Story By: A2DPR / KYLE REINHARDT RACING – ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – Kyle Reinhardt has been working to get his resources prepared for his upcoming trip to Knoxville.
Although that certainly includes getting the team’s engine program ready, as well as every other component of the race car, it also meant getting repairs made to the team’s toter and performing maintenance on other equipment.
While all of that was going on, there were also still a couple races to run in Pennsylvania before the team hit the road.
Reinhardt was going to miss the High Limit Series event at Grandview Speedway on July 25th thanks to an issue with the team’s toter because repairs would not be completed in time to make the trip. That all changed just 24 hours before the schedule hot laps at Grandview Speedway.
After Tuesday’s race rained out and was rescheduled for July 26th, Reinhardt’s phone rang and on the other end was Bernie Stuebgen from Indy Race Parts. Late Wednesday afternoon Reinhardt was strapping into the well-known black and green No.71 in Bechtelsville, PA to give it a ride.
Wednesday night’s $23,023 to win event drew a stout field of 27 teams to the Pennsylvania third-mile oval. Reinhardt was fast in hot laps. Early speed is a good sign, but it doesn’t count for anything. On this night, it was at least an early confidence boost.
Reinhardt posted the 12th quickest lap in time trials, putting him 4th on the starting grid for his heat race. In that 8-lap affair, he took possession of the 3rd position at the drop of the green. The Neptune City, NJ native kept the leaders in his sights but wasn’t able to get close enough to strike, completing the strong run with a 3rd place finish.
From his 9th starting spot in the 35-lap finale, Reinhardt battled tight competition through six restarts. He raced inside the top ten the entire night, fighting a brake issue to an 8th place finish.
“I can’t thank Bernie and Betsy enough for the opportunity. It was fun to get to run this race with the level of competition we had here. I think we ran pretty well tonight all things considered.“, Reinhardt said. “Bernie’s package is a lot different than what I am used to, and the show moved along quickly tonight, so we didn’t have a lot of time to work on things.“
“I hope to get the chance to race with him again. I’ll be ready if the phone rings.“, Reinhardt concluded.
Torrential rains overnight forced the cancellation of Saturday’s Living Legends Dream Race at Port Royal Speedway, so Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade, Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers, Coors Banquet Beer, Henry’s Wrecker Service No.91 team opted to head to Lincoln Speedway.
Things got off to a solid start at Lincoln for Reinhardt. From the 5th starting spot in his heat race, he methodically pushed his way toward the front and earned a runner-up finish.
Reinhardt started 7th in the 35-lap A-main but struggled during the opening laps and slipped backwards. He fought to remain just inside the top ten for the majority of the race, then finally began to make forward progress in the final ten laps.
Reinhardt reached 7th with five laps remaining and held on there to the finish, completing his second top ten run of the week.
“We were decent. I just didn’t get the start I wanted, and it took a while to recover from that. It was one of those nights you just add to the notebook and move on.“, Reinhardt commented.
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Reinhardt will head west this weekend to set up camp at Knoxville Raceway for a week. Sunday, August 6th he will compete in the Capitani Classic, then will kick off the Knoxville Nationals Wednesday on his qualifying night. The Nationals wrap up with the $175,000 to win finale on Saturday, August 12th.
The Neptune City, NJ native comes into the Knoxville Nationals week this year in the midst of his most consistent 410 sprint car season yet statistically speaking. He has showed good speed all season and will look to make his first career Nationals A-main. He has been close on each of his last two trips to the Nationals, which both ended one step short in the B-main.