VOLUSIA, Fla. — Kraig Kinser hasn’t had much to show for his efforts at the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals thus far.
A 17-time World of Outlaws feature winner, Kinser missed Wednesday’s feature by a long shot and finished one spot out of a transfer during Thursday night’s Last Chance Showdown.
“We’re still getting our feet wet here, still got some stuff to learn,” Kinser said.
He made a last-minute call to join the full-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series roster with Premier Motorsports, announcing the news one day prior to the season opener.
“It was kind of a late decision. Most of the time you know where you’re going well before we decided on it,” Kinser said. “It was something I left up to the car owners. I was gonna be on board no matter where they went.”
Pete Grove, who owns the Premier Motorsports operation, decided to become the 12th full-time team on the Outlaw tour, which has accordingly led Kinser south for Florida Speedweeks.
The Indiana native also made the trip to the World of Outlaws season opener at Volusia Speedway Park last year to campaign his own No. 11k sprint car. However, when the results proved unfruitful, Kinser decided to step back from what was originally intended to be a full-time effort with the Greatest Show on Dirt.
He joined up with Premier late last year for the Knoxville Nationals and has been slowly increasing his comfortability in the seat of the No. 70 sprint car.
“This is nothing like last year with my own deal,” Kinser clarified.
Still, with Premier Motorsports being a new full-time addition to the World of Outlaws this year, the team’s rookie status added to its setbacks during the opening two nights, as Kinser was unable to use a provisional for either feature.
Provisionals are distributed based on a team or driver’s finish from the previous season.
“As you can see with the new team, the rules are a little different than if you’re an existing team,” Kinser said. “We’re feeling it right now.”
As the 39-year-old stood near his blue-and-white No. 70, firesuit hanging over his waist, he was calmly adamant that the difficult beginning wasn’t going to make or break his season.
“It’s a long season, you’re not gonna get too worried about points,” said the 2005 Knoxville Nationals winner. “We’ll get after it and try to rebound from the first two nights.”
The DIRTcar Nationals will conclude on Saturday night with a $20,000-to-win feature.
It also pays $1,500 to start, which is one check Kinser is hoping he receives at the end of the week.
“You can’t let nights like tonight get through, so we’re gonna try and do what we can to get better,” Kinser said. “I didn’t really set too many goals, it was kind of a late deal to set goals for. We just gotta race it and, hopefully, make the right decisions.”