Travis Kvapil
No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra
Phoenix International Raceway – Lucas Oil 150
February 25, 2011
After a flat tire sent him into the outside wall and set off the “big one” at Daytona International Speedway, Travis Kvapil and the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team had something to prove this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. The group was looking forward to bouncing back with a strong run in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday evening and making up ground in the championship point race.
A one-day show for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and driving duties in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, made for a very busy day for Travis Kvapil at the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert. The Janesville, Wis. native kicked off the day with a two-hour practice session for the NCWTS, where the International Truck/Monaco RVs team dialed in their Toyota Tundra. With Kvapil happy with the handling of his truck, the team made a few more minor adjustments before qualifying later that afternoon.
Kvapil went out 17th of the 41 competitors to make a qualifying attempt at the one-mile track outside Phoenix, Ariz. After taking the green flag, Kvapil sailed down into turns one and two and quickly realized that his truck was a lot freer than it had been during the practice session earlier that day. Coming off the corner in turn two, the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra hooked to the left and into a spin, but luckily the former champion was able to hold the truck low and keep it off the wall. The spin resulted in flat-spotted tires, forcing the team to put on four fresh Goodyear Eagles and sending them to the back of the field to begin the 150-mile event at Phoenix International Raceway.
Within the opening 20 laps, Kvapil had picked up 10 spots and moved into the 26th-position; however, with the leader setting a blistering pace, Kvapil was lapped just four circuits later. Despite being a little free, Kvapil held on and raced for the lucky dog position. By lap 59, Kvapil was racing Ricky Carmichael for the “lucky dog” position when they made hard contact causing damage to the left side of Kvapil’s No. 5 machine. As a result, the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra cut the left rear tire sending Kvapil down pit road several times under caution for repairs.
Just over 40 laps after his initial flat tire, Kvapil was sent hard into the wall in the middle of turns three and four as the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra suffered a flat right front tire. The damage was significant enough to send Kvapil immediately to the garage where the team assessed the situation and realized that their truck was damaged too severely to return to the track. By the time the rest of the field took the checkered flag, Kvapil was scored in the 36th position.
“That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve had some really horrible luck at the race track,” commented Travis Kvapil following the race. “I don’t know what we have to do to turn our luck around, but we had a really fast International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra. We put ourselves in a deficit qualifying toward the back, and in doing so we got bounced around with some other competitors causing us to have a flat tire. We rebounded from the back and just blew a tire out again like we did last week at Daytona. Nothing we could do about it; we must have just run something over. It’s just bad luck, but we’ll shake it. We go to Darlington next, which is probably my favorite track on the circuit, so we’ll go there and get a victory.”
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will return to Darlington Raceway on Saturday, March 12. The Too Tough To Tame 200 will be broadcast on SPEED Channel, Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio and MRN Radio beginning at 5:00 p.m. EST. Qualifying for the 200-mile event will be broadcast on SPEED at 3:30 p.m. EST on Saturday afternoon. Two practices sessions will take place on Saturday morning, but will not be televised. Fans can visit www.twitter.com/RMMRacing or www.facebook.com/RandyMossMotorsports for news and updates throughout the weekend.