Caden Kvapil kept his string of top-three finishes in zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car action intact, posting his third consecutive third-place result on Saturday night at Virginia’s Langley Motor Speedway.
Kvapil’s No. 88 Jerky Boys/Corvette Pars/LKN Mechanical Chevrolet was the second car to take to the track in the session in the heat of the day and ended up 15th to start the race. Despite starting from the inside of the eighth row, Kvapil planned to save his tires for the climb up the order.
Kvapil, making his first visit to Langley, moved forward at the drop of the green flag in the 125-lap main, saving tires and letting the field sort itself out. Around 45 laps in, Kvapil began to make gains and reached the top 10.
Around lap 110, Kvapil made his way into the top five and fought through several hectic restarts to get to third, where he would finish 15 laps later.
“We were able to stay with the front two [Connor Hall and Landen Lewis], but I think they were in a class of their own the whole night,” Kvapil said. “The car really came to life the last two or so restarts. Our plan was to save tires early and be there for the long run.
“Managing our position was the key and cars started to come back to us. Getting into the top five late in the race, I was able to fight forward to third. That’s three third-place finishes in a row for this Jerky Boys No. 88 Chevrolet, and obviously third is not bad. I’m a little disappointed, but I guess it’s good to be mad at third. We just needed a little bit more than we had at the end.”
Hall won the race over Lewis and Kvapil, with Carson Brown and Treyten Lapcevich the remainder of the top five.
The finish saw Kvapil keep his points lead in the Late Model Stock Car division, and he’ll attempt to make that margin a little bigger on June 13 at Virginia’s Dominion Raceway, the next race on the schedule.