Carson Kvapil prevailed around the 0.533-mile oval, finishing runner-up in Saturday’s SciAps 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Carson Kvapil led the JR Motorsports charge late in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series SciAps 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing second behind race winner Kyle Larson.
Kvapil’s runner-up finish is his best result in the first nine races of the season and marks him as the highest finishing rookie contender of the day.
The 21-year-old kicked off his Saturday by claiming the third starting spot in the morning qualifying session, securing the inside lane of the second row alongside fellow JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier.
Kvapil dropped several positions during the first 85-lap stage, staying around eighth place for most of Stage 1, coming home in the ninth-place spot as the third caution of the race fell.
Kvapil maneuvered his No. 1 High Rock Vodka Chevrolet Camaro back inside the top 5 early in Stage 2, fighting heavily for position between both his teammates of Connor Zilisch and Sammy Smith.
Carson Kvapil (No.1) duking it out for positions on track with his JR Motorsports teammate of Sammy Smith (No.8) in the SciAps 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
The driver from Mooresville, North Carolina, passed Zilisch to secure fourth place as Stage 2 concluded.
Kvapil began the final 130-lap dash to the end of the event in fourth place as he attempted to run down a dominant Larson, who had already led well over 150 laps in the late goings of the race.
The driver of the No.1 Chevrolet was able to escape a close call while battling Jesse Love for fourth place as Allgaier gave the lap machine of Mason Massey a shunt exiting turn 4, causing Massey to spin in front of the field with Kvapil barely escaping the carnage on the high side of the racetrack.
Kvapil and Allgaier spent the better half of the final 25 laps of the race cutting through lap traffic in a frantic attempt to catch race leader Larson, with Kvapil making his final pass of the race over Justin Allgaier with 18 laps to go.
As Larson picked up the victory by over two seconds, Kvapil was able to bring home a clean race car in second place after not leaving the top 10 for the entirety of the 300-lap race.
“It was a confidence booster for this whole team.” Said Kvapil in a post-race interview.
“I knew we’d have a fast car, I knew I was going to be pretty comfortable here, we practiced pretty good and qualified third. We put ourselves in a good spot to take the green flag, but at the beginning of the race, we were a little bit off, and we just made it better and better each pit stop. I felt like we needed one more to be really good, but I was thinking if we could get singled out and some of the traffic would subside, that I would wonder if we could go after the No. 17 (Kyle Larson).”
Kvapil not only advances himself to sixth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series points standings, but additionally has a chance to win the final leg of the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus of $100,000 next Saturday as the series returns to Rockingham Speedway for the first time in over two decades.
