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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

The kickoff of the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions points season was delayed one week by Mother Nature.  When the curtain finally went up on the 2022 season, 49 teams showed up to tackle Attica Raceway Park.

Kyle Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91 were among them, ready to dive into their sophomore season on the road with the traveling series.  The northern Ohio facility had been a challenging one for the Neptune City, NJ native and his team last season, but they were back with a clean slate and a new opportunity.

April 15th:  Spring Nationals Night 1 / Attica Raceway Park / Attica, OH

      (49 cars, qualifying 4th, heat 3rd, A-main 19th)

This season, the ASCoC format will only use one dash (6 laps), regardless of car count.  Another change to the format for 2022 is that each heat will line up ‘heads up’ in the order they qualified, with the exception of the quick timer, who will start 4th.  

The large car count meant five groups for qualifying (2 laps) and heat races (8 laps).  Reinhardt was the 10th car overall and final car in Group A to take laps under the clock.  He logged the 4th quickest time in the group, slotting him 3rd in the lineup for heat number one.

Reinhardt ‘held serve’, turning in a solid 3rd place finish in his heat race, putting himself into the main event.  In this format, the top four finishers transferred to the A-main, while the heat winner and fastest qualifier to transfer earned a spot in the dash draw.

From his 14th starting spot in the main event, Reinhardt set his sights on his first top-10 at Attica.  It wasn’t to be.  He fought to maintain track position and ultimately slid backward a handful of positions to a 19th place finish.

“Had a solid night going for our No.91 but faded in the feature.  We need to get better with our balance at the end of the night“, Reinhardt said.

April 16th:  Spring Nationals Night 2 / Attica Raceway Park / Attica, OH

      (46 cars, qualifying 4th, heat 5th, A-main 15th)

The same format was deployed for the 46 cars that returned for night number two of the Spring Nationals at Attica Raceway Park.  This time Reinhardt found himself in Group D, but again turned in the 4th quickest lap in his group and took his spot inside row two for his heat race.

The heat race didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.  As the field bunched up off turn four for the green, Reinhardt clipped a tire.  Although he executed a full 360 degree spin and never stopped,  series rules call for a caution in that scenario.  As the reason for the yellow, Reinhardt restarted from the rear of the field.  He worked his way back to 6th but fell short of a transfer spot.

A wild 12-lap B-main saw Reinhardt start 5th, fall back to 6th on lap 5, then charge to 3rd by lap 10.  He held on to that transfer spot, one of four, to the checkered flag.

The best news of the weekend for Reinhardt may have come in the 30-lap A-main on Saturday night.  He was able to climb from his 23rd starting spot to 15th, showing the team was making progress solving the puzzle of Attica Raceway Park. 

“It was an ok weekend for us.  We made both shows, so that’s better than our first trip here last year.  It’s definitely not satisfying though.  We need to race better.  Good news is we moved forward, so we found the track we need to be on.  Glad to get out of Attica in one piece“, Reinhardt shared.

Up Next

Before a 3-race All Star swing through the heart of Pennsylvania, Reinhardt will return to his home state of NJ on Wednesday, April 20th to race at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in their ‘Invasion of the Posse’ 410 sprint car race, where $7,500 will go to the winner.

Reinhardt and the All Star Circuit of Champions will then spend three nights in PA, making stops at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway ($6,000 to win), Williams Grove Speedway ($6,000 to win Tommy Hinnershitz Classic) and Port Royal Speedway ($10,000 to win Keith Kauffman Classic) on April 21st-23rd. 

“I’m excited to get to go back home to NJ to race.  Bridgeport is a fun track.  Bloomsburg will be new for all of us, and we’ve run really well at The Grove this year, so I’m looking forward to those as well.  I’m ready to get some momentum going“, Reinhardt commented.

Season Stats

7 races, 0 wins, 2 top 5’s, 3 top 10’s, 6 top 15’s, 7 top 20’s

“Now is the time to figure out how to get better.  How to find speed.  To learn what I can do to the car and what I can’t“, Kyle Reinhardt said recently on the Sprint Car Unlimited podcast.

That is Reinhardt’s objective for March 2022 as he prepares for the upcoming Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions season.  Every choice, every decision since the end of last season has been aimed at being the absolute most-prepared he can be for the series’ tour.  Sometimes that meant being smart, staying home and saving his resources.   When mid-March arrived, it was time to get started.

For the second consecutive Friday night, Reinhardt and team rolled the Capitol Renegade / Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers / Champion Hi-Tech Lubricants / J&J Auto Racing No.91 into the pit area at Williams Grove Speedway for another night of homework, so to speak.  The first outing was deemed a success when the team logged a top-5 finish.  Now they were back looking to continue building their notebook and their momentum.

March 25:  Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA

     (27 cars, Heat 1st, A-main 2nd)

The format for the 27 car field on week two at ‘The Grove’ called for three 10-lap heats, lined up by random draw.  The top six finishers of each would transfer to the night’s feature event, but only the top four would make the redraw.

Kyle Reinhardt lined up on the pole of heat number three and quickly showed strength, jumping out to a ten-car-length lead on the opening lap.  By lap nine he had built up a 3.5 second lead over Ryan Smith, but the caution lights flashed on for a slowing car.  The Neptune City, NJ native withstood a good restart by Smith and held on to win the heat race by 0.815 seconds.

The redraw put Reinhardt in the middle of the top ten to start the 25-lap A-main.  He looked strong, holding onto his 6th starting spot throughout the first ten laps.  In the middle of the event, Reinhardt picked up a couple spots on subsequent restarts and found himself in 3rd when the race entered the last ten laps.

At that stage, the Capitol Renegade No.91 got even quicker.  Reinhardt was rolling the bottom in turns 1 & 2 better than anyone else.  Not only was he gaining ground, he was staying out of trouble while the higher side of that end of the track was reaching out and biting some of the competition.  With 6 laps remaining, Reinhardt ripped off his fastest lap of the race, breaking into the 17 second bracket.  On the final lap, Reinhardt ran down Ryan Smith and wrestled 2nd away, capturing his first podium finish of 2022 and his second consecutive top-5 at Williams Grove.

“If it had gone without a caution and we could’ve raced in lapped traffic, I think we had a chance to get to the front, but it didn’t play out that way“, Reinhardt said.

After two solid outings at the Mechanicsburg, PA oval, Reinhardt sits 3rd in the season points close behind Dylan Norris and Justin Peck.  It could be a preview for the upcoming All Star season, where Peck and Reinhardt will be two of the top contenders this year.

“I feel really good after our first three races.  The car has really good balance.  We have a really good baseline for anywhere we go.  We know where we can make adjustments.  I’m making the calls myself this year and my guys are working really hard.  Can’t thank them enough.  We’re off to a good start”, Reinhardt shared.

Saturday’s planned trip to Reinhardt’s home state of NJ was scrapped when Bridgeport Motorsports Park cancelled due to weather, then ‘plan B’ at Port Royal Speedway fell victim to Mother Nature as well.  Sunday’s trip to Selinsgrove was also lost as a result of unseasonably cold weather.

“We have a couple more races remaining before the All Star schedule starts.  Our goal is to continue to run up front at The Grove and to go back to Port (Royal) and get up front by applying what we learned a few weeks ago up there.  If we can accomplish both, it will be a good weekend”, Reinhardt concluded.

Up Next

For their final tune-ups before kicking off the All Star Circuit of Champions season, Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team will make return trips to Williams Grove Speedway (PA) on Friday, April 1st and Port Royal Speedway (PA) the following night.  

Follow along at all the outlets listed below to keep up with Kyle’s season!