Carson Kvapil during practice and qualifying for the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 from Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — In a chain of chaotic final moments in the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 from Martinsville Speedway, Xfinity Series rookie Carson Kvapil drove his way back from a late spin into a spot to race for the Xfinity Series Championship next weekend.
Kvapil had competitive speed under the hood of his No. 1 JR Motorsports machine, qualifying on the outside of polesitter Harrison Burton. But once the green flag waved under the lights Saturday evening, it was a whole different game for Kvapil and the No. 1 crew.
Within the first few laps, the rookie began to fade in the outside lane, dropping to the back end of the top 10 by the first caution for a spinning Myatt Snider.
The No. 1 came down pit road for some adjustments, and progress was made when Kvapil started to methodically move his way back up to the top five from 18th on the restart. The speed in the JRM stable was obvious throughout the event, but Martinsville is not about going fast. Keeping the car clean and finding their way to a good finish is the only thing on a driver’s mind heading into a track like this.
After a caution for an accident involving Jeb Burton on Lap 92, Kvapil staked his claim for the lead for the first time that evening, with others in front of him pitting for scheduled service. With the following restart leading to a dash for the Stage 2 victory, the young driver did not look back and won his first stage since Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez back in June.
Unfortunately for Kvapil, he had to give up track position for that small victory, putting himself in the middle of the pack for the final run to the finish, one that was chaotic in all of the wrong ways for the No. 1 team.
Carson Kvapil (back) battles with Brenden Queen (front) for position during the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 from Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
On Lap 193, Kvapil barely avoided an accident between Josh Williams and Brenden Queen, nearly ending his hopes for a title in Phoenix next weekend. Shortly after, on Lap 227, with only 23 laps remaining in the show, Kvapil got smacked in the right rear quarter panel by Ryan Sieg when his brakes locked up, resulting in the No. 1 spinning through the middle of Turns 3 and 4. Luckily for Kvapil, he sustained no damage from any of the cars behind him that were trying to avoid his Bass Pro Shops/Clarience machine.
The race was not over for the No. 1, and Kvapil, even with his little amount of playoff experience in the Xfinity Series, ran the end of the race like a veteran. He moved his way methodically, with the help of the bump-and-run, through the competition in front of him, resulting in an 18th place finish with a Championship 4 seat at Phoenix in a week.
“We kind of were in the situation where we just needed to just finish where we were and just not make any enemies and just try to ride it out,” said Kvapil in his post-race comments on his race before spinning out. “Just once we got put back to 30th, it was, man, you’ve just got to hammer it. I mean, you hate to do it, right? You hate to go in there and just hammer people out of the way. But I mean, with less than 20 to go, you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do, right?”
Kvapil has not had the season that some might have thought after his select runs during the 2024 campaign. When he led the field earlier in the race, those were the first laps the No. 1 had led since Atlanta in June. But the consistency to finish well and have good points days was evident in Kvapil’s pedigree this season.
With the announcement in late September that Kvapil would only run a part-time schedule with JRM next season, the young driver knows Phoenix can be a huge break-through moment in his young career and possibly result in more funding to run a full season under the JRM banner in 2026.
