Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil

status	active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement	23rd - (2008)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 271 - 1 8th
NASCAR Xfinity Series Statistics
Best placement	111th - (2007)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 13 - - -
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series statistics
Best placement	1st - (2003)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 194 9 4th 86
Data status: June 17, 2017

Travis Kvapil (pronounced kwah-pil ) (born March 1, 1976 in Janesville , Wisconsin ) is an American NASCAR racing driver. He currently drives the # 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports in the Sprint Cup . His greatest achievement was winning the championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2003.

Career

Early years

Travis Kvapil started racing in 1992 at the age of 16 at Rockford Speedway when he competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Weekly Series . In 1994 he became the track champion of the American Short Tracker Division in Rockford. In 1995 he was promoted to the Super Late Models class at Madison International Speedway and was named Rookie of the Year in his first season . A year later he also won this distance championship. After moving to the ARTGO series , he finished the 1999 championship season in tenth, and in the 2000 season he was fourth.

2001-2004

In 2001 Kvapil made his debut in the Craftsman Truck Series for Addington Racing in the number 60 Chevrolet . In his 21st race, the Silverado 350 at Texas Motor Speedway , he took his first victory. Overall, Kvapil achieved 18 top 10 results in his rookie season, so that he finished fourth in the championship at the end of the season. He was also named Rookie of the Year . In addition to his involvement in the Craftsman Truck Series, Kvapil also competed in the Busch Series and finished in 28th place at the Outback Steakhouse 300 on Kentucky Speedway .

In the 2002 season, Kvapil won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park . However, he achieved only 14 top 10 results in the course of the season compared to the previous year, which put him in ninth place in the championship standings.

For the 2003 season, Kvapil switched to the number 16 Chevrolet for XPress Motorsports . He was also able to record a victory in 2003, this time at the O'Reilly 200 Presented by Valvoline Maxlife. Together with 22 top 10 results in a total of 25 races, Kvapil was able to prevail in the championship against Brendan Gaughan and Ted Musgrave and was champion of the 2003 season. In addition, he completed each lap over the entire season except for one.

For the 2004 season, Kvapil changed teams again and drove the Toyota with starting number 24 for Bang! Racing . In the 13th race of the season, the Line-X Spray-on Truck Bedliners 200 at Michigan International Speedway , he took his first win of the season and the first for Toyota in one of NASCAR's top divisions. Two months later, Kvarpil won again, this time at the New Hampshire International Speedway at the Sylvania 200 . A short time later, he secured his first pole position of his career at the American Racing Wheels 200 at California Speedway . Nevertheless, he was unable to repeat his success in the championship from the previous year and finished eighth at the end of the season. Towards the end of the season, Kvapil also made his Nextel Cup debut for Penske Racing at the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway , where he finished 21st. He took part in two other races, for the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway he could not qualify.

Since 2004

Kvapil in number 6 for Roush Fenway Racing in the 2007 season

Kvapil in number 28 for Yates Racing in Daytona .

Before the start of the 2005 season, Penske Racing chose Kvapil as a replacement for Brendan Gaughan and new full-time driver for the number 77 in the Nextel Cup, whereupon he moved from the Craftsman Truck Series to the Nextel Cup. He achieved his first top 10 result in the Cup series at the Food City 500 in Bristol, which he finished in seventh. He achieved another top 10 result of the season at the Checker Auto Parts 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway . In his rookie season in the Nextel Cup, Kvapil finished 33rd in the championship at the end of the season. As in the 2001 season, Kvapil competed in the Busch Series and finished 25th at the Zippo 200 in Watkins Glen .

After the end of the 2005 season, Kodak left the number 77 team as a sponsor, so Penske was forced to disband it. Kvapil had to look around for a new team and switched to the number 32 Chevrolet for PPI Motorsports for the 2006 season . The best result of the season was three ninth places, each at the Banquet 400 on the Kansas Speedway , the Pocono 500 on the Pocono Raceway and the Aaron's 499 on the Talladega Superspeedway . At the end of the season, Kvapil finished 36th in the championship standings. As a year before, he had to look around for a new cockpit, as his contract with PPI Motorsports only lasted for a year.

For the 2007 season, Kvapil returned to the Craftsman Truck Series and replaced Mark Martin and David Ragan in the # 6 Ford for Roush Racing . During the season, Kvapil won four races, including the Toyota Tundra 200 on the Nashville Superspeedway and the Smith's Las Vegas 350 in Las Vegas, and achieved a total of twelve top 10 results. At the end of the season he was sixth in the championship. He also competed in two races in the Busch Series with a 21st place as the best result.

After a year in the Craftsman Truck Series, Kvapil returned to the 2008 season for Yates Racing in the Cup series and drove the number 28, which initially had to do without sponsor support. Nevertheless, he managed eighth place in the UAW Dodge 400 in Las Vegas. His best result to date in the Sprint Cup was achieved by Kvapil at Aaron's 499 in Talladega with a sixth place. He achieved another result within the top 10 at the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

In addition to the Sprint Cup, Kvapil also competed in selected races in the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series for Roush Fenway Racing. In 2009, Kvapil did not have a full-time position in one of NASCAR's highest divisions. In the 2010 season , Kvapil competed for Front Row Motorsports in the Sprint Cup.

Web links

• Official website
• Driver statistics on racing-reference.info