MOORESVILLE, NC – For the second time this year, the Grand National Super Series presented by Engineered Components Company will take to the 4/10th mile oval of New River All American Speedway.
The tour began its 2023 season at the track with A.J. Henriksen sweeping both twin fifty lap features. This will be the ninth event for the series in 2023, and the first race of the Anchor Bolt Triple Crown Challenge. Henriksen will be in tow with the no. 79 ECC machine. Henriksen is riding a wave of momentum after sweeping both races at Tri-County Speedway and one at Pulaski County Motorsports Park.
Henriksen’s teammate for this weekend’s event will be none other than Frank Kimmel. The ten-time ARCA Menards Series champion will be piloting the no. 7 car at New River All American Speedway. Kimmel is also undefeated in GNSS competition.
Kevin Kromer will be searching for his first win of the season in his B.A.C.K. 77 Toyota Camry. Kromer is coming off of a strong run at Tri-County where he finished third in the first race and second in the final feature of the night.
Young Joe Wilder missed this season’s first event at New River but will be in attendance this weekend. Wilder debuted his Gen-3 Hemi at Tri-County and had a few issues.
“I think we have all the gremlins out of her,” Wilder said. “We were so fast until we started having problems in race two. I think we will be very strong Saturday.”
Wilder will be without his Mopar Mafia teammate as Jason McDowell will miss this race due to prior commitments.
Jason “The Thriller” Kitzmiller will return to GNSS after a brief hiatus while running some ARCA Menards races.
Cody Dennison will be piloting the no. 54 car owned by ShoTime Motorsports. Dennison has been able to drive for several teams while his motor is rebuilt.
Donnie Doster will be continuing his rookie season in the no. 57 Blair Reality car.
Dusty Silvers will make the trek from Johnson City Tennessee to try his hand at New River. Silvers missed the season opener and was in attendance last year before mechanical failures forced him to pack up early.
Marc Jones is back with his D&D Towing no. 9 car. Jones was very strong in the season opener at New River and held off Henriksen for several laps before Henriksen overtook him.
ENTRY LIST: #7 – Frank Kimmel, #9 – Marc Jones, #42 – Joe Wilder, #54 – Cody Dennison, #54s – Mike Kurk, #57 – Donnie Doster, #77 – Kevin Kromer, #79– A.J. henriksen, #97 – Jason Kitzmiller, #99 – Dusty Silvers
The gates open at 1:00pm this Saturday, September 2nd. There will be two, seven-minute practice sessions for GNSS with practice kicking off at 3:30pm with GNSS being fourth in rotation. Qualifying will begin at 6:15pm. The green flag drops at 8pm with GNSS being races four and eight.
A big thank you to the amazing owners and staff of New River All American Speedway. Labor Day at New River is the perfect start to the Anchor Bolt Triple Crown Challenge and an excellent way to spend Labor Day weekend. If you can’t make it to the Crystal Coast this weekend, we have you covered. Tune into the GNSS YouTube Channel to catch both twin fifty lap features and keep up with all the day’s news on our social media.
– Series press release by: J.D. Bowsher
