At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Carson Kvapil finally broke through and earned his first-ever NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win. It was an emotional win for both driver and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was very candid in his post-race interview.
“Oh man, this has been a long time coming,” said Earnhardt, trying to hold back tears. “He’s like a son almost. You know, you work with these guys for so long. You work so hard. We worked so hard with Josh Berry and all our drivers and you just want them to have success. And he’s got to win to keep going, you got to win if you want to stay in this deal and man, he got so close. So I’m just so, so happy for him, for Travis — his dad — for Caden, his brother.”
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Kvapil had to pass teammate Ross Chastain in the final run, and then hold off another teammate in Justin Allgaier to claim the checkered flag.
He had five runner-up finishes in his first 63 starts before finally reaching Victory Lane at the secondary level of NASCAR.
“To do this here — oh, it means the world to me,” said Kvapil after climbing from the car. “Man, I don’t know, it’s very emotional. I rode around on that lap backwards and sat there and thought about all the hard work I put in, me and my dad, Travis, to get to this point. And the faith that Dale Jr., LW Miller, and Kelley Miller put behind me to give me this opportunity, give me a second chance, I guess you could say, to come back at it this year. This group of one guys on this wild — this car is amazing. I knew we were going to get one, and I’m hoping we can chase some more towards the end. I just can’t believe it. It’s been a lot of races and a lot of hours to work and build towards this.”
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He later added: “This is going to be an exciting one for a long time, and I’ll be able to go into the off-weekend thinking about this, so I’m just going to try not to cry too much. I’ve already shed a few tears, just trying to hold it together right now.”
Kvapil led the first-ever 1-2-3-4 by a race team in NASCAR O’Reilly history with JRM teammates in second, third, and fourth with Allgaier, Chastain, and Chase Elliott.
William Sawalich was the best of the rest beyond JRM, placing fifth. Brent Crews, Corey Day, Sheldon Creed, Brandon Jones, and Austin Hill filled out the remainder of the top ten.
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Watch: Kvapil feels weight lifted off shoulders, already focused on next race
Stage 1
Creed held a comfortable lead from pole in the early running, while there was lots of battling throughout the pack as the draft was paramount.
As the stage progressed, Creed lost the handling on his No. 00 and encountered some lapped traffic, pushing him back into the clutches of the group chasing him.
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Clements passed both Mayer and then Creed to take the lead and set sail. After losing control of the race, Creed rapidly slipped back outside the top five.
Clements went on to win Stage 1, over two seconds clear of Chastain. They were followed by Kvapil, Sawalich, Mayer, Allgaier, Creed, Tay. Gray, Crews, and S. Smith.
Elliott, who started from the rear of the field, drove all the way up to 14th in the caution-free opening stage.
Stage 2
During stage break pit stops, Clements lost seven spots due to an 18-second stop, handing the lead to Chastain.
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It was an eventful round of stops, as there was also a close moment between the JGR teammates of Crews and Gray, nearly colliding on pit road. Both Gray and Sanchez got sent to the rear of the field for an uncontrolled tire, and Ryan Elliss struck his jackman while entering his box (who was okay).
Sawalich moved ahead of Chastain on the restart, but Chastain quickly fought back with a push from Creed, and Sawalich slid from first to sixth in mere moments.
Chastain maintained control over Creed for most of the stage, until an interesting caution flew with seven laps to go in the stage. Garrett Smithley ran over the inside curbing and spun out, triggering the first natural caution of the race.
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Chastain and most of the field chose to pit, but two cars stayed out in attempt to grab some stage points — Thompson and Caruth. On pit road, Chastain maintained his advantage while Crews had an extended stop for repairs. A replay showed that Crews actually rolled off the jack.
The timing of this caution also put most of the field right on the edge of the fuel window to make it to the end without another stop.
On the restart, Allgaier got around Chastain as he had to lift in a close call with Thompson, but Caruth held the lead throughout the three-lap dash, winning Stage 2.
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Caruth was followed by Allgaier, Chastain, Creed, Kvapil, Thompson, Mayer, Sawalich, Hill, and Elliott.
Stage 3
Carson Kvapil, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Kvapil, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
As Caruth pitted from the lead, it was Allgaier and Chastain on the front row for the restart with 34 laps to go.
Chastain snatched the lead back as Mayer made a bold move for second, making door-to-door contact with Kvapil before falling outside the top five.
As things got sorted out, it was a JRM 1-2-3 at the front. Chastain continued to lead until 22 laps to go, with Kvapil cutting under him at the exit of Turn 2 and taking the top spot away.
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Creed was running behind the JRM trio, only for Elliott to pass him and make it a JRM 1-2-3-4.
Allgaier passed Chastain for second with just under ten laps to go, and began to hunt down Kvapil.
Elsewhere in the field, Stage 1 winner Clements made an unscheduled pit stop.
As the laps ticked away, Allgaier closed in on Kvapil and nearly touched the wall as he tried to get a big enough room on him. But it just wasn’t enough, crossing the yard of bricks a few car lengths back of Kvapil.
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After Indianapolis, the following drivers are now locked into the Chase for the championship: Allgaier, Kvapil, Love, Creed, Day, B. Jones, and Hill. In the battle around the cut-line, Crews is +13pts, Gray is +7pts on the bubble, Sawalich -7pts, and Caruth -20pts.
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