Zachary Tinkle will race at Kansas! Yes, that’s been the plan for most of the season, so why’s it a big deal now? Well let’s recap the last 72 hours for Wayne Peterson Racing.
During Saturday’s practice at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, Nate Moeller spun his No. 06 Ford out and took a pretty solid hit as pictured below:
This Is Heartbreaking, #06 just got a new nose for Talladega, and was scheduled to be at Kansas, Car looks pretty used up https://t.co/mnrJitCviQ
— Colby Evans ???? (@StartAndParkCar) May 7, 2022
For a small team like Wayne Peterson’s, this did not just mean they were done for the weekend. This incident affects their near future in the season, as this exact car was scheduled to be driven at Kansas Speedway this upcoming weekend by Tinkle.
“That was the same car I was supposed to run at Kansas and even had the Kansas setup on it,” Tinkle explained to TobyChristie.com in a Twitter DM. “Unfortunately, the car is pretty tore up, Front & rear clip is believed to be bent along with body damage, rear end got shoved over as well and both the A-arms on the left front got damaged so it will need a large amount of repair and it’s not going to make Kansas.”
For Tinkle, this would not be the only time he has experienced a bump in the road this season. In April, the entire wheel hub of his trailer came off on his way to Alabama. While he was still able to race that weekend at Talladega, it put a halt in some other the other plans they had for that time period.
Fast forward just a few weeks later, and the young driver’s race weekend plans are once again in the air.
Fixing the Nashville car in time for Kansas would likely be impossible, so that was out of the equation. Willie Mullins and his team had reached out as well just in case, but it was unlikely that the car would get approved in time.
So how is the former CRA Late Model Sportsman Champion getting on the track this weekend at Kansas? The entire WPR team worked all through the night to convert their Daytona & Talladega Chevy into a car capable of racing on the 1.5 track and are ready to go.
“The car is better than we anticipated, team worked through the night to get it ready and we are ready to hit the road!” Tinkle said. “Pretty pumped for it so I’m glad we can get the car back on the track this weekend.”
A very quick and impressive turnaround for the entire organization, as they had to work some long hard nights to even get this car close to being ready for racing, and now they are hitting the road.
This will be the 19-year-old’s second start at the racetrack, with his first coming last year in a car collaborated by Richmond Racing and Wayne Peterson Racing.
The Dutch Boy 150 from Kansas will take place Saturday, May 14th, 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
