Caden Kvapil continued his hot streak for JR Motorsports’ legacy Late Model team on Saturday, holding off Doug Barnes and legendary Late Model star Lee Pulliam to earn a victory in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car season opener at Southern National Motorsports Park.
And he did it the hard way, coming from 29th position at the start after a post-practice adjustment tightened up his No. 88 Jerky Boys Chevrolet a bit too much in qualifying.
After finishing the practice session a little on the free side for the tight confines of SNMP, Kvapil asked to be tightened up a bit for qualifying. The adjustment caused the front end to slide in the corners, putting him 31st of 33 cars to take time. Forced to take a provisional starting spot, the young driver slotted in at the rear to start the 125-lap race.
At the start, Kvapil took his time and made passes when he could while saving tires. Utilizing the outside line on restarts, the second-generation driver picked off positions by sliding down to the preferred bottom groove whenever possible.
The strategy worked, as Kvapil gained the top 10 at lap 53 and kept moving forward, eventually rising to third position following a restart and again utilizing the top to gain positions. As the laps wound down, Kvapil kept coming and eventually passed Pulliam for the top spot at lap 108.
He held the top spot for the remaining laps, fending off a strong charge by Doug Barnes Jr. that featured some contact in the late-going. Kvapil was on the bottom as the two raced at the front of the field on the final restart, with Barnes to the outside.
Kvapil hit some residual water on the bottom line in Turn 3 and got up into Barnes, which triggered some post-race emotions from the latter.
“I didn’t get a really good restart,” Kvapil said. “[Barnes] kind of had a nose on me getting into Turn 3 and I got in there deep, hit the water and slid up into his door. He held me really tight like he should, but it was a racing deal. I hit his wheel with my right front and that kind of stuck us together.”
It was Kvapil’s second straight in the zMAX CARS Tour, following his triumph at North Wilkesboro Speedway in last year’s season finale and third straight counting his triumph in the annual season-ending Florence 400 at Florence (S.C.) Motor Speedway last season. In that race, Kvapil held off his brother Carson, a two-time LMSC series champion and current JRM NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts driver, for the win.
Next action for the JRM Late Model team in the zMAX CARS Tour LMSC division will be March 28 at North Carolina’s Wake County Speedway.
Caden Kvapil, driver, No. 88 Jerky Boys Chevrolet:
“Starting the race in 29th, I really wasn’t expecting a lot but my dad (crew chief Travis Kvapil) and the rest of the JR Motorsports team gave me a bad-fast car to drive to the front and pick up the CARS Tour win in the season opener. It was awesome to put our No. 88 Jerky Boys Chevrolet in Victory Lane to kick off the season! Thank you to Dale, Kelley, LW, and Bryan (Shaffer) for making this possible, and also to CorvetteParts.net and LKN Mechanical.”
