Kvapil Clinches CARS Tour LMSC Championships with South Boston Triumph

October 24, 2022

Kvapil CARS Tour Championship

Track Specs: South Boston (Va.) Speedway, .400-mile oval/125-lap feature

Kvapil’s finish: 1st

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 24, 2022) — Carson Kvapil and JRM’s No. 8 iRacing team put an exclamation point on the 2022 CARS Late Model Stock Car Series season on Saturday at South Boston Speedway.

The 19-year-old second-generation driver not only clinched the 2022 CARS Tour LMSC driver’s championship with a victory in the 125-lap main event, he doubled up by clinching the owner’s title as well. The double title gives JR Motorsports five total CARS Tour titles, three in the owners and two in the driver’s category. Josh Berry won the owner’s title in 2016 and swept both championships the following year.

Last year, driving his family-owned Super Late Model, Kvapil had to run the table to win the championship. He did so, taking the pole, leading every lap and adding bonus points for most poles and most victories to earn the title by a single point.

While Saturday night’s victory in the title-clincher didn’t require that level of success, it was far from easy.

The victory, Kvapil’s fourth of the season, came after a race-long battle between Layne Riggs and Landon Pembleton. The two battled for much of the event, while Kvapil raced in the latter half of the top 10. A number of restarts kept Kvapil on the bottom lane for the restarts, and that slowed his roll toward the lead.

Late in the going, however, the battle between Riggs, the NASCAR Weekly Series champion, and top rival Pembleton began to take on a physical aspect.

As the two raced at close quarters, Kvapil began to close the gap., cresting the top five with 20 laps remaining. A caution flag waved at that point, and it set Kvapil up for the move that would eventually land him in Victory Lane.

Heading into Turn 3 on the restart, Riggs and Pembleton were busy battling each other, which allowed Kvapil to slip down the inside groove. Over the next five laps, Kvapil continued working the bottom and got past both drivers on the bottom in Turns 3 and 4–a place where passes do not usually stick at South Boston.

In practice for the race, Kvapil focused on making sure his No. 8 iRacing Chevrolet could run both the top and bottom lanes equally well, and the move he made for the eventual win was proof positive that the hard work paid off.

Once in front, Kvapil raced away to the checkered flag and locked up the championships for JRM and partner iRacing.

Kvapil entered the race with a 42-point bulge on Connor Hall and Kaden Honeycutt in the driver ranks and an unbeatable 64-point edge in the owner’s race. Honeycutt did not participate in the race, and Hall finished fourth behind Kvapil, Riggs and Pembleton. Zack Miracle rounded out the top five.

The final CARS Tour event of the season is scheduled for Nov. 5 at Caraway Speedway, where Kvapil kicked off his title year with a victory. Kvapil, team manager Bryan Shaffer and the rest of the No. 8 iRacing Chevrolet team will officially be crowned champions at the conclusion of the racing program.

Carson Kvapil, driver No. 8 iRacing Chevrolet team

“We spent a lot of time in practice making sure we could run fast in both lanes, and it paid off for us tonight. I thought the No. 8 iRacing Chevrolet was really fast all race long, but we were kind of stuck in the pack throughout the first 100 laps or so. At the end we were able to get to the lead to take home the win. Another great run that got us win No. 4 for the JR Motorsports team and locked up the championships with a race left to go. I’m really happy for all these guys. They’ve had to adapt to me driving the car instead of Josh. We’ve both had to change a little bit, but we’ve all worked very hard trying to figure each other out, so it’s really cool we can come together and bring home a championship in our first year. Big thanks to iRacing and JR Motorsports for letting me drive this iRacing Chevrolet.”