Second Time’s a Charm for Kvapil

The No. 93 BK Racing team has demonstrated a consistent pattern this season. The first time that the 2012 startup team shows up at a track, they start with a fresh notebook and search via trial and error to find the best setup for the Burger King/Dr Pepper Toyota. When they revisit a track for the next race, they show up armed and ready, and their results reflect a better-prepared team. Travis Kvapil seeks to continue the trend in this weekend’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Kvapil and the No. 93 team have shown improvement each time they’ve returned to a track in 2012. Kvapil finished 27th at Bristol in March. On his return trip in August, he finished 18th. When he traveled to Michigan in August, he finished 15th, an 11-position improvement over his June performance. He finished 30th at Richmond in April. At Richmond in September, he finished 27th. His performance at Pocono in August yielded a one-spot pickup on his June race results. Altogether it is an average pickup of six positions on his return trips. He hopes this weekend will yield similar results on the 30th-place run he had at New Hampshire in July.

Kvapil has nine Sprint Cup Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. His best finish is 16th place, which he captured in 2008. He has one win in Truck Series competition, which came in 2004. All but one of his six Truck Series starts have resulted in a top-10.

Comments from BK Racing Driver Travis Kvapil heading into New Hampshire:

“Loudon can be really hard on your equipment. It’s flat and has tight corners, so it’s easy to abuse your brakes. Your drive train can take a beating, too. You’ve got to remind yourself not to be so hard on them, especially early in in the race. You’ll want to be your best at the end and you can’t do that if your equipment is all used up.

“It’s tough to pass at Loudon. Track position is crucial. It’s a short race, only 300 miles, and the field gets strung out pretty quickly. There isn’t a lot of time to work your way to the front, so you can’t waste any time when you’re in position to pass. You see a lot of guys lose their patience at Loudon and it’s because there isn’t enough time to wait around. If someone’s holding you up, you’ve got to find a way around them pretty quickly or you’ll never make up any distance on the leaders.

“I love short-track racing. It’s always a lot of fun at Loudon. I won a Truck race at New Hampshire a few years ago. It’s always a place that I look forward to going to. We struggled a little bit in our last race there, but it was OK for our first time. I think we’ll show some improvement this weekend and the Burger King/Dr Pepper Toyota team will have a solid day on Sunday.”

BK Racing PR