Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. This weekend at Volusia Speedway Park, Steve Kinser has been both lucky and good. A night after he dominated the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season opener,. he was back in victory lane on Saturday knowing it took others’ misfortunes for him to win for the second night in a row.
Craig Dollansky led the first 27 laps when a mechanical issue forced him to slow on the frontstretch. At the same time, second-place running Cody Darrah had a right rear tire go out on him. The caution flew and set up a double-file restart with three laps to go.
Kraig Kinser was on the inside of the front row, his father on the outside. Steve shot out to the lead in the first corner. He never looked back as he rolled off the final three circuits to give his Bass Pro Shops team back-to-back victories in the first two World of Outlaws races of the season.
“We had a lot of luck tonight,” said Kinser, of Bloomington, Ind. “We weren’t as strong as we were last night and you hate to win these things like that.”
Kinser and the rest of the field trailed polesitter Dollanksy from the drop of the green flag. Dollansky blistered the field until the fateful Lap 27 when the motor expired in his Big Game Treestands Maxim. Darrah, a rising star at Kasey Kahne Racing from Red Lion, Pa., was poised to take the lead in his Great Clips Maxim but a right rear went out and sent him to the pits.
Donny Schatz continued to surge forward from his 17th starting position in the STP J&J and wound up second to join Kinser, his Tony Stewart Racing teammate, on the podium.
“It was a crazy out here tonight but fun,” said Schatz, who earned the KSE Hard Charger Award.
Joey Saldana finished third for the second night in a row in his CARQUEST Maxim and credited the knowledge he’s gained through the years of competing at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH.
“Experience paid off for me tonight,” said Saldana, who won the Sprint Car Week championship at last year’s DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH. “We’ve built some great momentum going into the final night down here.”
Jason Sides raced to fourth place in his Wetherington Tractor Service Maxim as Kraig Kinser was able to nurse his Casey’s General Stores Maxim to a fifth-place finish.
Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell, two of the greatest Sprint Car drivers in history, have each won two races during the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH with Sunday’s finale serving as the tiebreaker.
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