Kyle Reinhardt Captures Career Best World Finals Finish on Opening Night; Misses Field on Final Night

Friday’s second chance to accumulate points started off very similar to Wednesday for Reinhardt, who registered the 10th quickest lap of the 26 drivers to hit the track in Flight B.  Once again, he would take the green for his heat race from the 5th starting spot, needing only to remain in the top five to transfer to the main event.

The opening lap of heat number four is where Reinhardt’s week took a turn the wrong direction.  A bunched up start led to a four wide situation in turn one, forcing his No.91 above the cushion.  He managed to avoid contact but rolled to a stop, bringing out the caution.

Reinhardt was able to restart and join the rear of the field, but it would be tough to recover the track position in a short eight laps.  He finished a distant 10th, dropping him into the C-main and leaving him with slim odds of making his way to the A-main.

Reinhardt would need to finish first or second in the 10-lap C-main to advance to the B-main.  From his starting spot outside row two, he claimed the 3rd position on the opening lap.  He was unable to close the gap enough on runner up Eric Riggins to mount a serious challenge.

Reinhardt’s night ended much earlier than expected with the 3rd place C-main finish.  The real price of the disappointing night was a low point total to add to his solid first night, which would make Saturday night’s main event slightly more difficult to reach.

November 5:  World Finals / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC  [52 cars, Heat 7th (7), B-main 8th (9)]

Saturday’s program consisted of four 11-car heat races.  The top ten starters were set heads-up by points from the first two night, and they were joined by a top four finisher from the non-qualifier’s race that opened the night.  The top five finishers from each heat race would move on to the A-main, and the remaining teams would compete in a B-main for the final four starting spots.

The ripple effect of Friday’s heat race troubles was clear.  Reinhardt’s two day point total placed him 7th in heat number four.  He took 6th on lap two with a slide job on Kraig Kinser and set his sights on the final transfer spot.  At the halfway point, Kinser forced his way back around the No.91 off turn four.  Reinhardt couldn’t mount another challenge and settled for a 7th place finish.

The B-main would be an uphill climb for Reinhardt, needing to reach the top four in twelve short laps from his 9th starting spot to make the show.  He gave it everything he had, climbing has high as 7th by the time the caution flag appeared with three laps complete.

The ensuing restart didn’t go Reinhardt’s way.  He lost the track position he had gained, slipping back to 9th again.  In the closing laps he raced his way back into 8th but that’s where the week, and season, came to an end.

“We had decent speed this week.  We weren’t great but things just didn’t go our way Friday and we got behind.  I want to give a shout out to Cheerwine, Carolina Beverage Corp and Arthur Carver IV for coming on board this week to help us out at the World Finals.  I also want to say thank you to Capitol Renegade, Champion Hi-Tech Lubricant’s, Henry’s Wrecker Service and all our other partners who have supported us all season.“, Reinhardt commented.

“Overall our season wasn’t up to our expectations, but with the speed we found the past month we feel better going into the offseason.  We feel like we have something to build on for 2023.”  

Up Next

That’s a wrap for Kyle’s 2022 season!  Follow his social media outlets listed below, as well as Addicted2DirtPR on most social media platforms, for future announcements about his 2023 plans!

Season Stats

75 races, 0 wins, 10 top 5’s, 20 top 10’s, 37 top 15’s