Monday, March 14, 2011

Travis Kvapil Darlington Raceway Race Report

Travis Kvapil
No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra
Darlington Raceway – Too Tough To Tame 200
March 12, 2011

Darlington Raceway is one of Travis Kvapil’s favorite tracks and one that had been marked on his calendar since he decided to race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  The No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs team recognized the 1.366-mile speedway in South Carolina as an opportunity to turn their season around with a solid finish, and maybe even finish off the night with a trip to victory lane.  However, the “Lady in Black” struck again and left Kvapil battling back from a lap one accident to cross the finish line in the 17th position.    

Known as the track “Too Tough to Tame,” Darlington Raceway reminded the International Truck/Monaco RVs crew how it earned its nickname as Travis Kvapil was collected in a multi-car accident entering turn one on just the first lap of the 200.8-mile event.  Several drivers stacked up as they drove two-wide into the first turn on one of NASCAR’s narrowest tracks.  Another competitor made contact with the left rear fender of Kvapil’s Toyota Tundra turning the 35-year-old sideways on the track.  With only minor fender damage, Kvapil came down pit road to allow the International Truck/Monaco RVs crew the opportunity to work on the damage and made a second stop for four fresh tires. 

Once Kvapil logged a few laps and fully evaluated the handling of his Toyota Tundra, he called into the crew to report a loose truck and asked for the No. 5 machine to be tightened up during his next stop on pit road. 

Changing track conditions and vast differences between the handling of turns one and two, and turns three and four, make the “Lady in Black” a traditionally tough track to conquer, and one that challenged the International Truck/Monaco RVs crew throughout the night.  Kvapil and the No. 5 team spent a majority of the evening working to adjust and improve the handling of their Toyota Tundra making a series of trackbar and air pressure adjustments. 

By lap 60, the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra crew had Kvapil racing solidly inside the top-15 and running 10th by lap 100. 

During the closing laps at Darlington Raceway, the Janesville, Wis. native struggled to keep up with the track—a loose Toyota Tundra in turns one and two, and a tight truck in turns three and four left the team talking about more changes for their remaining pit stops.  The team struggled to find solutions that would effectively address one set of handling woes without magnifying the challenges on the opposite end of the track.  Unable to dial their machine in exactly as Kvapil needed it, the International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team crossed the finish line in the 17th position. 

“Darlington is one of my favorite tracks and one that I was really looking forward to coming into it,” commented Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra following the race at Darlington Raceway.  “I was super excited to come here and really expecting a great weekend, but we were just off a little bit on our handling all weekend.  We never could get the truck to do exactly what we wanted it to do.  We got close a few times, but it’s just unfortunate.  We have expectations to run in the top-10 and I’m just disappointed for everyone on the Randy Moss Motorsports team; they give us great equipment and there are a lot of great guys here.  We just need to keep working on it.  For Ricky Viers and me, it is our first time working together, so it may take us a little bit to land on the set-ups that we need.  We’ll keep working on it and we’ll have a great run at Martinsville—it’s another one of my favorite tracks.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will return to Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 2.  The Kroger 250 will be broadcast on SPEED Channel, Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio and MRN Radio beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST.  SPEED Channel will also broadcast practice from the Virginia short-track on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. EST, and qualifying for the 250-lap event at 10:30 a.m. EST on Saturday morning.  Fans can visit www.twitter.com/RMMRacing or www.facebook.com/RandyMossMotorsports for news and updates throughout the weekend.