Kyle Reinhardt Dialing It in Under the Radar

Coming off a solid four-race week that contained more ups than downs, Kyle Reinhardt prepared to hit the road once again with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions.  His goal was to turn those performances into sustained momentum.

Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team were looking to keep things trending in the right direction and given their destinations, they would have to earn it.  The tests would come in the form of Lernerville Speedway (PA), a new venue for the NJ native, and Sharon Speedway (OH), a track that presented him with significant challenges in 2021.

April 29:  Lernerville Speedway / Sarver, PA

      (44 cars, Qualifying 4th Group B/15th Overall, Heat 2nd, A-main 14th)

Considering he had never turned a lap at Sarver, PA’s Lernerville Speedway before, Kyle Reinhardt’s night didn’t get off to a bad start at all.  He registered the 15th quickest lap of the 44 cars on hand, good enough for 4th quick in his group.

Reinhardt followed that up with a 2nd place finish in his 8-lap heat race.  After starting 3rd, the sophomore member of the All Star series, charged into the runner-up spot on the opening lap and held onto it throughout.

Rolling off 12th for the 30-lap A-main in his Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91, Reinhardt found himself battling hard to maintain track position throughout the event.  He was able to hang tough, hovering between 12th-13th throughout, until the final lap when Sye Lynch slipped by and dropped Reinhardt to 14th at the finish.

April 30:  Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH

      (41 cars, Qualifying 2nd Group B/7th Overall, Heat 2nd, A-main 13th)

Car counts for the All Stars topped 40 for the fourth consecutive event when the series rolled into Sharon Speedway in Ohio. 

Reinhardt kicked off his night with an encouraging qualifying lap that landed him 7th quick overall and 2nd best in his group.  It was only step one, but it was huge to a team that had failed to earn their way into two of three ASCoC events at the Hartford, OH facility in 2021.

The qualifying effort put Reinhardt on the pole of the second heat, with a good opportunity to grab the win and secure a spot in the dash.  Unfortunately, George Hobaugh had other ideas.  Reinhardt came home second to Hobaugh in the 8-lap qualifier.

In the opening laps of the 30-lap A-main, Reinhardt fell back slightly from his 11th starting spot.  He managed to settle into 14th and hold that spot for the first 23 laps before recovering one position to 13th in the closing laps.

“Do we want to run 13th?  Obviously not, but we have to stay focused on the positives.  Last year we weren’t qualifying for some of these races or we were getting into the show through the B-main, so we’re going the right direction on things that we struggled with in the past. “, Reinhardt commented.

In 2021, Reinhardt’s first year on the tour, he netted a pair of top 10’s in the first seven races.  Through seven events in 2022 Reinhardt only has one top-10, but that is not a telling measure of the start to his season.  

Reinhardt has been more consistent thus far in 2022 and the stats show the improvement.  At this point in 2021, Reinhardt’s average finish in heat races was 5.3.  In 2022 he has improved that average to 3.6.  Comparing his average A-main finish to date in 2022 to this point last year shows an improvement from 23.1 to 17.0.

“We’re clearly not where we want to be yet, but our slick track program is definitely improving.  That was our biggest weakness last year, so I’m happy with the progress we’ve made.  We’ll keep working at it and get to where we want to be. “, Reinhardt said.  “We’re time-trialing better this year.  That’s a big deal in this format.  That was another thing we worked really hard to improve. “

Up Next

Reinhardt will take the upcoming weekend off due to the tire shortages in the sprint car world, but he will be in action at Lincoln Speedway (Abbottstown, PA) on Wednesday, May 11th against the World of Outlaws.  

Kyle and the Capitol Renegade No.91 will rejoin the All Stars for a 3-race weekend May 13th-15th, with races at I-96 Speedway (Lake Odessa, MI) Friday, Wayne County Speedway (Orrville, OH) Saturday, and Waynesfield Raceway Park (Waynesfield, OH) Sunday.

Season Stats

13 races, 0 wins, 3 top 5’s, 4 top 10’s, 8 top 15’s, 7 top 20’s