Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Sprint car driver pleased with debut in stock car

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.

Kraig Kinser, a regular in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, proved he can race on surfaces other than dirt as he posted a top-10 finish in his first stock-car race last weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Kinser piloted a Chevrolet fielded by MB2 Motorsports and Andy Hillenburg Racing to an eighth-place showing (out of 41 cars) in Friday night's 106-lap ARCA RE/MAX event on the 2-mile paved oval. Kinser, 20, was making his first start as a member of MB2 Motorsports' driver development program.

"I came here to learn and not to change the world," Kinser said after his stock-car debut. "I am very happy that we got all of the laps in. I learned plenty today and had a lot of fun.

"I definitely have to work on a few things -- my restarts, going through the gears and coming in and out of pit road. We now have 200 miles under our belt that we never had before. It was a good start and I am ready to do it again."

Doug Randolph, who oversees MB2's driver development program and served as Kinser's crew chief during the race, said he was impressed with Kinser's performance.

"Kraig gave us a great effort; we see a ton of potential," Randolph said. "He stayed pretty much in the top five all day and passed a lot of cars. He was passing cars three-wide with no fear -- that's the talent we're looking for.

"Had we had six to eight more green-flag laps at the end of regulation, we would have probably finished as high as fourth. We just ran out of laps."

The race came in the midst of a memorable week for Kinser, the son of 19-time WoO season champion Steve Kinser. The younger Kinser opened the week with a victory in the prestigious Knoxville Nationals and closed it by setting fast time and finishing third in Saturday night's WoO main event in Billings, Mont.

STEPPING IN: Veteran road racer Jeff Bucknum will replace A.J. Foyt IV in the No. 14 Chevrolet/Dallara in Sunday's inaugural Indy Racing League event at Infineon Raceway, team owner A.J. Foyt announced Tuesday.

"We didn't test with Anthony at Infineon at the IRL open test in April and I decided it wouldn't be fair to run him since everyone else has tested there," A.J. Foyt said. "Jeff Bucknum called last week offering to help Anthony out there, but I decided it would make more sense to put Jeff in the car.

"Jeff's familiar with the course, he's run there quite a bit in smaller cars and was an instructor there for a couple years. Also, he did a half day in a Dreyer-Reinbold Indy car at the IRL test there in April and impressed them."

A.J. Foyt IV said he was "relieved" his grandfather hired Bucknum because the younger Foyt never has turned a lap on the 2.3-mile, 12-turn Infineon Raceway road course.

DANICA'S FANS: By some accounts, Danica Patrick's Pikes Peak International Raceway debut Sunday accounted for about a 50-percent increase in ticket sales -- or about 10,000 more fans -- from last year's Indy Racing League event at the 1-mile oval.

Those additional fans were vocal, too, cheering for Patrick virtually each time she passed another car -- whether or not the pass actually was for a position.

"I heard they were cheering or something in the stands at one point for me passing someone," Patrick said. "That's cool because I wasn't passing for the lead at all today, you know -- I was running in the top 10, but that was it.

"But that's good; that's the kind of fans that you need, that like you whether you're first or 10th or 20th. That's a good fan."

BRIEFLY: Former Formula One driver Giorgio Pantano will drive Target Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 10 Toyota/Panoz in the final two IRL road-course races of the season, beginning with this weekend's event at Infineon Raceway. Pantano made his F1 debut last season with the Jordan team and competed in 14 races. ... Sarah Fisher, a three-time Most Popular Driver in the IRL, finished ninth in Sunday's NASCAR West Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. It was Fisher's second top-10 finish in eight West Series races this season. ...

Reigning Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais holds a 53-point lead over Paul Tracy going into Sunday's Molson Indy Montreal. Bruno Junqueira, the defending race winner, still is recovering from back injuries he suffered in a crash during the Indianapolis 500 in May.

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