Kvapil's secret weapon: A winning car
Travis Kvapil has a secret weapon for this weekend’s Food City 500: Last August’s winning car.
Yates Racing, as part of its alliance with Roush Fenway Racing, bought the Ford Fusion that won last year’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards drove it in the race then, but now Kvapil has his chance in the car, which has been renumbered from No. 99 to No. 28.
“So based on that, I’m feeling pretty good about our chances,” crew chief Todd Parrott said.
Kvapil, too, is carrying some confidence into the 0.533-mile short track, which he calls “one of my top-three favorite tracks on the circuit.”
“It’s a track that reminds me of Friday and Saturday night dirt-track racing in Wisconsin growing up,” Kvapil said. “The atmosphere is great at Bristol, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a lot of success there. I think that one of the main reasons I enjoy racing there is because I have a pretty good feel for what it takes to get around the track.
“Bristol makes you charge hard when you’re in the thick of the pack, and you have to be confident enough to keep on the gas. You also have to be aware of what’s going on around you because it’s so easy to get caught up in a wreck there.”
Parrott said qualifying will be important because it’s easier to hold onto track position than try to get it throughout the race.
“Our goal is to stay up towards the front of the pack and have a clean race so that we can be there at the end of 500 laps with a strong finish,” Parrott said.
And finishing is obviously crucial, since 43 cars jammed on the high-speed track usually results in mayhem.
“Bristol does test the patience of a driver because it’s in our nature to want to pass cars that may be slower than our own, but you realize that in order to be there at the end of the 500 laps still intact, sometimes you need to bide your time and wait for the correct opportunities to make your move,” Kvapil said.
