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California Spring Break Swing Continues for Kraig Kinser at Kings Speedway & Thunderbowl Raceway

By Parsons Motorsports PR

Granger, IA-March 17, 2011-Spring Break brings thoughts of warm weather and sunshine to mind. Baseball teams traditionally head to Florida and Arizona to get in the swing of things and gear up for the season ahead. For the World of Outlaws, Spring Break 2011 means a month long tour of the state of California, visiting five different tracks and that tour continues this weekend.

Kraig Kinser and the Casey's General Store team will have two opportunities to hit the track, as they continue their first season together. The pair of events begins with the World of Outlaws return to Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford for the first time since 2003 on Friday, March 18, followed by a stop at the always exciting Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare on Saturday, March 19.

For the third generation driver, that means his first career start at Kings Speedway and a visit to Thunderbowl Raceway where he had two strong runs last season. The race at Hanford will mark the seventh track in the state of California that Kinser has competed at. He has had a good deal of success visiting tracks for the first time in his career with the World of Outlaws, including winning in his first start at Cottage Grove Speedway in Oregon in 2004, Batesville Speedway in Arkansas in 2005, along with a victory in the series debut at North Central Speedway in Minnesota in 2008.

At Thunderbowl Raceway, Kraig has made eight starts, picking up three Top-10 finishes along the way, including two fourth-place performances. Last season the native of Bloomington, Indiana finished eighth in the opener at the high-banked 1/3-mile bullring and wrapped up the event with a fourth-place finish, which matched his career-best run at the track. He also recorded a fourth-place effort in 2005, one year after making his debut at Tulare.

Kinser enters the weekend with three Top-10 finishes on the season and is just one marker out of the Top-10 in the World of Outlaws standings with nearly 60 races remaining in the season.

Kraig on Kings Speedway:
"We're really looking forward to going to Hanford. Other than my Dad and a few others guys with a lot of experience, it puts the rest of us on an equal playing field. You hope to get there and have a good set up and a good qualifying effort. Qualifying is such a big part of our racing right now. If you get some good green flag laps in hot laps, that gives you an idea of what the track will be like. If you turn in a good time that puts you in a good frame of mind for the rest of the night."

Kraig on Thunderbowl Raceway:
"Everything certainly has to be going right for you at a track like Tulare. You have to be there as a driver and you carry a lot of speed down the straightaway there. The corners are really tight and usually have a couple of bumps in them. You have to have your car turning and have the confidence to know that you are there to guide it. It's always a pretty exciting race over there and the folks at Tulare do a fantastic job."

Kraig Kinser By the Numbers: Kings Speedway & Thunderbowl Raceway:
0.33-Miles around Thunderbowl Raceway
0.375-Miles around Kings Speedway
1- Point out of the Top-10 in the World of Outlaws standings
2- Top-10 finishes at Tulare last year
3-CareerTop-10 finishes at Thunderbowl Raceway
4- Career best finishing position at Tulare
6- Average finish last season at Thunderbowl Raceway
8- Career starts at Thunderbowl Raceway
11-Position in points entering the two events this weekend
13.8- Average finish at Tulare in eight starts
291- Miles from Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California where the World of Outlaws competed on March 12 to Kings Speedway in Hanford
1005- Points earned this season through eight races
2003- Year the World of Outlaws last competed at Kings Speedway
2004- Year that Kraig first competed at Thunderbowl Raceway
11,450-Dollars earned through the first eight races in 2011

Tune in: Listen live this weekend to the race from Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway on Friday, March 18 and Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway on Saturday, March 19 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.

[i Photo - Photo Courtesy of Steve LaMothe]

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