Dale Earnhardt Jr. protege gets full-time NASCAR shot

Carson Kvapil has proven himself at every level and will be rewarded with a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series opportunity in the JR Motorsports No. 1 next season.

The 21-year-old son of 2003 Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil won in their modestly operated family-owned Super Late Model, one that just got worked on by the elder Kvapil and his sons throughout the week, earning the attention of JR Motorsports in the process.

When Josh Berry left to run NASCAR full-time in 2020, it left an opening in their successful Super Late Model program and Kvapil took it to back-to-back CARS Tour championships in 2022 and 2023. He would have been in the hunt for a third straight championship this season but he got the call to run a series of Xfinity Series races.

He’s made eight starts with four top-10s and could have even won races at Dover and Indianapolis.

Now he’s going full-time with fellow Late Model racer turned crew chief Mardy Lindley to take over the car left with Sam Mayer moving to Haas Factory Team next year.   

Kvapil most recently won the most prestigious Late Model Stock race of the season, the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, a race entered by 80-plus teams every year.


Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter

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