Carson Kvapil during Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — Carson Kvapil, a two-time CARS Tour champion and well-known late-model stock racer, finished fourth in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut on Saturday.
The opportunity became possible through Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports, which he drives for on short tracks. He earned a one-off in Earnhardt’s part-time No. 88 Xfinity entry, even missing a CARS Tour race for his debut.
Ultimately, Kvapil had some satisfaction earning a top five to open his career in NASCAR’s second-highest series. But he felt like he didn’t fully capitalize on the chance to prove himself.
“I know this 88 team, this whole Chevrolet Camaro — it’s capable of winning. The end goal and really the expectation for me is to go out and win,” Kvapil said after the race. “Coming up with a fourth is obviously not bad, like I’m pretty excited. But I felt like we had a car that was capable of at least running top three and maybe going for the win.
“I felt like we kept losing spots on pit road. I passed a few cars, and then all of sudden, coming out of the pits I’m right back behind them and I was like ‘Man I got to pass these guys again.’ So that was a little bit of a struggle I’d say. That was about the only thing we really struggled with all race long. We weren’t pressured the whole time, we were able to kind of get into a rhythm every stage and just kind of pick guys off as the run went on.”
Carson Kvapil before a CARS Tour race. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
Kvapil hopped into the car Friday and qualified 12th, setting himself up for a successful night Saturday. He got up into the top 10 in Stage 2 and finished fourth, and continued to mix it up amongst the leaders as the laps ticked down. A pair of wrecks set up late restarts and Kvapil took advantage — making it inside the top five. If not for getting stuck behind teammate Sam Mayer during NASCAR Overtime, he may have had a chance at winning.
Understandably, everything felt different for the 20-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina. Obviously he had to adapt to a brand-new car, but the vibe and the importance of every on-track move stood out.
“There’s a spotlight on this XFINITY Series and driving for JR Motorsports — there’s so many eyes on you,” Kvapil said. “I was a little nervous going into it, but the same time, once you strap in, it’s just another race car and just another racetrack you gotta go figure out. That’s kind of how I treated it and just wanted to go make the most of it.
“Once you get into the rhythm of running the race car, you just figure it out. It’s just kind of how it was. About the second stage, I really just got into a good rhythm and I was able to roll the bottom with no mistakes and stuff like that. So it was good there.”
The bossman ultimately approved.
“He’s got this incredible temperament, he’s level all the time,” Earnhardt said. “Not once did he show any nerves or anxiety over this being too big or too heavy. Can’t seem to really rattle him. I asked him in the middle of the race what he thought, and he’s like ‘It’s pretty simple if I do what I’m supposed to do.’ Just fun to watch him race, awesome to be able to give him the car that he can do something with. His dad and his mother — they did a good job raising him.”
And at the end of the day, his father Travis, a former CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion, couldn’t be prouder. Since retiring as a driver, Travis’ has helped spearhead efforts for Carson and his younger brother Caden in late models.
Two hundred and seventy-one Cup starts and nine Truck wins later, Travis already admits Carson is better than him — and he isn’t ashamed of it either.
Carson Kvapil during NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
“I know he’s better than me. He’s a great racecar driver, he’s a great kid,” Travis said. “He’s super smart, works hard and I couldn’t be more prouder of him and his little brother. I know great things are in the future for him. It’s just fun to kind of be tagging along, carrying the radios and the helmet or whatever he needs.”
But maybe what impresses Travis the most is Carson’s friendship with Earnhardt. Outside the typical driver/owner aspect, the two have developed a special bond from the CARS Tour — which Earnhardt also co-owns. They play video games at night and Earnhardt became his biggest cheerleader Saturday evening.
“What was really fun tonight was Dale’s grabbing me and telling me ‘he’s doing a great job’ or stuff like that,” Travis said. “Dale’s been around this forever, and for him to be excited like that — it’s just really incredible. I’m pumped for Carson and it’s just so much fun.”
For Earnhardt, Saturday capped off a special two weeks for the company giving grassroots racers a shot in NASCAR. A week before at Richmond Raceway, JRM put super late model legend Bubba Pollard in the car with support from Rheem. In his debut, he finished sixth.
But for Carson, Earnhardt compared him to Josh Berry, who battled in the JRM late model ranks for more than 10 years before finally earning a national series opportunity. He’s hoping the same can happen for Carson, but sooner.
“We’d take Josh somewhere, he’d run really good and we thought the phone was gonna ring,” Earnhardt said. “That’s the example of dedication and sticking with it and not giving up on your dream. We’re gonna keep doing that with Carson as long as we can. I’m almost sad watching him run good out there because I know he might move up and move on out, at least out of the late-model car.
“He’s just mature. Not a knock on everybody in the in the field here, he’s just that good.”
