Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been in the NASCAR fold for decades and the veteran hardly ever makes a mistake when recognizing talent. He was on the mark again with Carson Kvapil, who in only his second start in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports finished P2 at Dover. Junior was full of praise for his driver but the young man’s resume was already quite impressive before he got into NASCAR.
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Born in Mooresville, North Carolina, Kvapil is a two-time champion of the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car championship. He won the championship in 2023 after picking up 5 wins and finishing in the top 10 in every single race bar one. He worked for Junior over there as well, driving for JRM. Earnhardt Jr. knew that he’d unearthed a special talent and after his performance in the Xfinity Series race at Dover, there was no more doubt.
“Carson Kvapil in his second start driving for JR Motorsports almost wins the race. Dude has amazing racecraft. Carson is a good example of a driver that I think a lot of teams would love to hire based upon his ability to not get flustered and overexcited,” he said. “His racecraft and his ability to like take care of the car and get it to the end of the race and then not screw up and wreck or spin himself out on the last few restarts trying too hard, that’s what I love about this kid.”
This however is not Kvapil’s first rodeo in NASCAR. He has taken part in Truck and ARCA races before but that Dover performance was something special. Meanwhile, his boss isn’t sure that even he could have raced as well as the 20-year-old back in his day.
Dale Earnhardt Jr puts Carson Kvapil’s skills above his own
He might not have won the Cup Series but Dale Earnhardt Jr. is regarded as one of the best racers in the history of the sport. He has two Xfinity Series titles to his name but he still believes that Kvapil is a better driver than he was at that age. The 20-year-old finished P4 in Martinsville before the Dover race and has been thoroughly impressing everyone who is keeping an eye on his progress.
“The late restarts at Martinsville, a young driver screws that up, I screw that up. You put me, 1997 me, in that situation and I don’t do the job that Carson does. Same things for this past weekend at Dover, all the chaos right? The late restarts, sure, he didn’t pull it off, he got beat on the final few restarts and it cost him the win,” the JRM boss added.
Coming from a driver of Junior’s stature, this will be high praise for Carson Kvapil. One can only hope that he keeps his form up and eventually becomes a NASCAR superstar.
