Kevin Swindell definitely showed the versatility that has the racing community talking once again this weekend when he competed in his first pavement sprint car competition.  Running with USCS, Kevin began the Friday night program at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida by setting a new track record on the 1/2 mile high-banked oval turning a qualifying lap at 124 MPH after only a few laps of practice.  He then went on to finish a strong second to series veteran Kenny Adams in the Feature event.  With an inversion draw that placed Kevin behind front row starter Adams, Swindell kept pace the entire race as the two lapped more than half the field.

On Saturday, the series moved to Mobile International Speedway in Mobile, Alabama.  Two short practice sessions were enough for Kevin to master the track and drive his Wirtgen America, York Excavating Company #1 to his second track record of the weekend turning a lap of 14.674 seconds.  That was only the beginning to a perfect night for this incredible 16-year-old as a clean sweep, consisting of winning his heat and leading every lap of the main event, gave him his first sprint car feature win!

"We came in Thursday for a practice session at Five Flags and the new Maxim car was fast right away.  After only about 10 laps, we were running within a 1/2 second of the track record on older tires, so I thought we would be able to pick it up when it came time to qualify for the race.  I was really happy with the lap we turned; it was just too bad the inversion put me behind some of the best cars.  The track was really abrasive on tires and I just had to keep it smooth and straight so I had some tire left at the end.  Just as I really started to pick up on the leader, we caught a caution and that let the tires cool off.  The car just never came back to me.  Overall, for it being my first sprint car race on pavement, it was a great night," said Kevin.

"Mobile was a really fast track, and after I set the track record at over 120 MPH, I was hoping the draw would go my way and it did.  I knew after winning the heat from the third row we had a really fast car.  We learned more about the car and the tires from the night before and the car was great in the Feature.  My grandfather raced here in the 60's and was here tonight to watch me win my first sprint car race.  That was just an added bonus to the night.  A lot of great drivers have raced at Five Flags and Mobile so I am glad to ad my name to the list," Swindell stated.

"Kevin has been able to adapt quickly to each type of car we have given him to race.  The ease he had getting up to speed at the tracks we raced this weekend was fun to watch.  These tracks are fast and high banked and he was setting track records.  I am really pleased with his progress," Sammy, his father and crew chief, commented.

The next race for Kevin will be this Saturday, March 26 at Lanier National Speedway, a 3/8 mile semi-banked asphalt oval in Gainesville, Georgia where he will try to extend his track records to three in a row and his feature wins to two.