Kyle Reinhardt Shows Speed Early at Eldora

The season may be entering its final chapter, but there’s no quit in Kyle Reinhardt or the Capitol Renegade team.

With approximately a dozen races remaining in their 2022 season and only three with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC), they are still plugging away to find the speed and consistency they know they are capable of.

It has been a tough season for Reinhardt, who has been serving as his own crew chief all year but getting over the hump and putting some good results on the books before season’s end would go a long way toward 2023.

September 23:  BeFour the Crowns Showdown / Eldora Speedway / New Weston, OH [42 cars, Qualifying 8th in Flight A, Heat 4th (4), A-main 22nd (14)]

The ASCoC was slated to tackle the famed Eldora Speedway on Saturday, so Reinhardt and team made the tow to western Ohio a day early to join the World of Outlaws for the ‘BeFour the Crowns Showdown’ show on Friday.

The 42 cars on hand were split into two flights for qualifying.  Reinhardt registered the 8th quickest lap in Flight A, placing him 4th on the starting grid for heat number two.

The top five finishers from each of four 8-lap heats would transfer directly to the $10,000 to win A-main.  Reinhardt ‘held serve’ and recorded a 4th place finish to put his team in the show.

The night was generally going well for Reinhardt, until the 30-lap main event took the green flag.  The Neptune City, NJ native started 14th with his eyes on a top ten finish but it didn’t play out that way.

Reinhardt began to lose positions early on, dropping outside the top twenty within the first five laps.  Just past the halfway point, with nothing positive coming from his efforts to regroup and move forward, he retired from the event for an official 22nd place finish.

September 24:  4-Crown Nationals / Eldora Speedway / New Weston, OH [34 cars, Qualifying 1st in Group B, Heat 2nd (4), Dash 7th (6), A-main 17th (7)]

Saturday’s All Star Circuit of Champions portion of the 4-Crown Nationals event at Eldora brought 34 winged 410 sprint cars to compete for a $10,000 top prize.

Reinhardt kicked off the night by going to the top of the qualifying charts in Group B, notching quick time with a lap of 13.166 in his Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91.

Given his quick time in the group, all Reinhardt needed to do to claim his spot in the Dash redraw was finish in the top five in his heat race.  He wasn’t complacent though, charging from his 4th starting spot to 2nd on the opening lap and then going after the top spot.  He was unable to run down leader Brady Bacon in the fast-paced 8-lap qualifier and came home with the runner up finish.

Reinhardt drew the 6th starting spot in the 8-car Dash, which would set the starting order for the first 4 rows of the night’s finale.  Sye Lynch wrestled 6th away from Reinhardt on lap three, dropping Reinhardt to a 7th place finish in the 6-lap race.

Reinhardt took the green for the 30-lap A-main from inside row four but could not mount a forward charge in the opening laps.  He slipped just outside of the top ten a few laps into the event and remained there through the halfway point of the race.  

The restart that followed a caution with nine laps to go was not Reinhardt’s friend.  Over the course of the final nine laps, Reinhardt’s situation only got worse, losing a few more spots to a 17th place finish.

“We made some progress this weekend.  We had really good speed early both nights.  We qualified well and made the show through our heat, but we struggled again late and didn’t close the deal.“, Reinhardt commented.

Up Next

The 60th Annual National Open at Williams Grove Speedway is next on the docket for Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team.  The two day marquee event takes place Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1.  Saturday’s A-main purse alone is over $155,000, with $75,000 of that going to the winner.

Season Stats

64 races, 0 wins, 5 top 5’s, 14 top 10’s, 30 top 15’s