Legendary racer kicks off ‘Salute to the King’ tour with thriller at Volusia

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Steve Kinser might be winding down his career this season with the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series, but on Sunday night at the DIRTcar Nationals presented by Summit Racing Equipment Kinser was wound up in a huge victory celebration after he won a thriller in front of a packed house at Volusia Speedway Park.

Kinser showed his competitive fire still burns when he and defending series champion Daryn Pittman waged an incredible duel over the final eight laps before Kinser slid to the lead and grabbed the checkered flag for the 577th feature victory in his hall-of-fame career.

Coming off a restart with 22 laps down, Kinser chose the high side in his Tony Stewart Racing Bad Boy Buggies ride while Pittman settled into the bottom line in his Kasey Kahne Racing Great Clips car. Pittman charged out quickly and reclaimed the lead as Kinser dove to the bottom in turn one and tried to slide in front. The two traded slide jobs, Kinser wouldn’t be denied and by lap 24 he was back in front.

“I didn’t know where to go on the restart and I decided to take the top line and just carry some speed and just have it,” said Kinser, 59, of Bloomington, Ind. “He beat me out of there and it was a good race. You hate to lose one on the restart. I didn’t think anyone could pass me when I had a clear track. It doesn’t matter, we got the win that’s all that counts.” (more…)

Sweet captures World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series opener, Dillon holds off his brother to grab DIRTcar UMP Modified feature

BARBERVILLE, Fla. – Brad Sweet powered his Kasey Kahne Racing car to victory in the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series season opener on Friday night at the DIRTcar Nationals presented by Summit Racing Equipment at Volusia Speedway Park while Ty Dillon held off his brother, Austin, over the final three laps to win the DIRTcar UMP Modified feature.

Sweet, who is going to race full-time with the Outlaws in 2014, showed he’ll be a championship contender by surging past Paul McMahan in the first corner with two laps to go for the victory after McMahan and Tim Shaffer battled each other for the first 28 laps in the 30-lap A-main. Australian Kerry Madsen joined the mix and finished third behind Sweet and McMahan.

“It’s always good to start off with a win,” said Sweet, of Grass Valley, Calif. “These races are tough to win. I mean you can win the first race out and not win another one the rest of the year, to get the first one under our belt this quick and feel this good with our car and get a new team together like this and be fast out of the gate quick is a good sign. You always want to start the year out strong. It’s a bit more important this year to be consistent where last few years we would race with these guys and if we had a bad night it was just a bad night, it didn’t hurt us in the points. Now we’ve got to pay attention to that a little bit and be a little more consistent.” (more…)