Kraig Kinser, No. 46 CENTRIX Auto Finance Silverado, has fought an uphill battle in his Raybestos Rookie season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Every race is a new track that the Bloomington, IN native has never laid eyes on prior to the activities leading up to that particular event. Prior to this year, the 21-year old driver was winging his way around dirt tracks throughout the country behind the wheel of a 800-plus horsepower sprint car on dirt tracks from California to North Carolina.

When the Randy Goss-led crew unloaded Kinser's Silverado Friday at Memphis Motorsports Park, the routine started anew. Kinser consistently improved his lap times in each of the three practice sessions but qualifying proved another challenge when he was only able to post the 36th best time of the entered trucks.

However, both driver and crew were determined to get a solid run and finish under their belts in the 200-lap/150-mile race on the tough .75-mile track.

Kinser made the most of the opportunity to learn all he could during the race. When the checkered flag flew, he finished 27th with the body in tact on his Morgan-Dollar Motorsports No. 46 CENTRIX Silverado.

"The truck was good," said Kinser. "We could have finished better if the race would have stayed green there on that last run. We were going to do a gas-and-go on the last stop there and pick up some track position but the yellow came out and pretty much killed us. That was our strategy all night, and the reason that we made the early pit stop, so that we could capitalize on track position.

"The track was good, but it we just need more laps. You know, it was my first time here and first time I've ever seen the place but that's kinda been the story of my whole year because every track we go to I just need more laps around it."

In his first full-time season of pavement racing, Kinser's CENTRIX Auto Finance sponsored Silverado is a joint effort between MDM and MB2 Motorsports. Kinser joined the MB2 driver development program last season.