News Director 
Story By: RICH WATTS / KYLE REINHARDT RACING – PORT ROYAL, PA – Kyle Reinhardt’s determined heat race charge put his team in the show when opportunity knocked versus the World of Outlaws at Lincoln Speedway Saturday Night.
Reinhardt had been looking forward to tackling the tough, two-race weekend in Pennsylvania against the World of Outlaws last week. With only two races under his team’s belt thus far in 2023, they needed more track time to continue rebuilding their program. Plus, the weekend provided an opportunity to compete for a good payout and get laps on the new Hoosier tire.
Friday night’s event at Williams Grove Speedway fell victim to the rain, leaving Reinhardt with only one opportunity to add to his notebook last weekend.
The new Hoosier tires are a big change for all teams this season. Saturday night at Lincoln Speedway everyone was starting from scratch. Even those teams with thick notebooks from years of experience were on a level playing field, so to speak.
The night didn’t get off on the right foot for Reinhardt, who qualified 19th in Group B. With a high quality field of 49 cars on hand, the rest of the night looked like it would be an uphill climb for the Neptune City, NJ native.
The heat race would need to tell a better story if Reinhardt was to have a shot at completing that climb. Getting to a top five transfer spot would be tough, but every pass he could make would improve his chances to transfer through the B-main.
Reinhardt started moving forward from the drop of the green in the 8-lap heat race, but his progress stalled in the 7th spot until a late-race caution provided opportunity. Restarting 6th, he was able to build up enough momentum to slip past Austin Bishop in the final turn.
The move put Reinhardt in the 5th and final transfer spot. Uphill climb complete. He was in the show.
“I didn’t time-trial well. We just didn’t have the car right. The car was pretty good in (turns) three and four, but I didn’t have any grip off turn two. That’s where the guys who timed up front were better. We are a little behind. We will need some laps to learn how this new tire behaves.“, Reinhardt shared.
“I made a lot of changes for the heat race, and it paid off. The car was a lot better. We moved forward, which is tough here in a short race. I got the break I needed when Gio (Scelzi) brought out the caution. It gave me the restart I needed to get a shot at the final transfer spot.“
In the A-main, Reinhardt initially moved forward a few spots from his 18th starting position. The Capitol Renegade, Capitol Custom Coaches & Trailers, Henry’s Wrecker No.91 appeared poised to make another solid run, just as it had done in the heat race.
A caution flag about ten laps into the 35-lap race took away Reinhardt’s momentum. On the ensuing restart, he got shuffled back a few spots.
Reinhardt wasn’t able to regain the track position. The car wasn’t quite the same after that and he slid back to a 25th place finish.
“We didn’t change enough for the feature. We will need to get used to this new tire and how it reacts over the course of longer races. We struggled with balance.“, Reinhardt commented.
“A lot of guys went home tonight and didn’t get to race, so I’m happy that we were able to make the race. I think the positives we took away from tonight and the knowledge we gathered are something we can build off of for sure.“
Reinhardt said the team will be selective about when and where it races over the next few weeks while tracks allow a period of time for teams to transition from the old Hoosier tires to the new ones. Most tracks are allowing a four race ‘burn-off period’. Some Pennsylvania tracks will reach that by the end of March, while others will stretch into April due to weather cancellations early in the season.
“We don’t have many of the old tires left and I can’t justify spending money for older tires for a couple races, so we will just pick our spots until we don’t have that variable in the equation anymore.“, Reinhardt said.
“We’ve said from the start this year that we will need to be smart with our resources while we rebuild our program. This is just a part of that.“
Reinhardt and the Capitol Renegade team will be in attendance Sunday, March 26th at BAPS Motor Speedway for March Sprint Madness! Racing begins at 4pm.
