s truck stalls as he rolls quietly on to pit road. Peters leads Crafton Blaney Keselowski Buescher Dillon Hornaday Busch
Restart 13 to go Crafton stalls while running second and bunches up field, Keselowski slows up, Buescher spins Keselowski. Blaney got by Peters on the restart for the lead.
Restart 7 to go Blaney and Busch are side-by-side for the lead
5 to go Busch takes the lead as Blaney slides up the track. Peters up to second.
4 to go Busch leads Peters, Blaney and Sauter and Elliott
Final Lap Peters and Busch battle for the win
Kyle Busch takes the win. Peters. Blaney. Sauter. Elliott. Dillon. Buescher. Hornaday. Keselowski. Crafton. Coulter. Burton.
Hot 20 over the past 10 – It is all business at Stewart-Haas, Godfather style
Some watch soap operas, but I once watched wrestling. I understood a rewritten biblical verse because Stone Cold said so, I smelled what the Rock was cooking, and Mick Foley had multiple personalities while making a star out of a sock puppet. While I loved the comedy of their sports entertainment, I loved the behind the scenes stories even more. Who got pushed to be a star, who got screwed, who was doing what to whom? I gave it all up for NASCAR and now I have come full circle.
Instead of talking about Junior’s great run that went for not, or Jimmie’s car that would not go, or Joey’s big win, we got ourselves a full blown soap opera brewing. Coming out of the 2008 season, Tony Stewart got part-ownership of Gene Haas’ race team. He hired his buddy Ryan Newman to join him, and placed Darian Grubb on top of his pit box and a front line operation was born. Both teams made the Chase in 2009, with Stewart picking up four wins that season. In 2010, Newman won once but missed the post-season, while Stewart won two and made the Chase again. Both were in the hunt in 2011, with Newman adding yet another win before Tony claimed a pair to begin the Chase. Then, with six races to go, the soap opera began.
Stewart likes his buddies, but only those buddies know how much they like Smoke in return. Grubb had guided his boss to three Chase appearances and eight wins in 102 starts. Yet, sitting seventh in the Chase, 19 points out, Grubb got notice that he would be gone at the end of the season, to be replaced by Steve Addington. Grubb responded by aiding his soon to be former boss to six straight Top Tens, including three victories in the final four contests, and the 2011 Sprint Cup title.
According to Stewart, the decision had actually been made before the Chase had began, when the team limped into the hunt ninth overall. It was decided at that time that “we needed to go in a different direction.” In fact, even with the five Chase wins, the eight Top Tens, and the great calls from the pit box in the season finale were not going to change things. “When we decided to make the change, we stuck with what our decision was,” said Stewart. In short, thanks for all you have done to make me a champion, now goodbye and good luck.
Move ahead two years. Danica Patrick comes in with her looks, her gender, her single F-1 victory, and her sponsorship. She claims the Daytona 500 pole, she finishes in the top ten that race, and has done precious little since. Kevin Harvick becomes available, he gets the 2014 ride in the car Newman had been driving. Too bad, as even winning the Brickyard 400 the next race after getting his notice, there was no room at the inn. If only there had been available sponsorship for a fourth car, Newman would have been in it, we were told. He was told.
Unless Kurt Busch wants to join, then word is that Stewart’s partner Gene Haas would magically be able to come up with the sponsorship himself. In house sponsorship for Busch, jack squat for Newman. Maybe Tony likes Ryan, but Gene sees Kurt as the guy he would prefer to spend his own money on. Maybe Tony was being honest with Newman, but more room at the inn comes available only if Gene builds a new wing for Busch. Maybe.
Maybe Steve Austin was the original, but maybe it is Tony Stewart who has gone stone cold, if you smell what ole Smoke is cooking. Maybe, to paraphrase a quote from the Godfather, “Tell Darian and Ryan it was only business, I always liked them.”
Ironically, Newman remains among our hottest drivers but so are Logano and Martin Truex Jr as the trio battle for the final wild card Chase berth. Newman is ten behind Logano, with Truex in command by 17. None have won at Bristol before, but both Kyle and Kurt Busch have won there five times, along with Jeff Gordon. One doesn’t need the win, but one could come in handy for the other two and Gordon needs to turn up the heat.
| Name | Points | Pos. | LW | Rank | W | T5 | T10 |
| Kevin Harvick | 350 | 1 | 4 | (4) | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Clint Bowyer | 349 | 2 | 3 | (2) | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 340 | 3 | 1 | (1) | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Kyle Busch | 332 | 4 | 2 | (5) | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Kurt Busch | 328 | 5 | 5 | (9) | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Carl Edwards | 319 | 6 | 6 | (3) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Ryan Newman | 313 | 7 | 12 | (15) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Joey Logano | 311 | 8 | 10 | (13) | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Martin Truex, Jr. | 310 | 9 | 14 | (12) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Greg Biffle | 310 | 10 | 9 | (10) | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Brad Keselowski | 298 | 11 | 11 | (8) | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Jamie McMurray | 290 | 12 | 15 | (16) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Matt Kenseth | 289 | 13 | 16 | (6) | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 281 | 14 | 7 | (7) | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Jeff Gordon | 276 | 15 | 13 | (14) | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Kasey Kahne | 267 | 16 | 17 | (11) | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Marcos Ambrose | 260 | 17 | 19 | (22) | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tony Stewart | 256 | 18 | 8 | (18) | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 242 | 19 | 18 | (23) | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Jeff Burton | 238 | 20 | 21 | (20) | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Aric Almirola | 233 | 21 | 22 | (19)_ | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Casey Mears | 233 | 22 | 20 | (24) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Paul Menard | 228 | 23 | 24 | (17) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
