For starters, treat that second letter of his last name — the V — as if it’s a W.
QUAW-pul.
There you go, you got it.
In all seriousness, if you follow NASCAR, you really should learn to pronounce it correctly, because you may get a whole lot of opportunities in the coming years.
Carson Kvapil is three races into his rookie season as a full-time Xfinity Series driver with JR Motorsports, which is owned by a name with which you’re extremely familiar: Earnhardt, as in Dale Jr. and his sister Kelly Earnhardt Miller (and her husband L.W.).
Kvapil, 21, ran nine races for the team last year, with three top-five finishes, and opened this season with a fourth (Daytona) and 23rd (Atlanta) before battling for the win last weekend in the closing laps at COTA in Austin, where a blown right-front tire ended the chase and gave him another finish of 23rd.
Kvapil is a second-generation racer who was quite literally born into the sport — he’s a native of Mooresville, N.C., the area just north of Charlotte that’s home to nearly all NASCAR teams. Dad Travis is a former NASCAR Truck Series champ (2003) who ran full-time in the Cup Series from 2005-14.
Carson’s biggest break, so far, came in 2022 when JR Motorsports hired him to drive in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour, replacing Josh Berry, who’d been promoted to the team’s Xfinity Series team. Late last year, he was tabbed to join JR Motorsports’ five-car Xfinity team full time in 2025.
Carson’s 18-year-old brother, Caden, is following his older brother’s tire tracks — he’s now running in the CARS series for JR Motorsports.
In Austin last week, it was another JRM Xfinity rookie, teammate Connor Zilisch, who passed Kvapil, held him off and then cruised to victory. It’s assumed it won’t be the last time those two decide things among themselves in the closing laps.
A Q&A with NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie Carson Kvapil
News-Journal: Your bio says you basically came up in the traditional way for a modern stock-car racer, right?
Kvapil: “Started racing when I was 10, which is actually pretty late, running Bandolero cars. Ran some Legends Cars. Did the weekly thing for a few years, from age 11 to 18 or so, all the way from kids classes to adult series.”
N-J: How old were you when you started racing against grownups?
Kvapil: “I was probably 13. I started getting serious in 2020, running full time in the CARS Series. And in 2021, I got the attention of Dale Jr., Kelly and L.W. Miller. About then, Josh Berry was moving up to the Xfinity Series and they needed a full-time guy to come to the shop. Right place, right time.”
N-J: Literally go to the shop?
Kvapil: “Yeah, I got the opportunity to work over there during the week and race on the weekends. I worked on the race cars, getting them prepped.”
N-J: So you’re good with a wrench?
Kvapil: “I was always working on my dad’s stuff with him. The only way we could race was if we got the car ready.”
N-J: And that’s actually the case at Junior’s Late Model shop?
Kvapil: “Yeah. In the Late Model program, there are two or three guys working full time. It’s not like the Xfinity program, where you have 100 employees in the shop. The main driver has to come work on the race car. That comes along with it.”
N-J: Do you still get to tinker on things?
Kvapil: “I don’t really work on these (Xfinity) things. I would, but all these guys have their jobs and I don’t want to get in the middle of it.”
N-J: Where’s your toolbox these days?
Kvapil: “It’s in my dad’s shop right now. I still like going over to the Late Model shop where my little brother now runs.”
Waiting for home prices to come down
N-J: You still living at home with the family?
Kvapil: “I am for now. House prices are too high.”
N-J: You’re still so young. Do you still have any racing posters on your bedroom wall at home?
Kvapil: “No, I never really had a whole bunch of that. But I did collect hub caps from different cars when I was a kid. I had them up on my wall, but I finally took them down.”
N-J: What’s your dad doing these days?
Kvapil: “He still works at his shop, working on my brother’s race cars. Whenever he gets a chance, he comes to the racetrack and hangs out. Helps me out at times. Gives me some advice on what I need to do.”
N-J: Do you have a dream car you plan to buy as you begin to make real money?
Kvapil: “I’d say a Corvette. I do have a Chevy Silverado on the way. It’s not here yet. I don’t like to splurge. At least right now. But if it gets to that point, a Corvette will probably be my option.”
N-J: You turned 21 last year. Did you do anything we need to know about?
Kvapil: “No, I didn’t. I’m not a drinker. I don’t party. I’m actually kind of a boring guy, not a crazy guy. I like racing. That’s what I like to do.”
Tracks on his to-do list, and a short-term goal
N-J: Any track you’re looking forward to tackling this year?
Kvapil: “I’m really looking forward to Pocono (in June) because that place looks so different than anything I’ve ever raced. On the road-course side, I’m looking forward to Sonoma (July). I always played the NASCAR video games growing up, and that was one of my favorite places to race on that game. Hopefully, some of that stuff transfers over when we go there this year.”
N-J: Are you the kind of guy who sets goals for the season?
Kvapil: “I do. I really want to win a race. I don’t want to say it’s gonna be easy to do. This series is so difficult. But at the same time, going off the races we ran last year, I felt like we should’ve won at least one race. But we just couldn’t come up with it. This year should be our year.”
N-J: How about the long-term goal of racing in the Cup Series? Do you have a personal timeline?
Kvapil: “Things can go the way you want them to, but most of the time they don’t. I hate setting goals or expectations on that for myself. It’s something that I feel isn’t very predictable.”
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR: Carson Kvapil is name you should know; maybe even pronounce
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