Archive for month: August, 2022

Wednesday – Qualifying Night

Reinhardt debuted a fresh new J&J Auto Racing machine with a brand new Rider under the hood for the occasion.  The goal, of course, was to give themselves the best possible shot to achieve that new career best result at The Nationals.  It also seemed like a necessity given the team’s struggles to find the speed they were accustomed to, which had been absent in recent months.

Approximately half the field registered for The Nationals, 51 teams, took to the track for their qualifying night on Wednesday.  Qualifying nights leverage single group time trials, making Reinhardt’s spot late in the order (44th) less than ideal.

Reinhardt’s time trial effort resulted in the 37th quickest lap and fewer points accumulated than hoped.  Teams accumulate points throughout the qualifying nights based on their time trial, heat race and main event results.  Qualifying awards 200 points to the winner, 198 for second, 196 for third, etc.  

An invert of eight was the order of the day to translate the qualifying results into five heat race lineups.  In this format, the fastest five overall qualifiers start eighth in each heat race, 6th-10th fastest start seventh, etc.

On the bright side, Reinhard’s time on the clock handed him the pole of the second heat, giving him a good opportunity to earn points and transfer to the A-main where he could accumulate additional points.

Reinhardt led the opening lap of his 10-lap heat race, but Corey Day found his way past the Jersey product on lap two.  Reinhardt held a firm grasp on the runner-up spot all the way to the checkered flag and claimed a starting spot in the A-main.

On initial start of the 25-lap A-main, Reinhardt found a lane on the low side of the speedway and surged from his 17th starting spot to 13th as the field entered turn four.  He appeared to be off to a great start on his mission to tally additional points, but it wasn’t to be.  The caution lights flashed on for a car that was off the pace, and the lap didn’t count.

Reinhardt had already showed his hand and the competition wised up, preventing him from utilizing the same low line move on the complete restart, so he settled into the running order where he had started. 

Reinhardt continued to work the low side, moving up to 16th about a half dozen laps into the race.  By the halfway point, he was back to where he started.  He continued to search, moving to the high side for a couple circuits around lap fifteen.

When the top groove didn’t work, Reinhardt moved back down the track and proceeded to spin off the fastest series of laps he had turned during the feature event, propelling him to a 16th place finish in the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91.

When Wednesday’s points were tallied, Reinhardt sat 24th in points of the 51 drivers who had attempted to qualify that night.

“This new J&J car is definitely a big step in the right direction.  I was comfortable and we had some speed, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.“, Reinhardt commented.

Friday – Hard Knox Night

After two nights of racing, the top 16 in points were locked into Saturday night’s A-main and the next 10 in points were locked into the first five rows of Saturday’s B-main.

For the rest, it was one of the most intense nights in sprint car racing, Hard Knox Night.  This year that meant a full program with 72 teams going all out to capture one of the highly coveted top four finishing spots in the A-main.  Those cars would earn the right to start 17th-20th in Saturday’s finale.

For the rest, the better the finish, the better their positioning in Saturday’s ‘alphabet soup’, referring to Saturday’s E-main, D-main, C-main and B-main.

Friday’s format is slightly different than earlier in the week.  The field is split into two groups for qualifying, then six heats are run with the top three finishers from each advancing to the A-main.

Kyle Reinhardt rolled out 18th of 36 cars in Group B and laid down a solid lap of 16.525.  With one car remaining to qualify in the group, he sat 12th on the bump from the inversion.  The last car out bumped Reinhardt to 13th quick, which moved him from a front row starting spot in his heat race to a 5th place start instead.

Reinhardt wasn’t able to gain any ground from his 5th place start in the fourth 8-lap heat race, which meant a date with B-main number two later in the evening.  The starting lineup for the B-main was based off the time trial results earlier in the evening.  For Reinhardt, that equated to a starting spot outside the third row.

The opening circuit of the 12-lap last chance race was a solid one for Reinhardt.  He bolted from 6th to 3rd using the high side of the speedway.  Over the next ten laps, Kyle did everything he could to close on second and grab an insurance spot to ensure he transferred to the A-main.

As the race wound down, the leaders reached lapped traffic and the gaps among the top three shrank.  At the white flag, Reinhardt was still third but was hot on the heels of Sye Lynch, who was right on the bumper of leader Justin Henderson.  

When the trio hurtled into turn three, things looked quite different.  Reinhardt led Lynch and Henderson back to the line to complete an exciting final lap.

Now with a shot in the 25-lap A-main to further improve his chances on Saturday, Reinhardt wasn’t done yet.  He took the green flag from the 20th starting spot and immediately began working his way forward.

Reinhardt climbed to 17th on the opening lap and was 15th by lap three.  He battled for position in the middle of the pack through three restarts during the feature event, reaching 13th with seven laps remaining.  

In the closing laps, the handling on Reinhardt’s machine started to go away.  As a result, he slipped back a couple spots to a 15th place finish.

“The car was really good early.  We just got a little tight in the last ten laps and that cost us a couple spots late.  It was the difference between starting Saturday in the back of the B-main vs. the front of the C-main.“, Reinhardt commented.

Saturday

On the final day of the Knoxville Nationals, 98 teams were unloaded and set up in the infield.  20 teams arrived knowing they were safely locked into the A-main, while everyone else was slotted for a B-main, C-main, D-main or E-main, with a shot to work their way to one of the final four open spots in the lineup for the grand finale.

All of the preliminary action for Kyle Reinhardt led to him owning the pole of Saturday’s 15-lap C-main.  The top four finishers of that race would move on to the final four starting spots for the B-main, where they would have 22 laps to find their way to the top four to earn their way into the A-main.  It was a tall order, but it had been done before.

Reinhardt didn’t get the start he wanted in the C-main.  He raced the opening two circuits in the runner-up position before finding his rhythm and sailing past McKenna Haase to grab the lead.

Over the remaining thirteen laps Reinhardt was never challenged and went on to win by just over three seconds, locking in the 21st starting spot in the B-main.

Forward progress wasn’t easy to come by in the 22-lap B-main.  Reinhardt found himself in one battle after another throughout the race.  He navigated his way from 21st to 18th by lap three but that was the pinnacle of his progress.  Much like Friday night’s feature, his No.91 got tight in the closing laps and Reinhardt ultimately crossed the finish line in 20th.

Wrap Up

The 2022 Nationals didn’t end up being the perfect story of continuing the trend by reaching his first career Saturday night A-main, but Reinhardt did post another career best result in August in Knoxville by finishing two spots better than 2021.  The trend of improvement continues.  

“We made a ton of progress this week here in Iowa.  Given our struggles coming into Knoxville, coming out of here with this finish is a successful week for sure.  I want to thank all my guys for their hard work and of course all our partners for their support.  We wouldn’t be here without them.”, Reinhardt said.

“I’m excited for the rest of our All Star season.“

Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team will kick off their 2022 Knoxville Nationals with their qualifying night Wednesday, August 10th and the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91 will be sporting a fresh new look for the occasion.  Be sure to check follow Kyle on social media to get a first look!

Wednesday night they will find out quickly if they are moving in the right direction.  With over 100 teams registered to compete, and Reinhardt up against half that field on his qualifying night, the annual event is the toughest possible test for any race team.

Through a typical sprint car format of time trials, heat races and features, teams will accumulate points on their qualifying night (half the field Wednesday, the other half Thursday) with a goal of locking into Saturday night’s A-main.  Those who come up short of that goal may lock into a B-main or C-main on Saturday but could also race Friday night’s ‘Hard Knox’ program to improve their points total and positioning in Saturday’s show.

For full Knoxville 410 Sprint Car Nationals format information, click here.

For tickets and event details, go to KnoxvilleRaceway.com.

If you can’t be there in person, broadcast coverage is available at DirtVision.com.

Season Stats

44 races, 0 wins, 4 top 5’s, 9 top 10’s, 23 top 15’s