Need for speed: Travis Kvapil remains positive about returning to Sprint Cup action
Yates Racing's Travis Kvapil has made four starts this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Travis Kvapil, sidelined since the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ stop earlier this year at Bristol Motor Speedway, says his Cup career is still in a holding pattern.
“This is definitely where I want to be,” Kvapil said after flying into Talladega Superspeedway to serve as a relief driver for Sam Hornish Jr. “I feel like I can get it done at this level.”
Four of Kvapil’s 110 career Cup starts came earlier this season in the Yates Racing No. 28 Ford. But a lack of sponsorship eventually led the organization to shut the team down. Yates Racing continues to field Fords for drivers Bobby Labonte, in a Hall of Fame entry, and Paul Menard.
Kvapil finished 42nd at Daytona and Atlanta, and logged 18th-place finishes at Auto Club Speedway and Bristol.
“The 28 deal, if we can get sponsors and get that [team] back on the track, obviously that’s first and foremost what we’d like to have happen,” Kvapil, 33, said. “If not, maybe another opportunity will come up.
“I felt like what we did last year – we ran well, ended up 23rd in points with very limited funding [should be worth something].
“I just feel like this is where I want to be. Right now, I’m just waiting for the right opportunity.”
Kvapil, the 2003 Camping World Truck Series champion, has six career top-10 finishes.
Currently, he said, there’s not much movement in relation to driver changes at the Cup level. Contact with interested parties has been virtually non-existent.
“But it’s still early. If people are going to make [driver] changes, it will be probably another month or so before they do,” he said.
As it turned out, Kvapil wasn't needed at Talladega – Hornish wound up staying in the car for the duration and eventually finished 34th.
“I hate to wish bad luck on anybody, but I’m ready to go," Kvapil said. "I’m starting to get the [racing] itch real bad.”
