Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought innumerable fanfare and excitement to a sold-out North Wilkesboro Speedway on Wednesday night, but the spotlight shined brightest on one of Earnhardt\u2019s JR Motorsports drivers.
Carson Kvapil dominated the Window World 125 CARS Late Model Tour event, a showcase of past-meets-present that concluded the paved portion of\u00a0XR Events’\u00a0Racetrack Revival presented by Raymer Oil Company.
Kvapil\u2019s No. 8 iRacing Chevrolet withstood a last-gasp charge from runner-up Mason Diaz to notch his first North Wilkesboro victory.
Earnhardt, Kvapil\u2019s boss, electrified the crowd with a third-place finish. Jonathan Shafer and Bobby McCarty completed the top five.\u00a0
Kaden Honeycutt was sixth with Zack Miracle seventh, William Sawalich eighth and Stefan Parsons ninth. Brandon Pierce rounded out the top 10.
Kvapil won the pole, led the most laps, turned the fastest lap time \u2013 a blistering 20.223 seconds \u2013 and withstood all comers on a restart with two laps to go.
\u201cIt\u2019s huge to win at North Wilkesboro,\u201d said Kvapil, who was eight years old the last time North Wilkesboro hosted a late model tour race. \u201cWe were able to sweep the first late model show here in 11 years. We had such a dominant car. I could tell it was going to be good from the moment the green flag dropped.\u00a0
\u201cI was a bit worried about Mason (with two laps to go), because I knew he\u2019d square up with my bumper in Turns 1 and 2. That was probably my only weak spot, but he raced me clean. I\u2019ll definitely remember that the next time I\u2019m around him. I\u2019ll race him the same way.\u201d
With a sea of green-clad fans roaring their approval, Earnhardt rallied from ninth to third in the final 50 laps. Earnhardt\u2019s No. 3 Sun Drop Chevrolet \u2013 painted like the late model car he drove in the 1990s \u2013 took some bumps and scrapes, but emerged intact at the end of the night.\u00a0
\u201cThat was a tremendous amount of fun,\u201d the NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee said. \u201cWe had a really good car. At the midpoint of the race, we had some contact and it knocked the right-rear quarter panel onto the right-rear tire, so it was just burning up the tire. I couldn\u2019t move forward the way I wanted, hanging out in the backside of the top 10. When we came in and put right-side tires on and fixed the quarter panel, man, that thing flew.
\u201cJosh (Berry, Earnhardt\u2019s crew chief for the night and a driver on his NASCAR Xfinity Series team) did a great job. \u2026 That\u2019s probably the best late model car I\u2019ve ever driven.\u201d
Earnhardt hadn\u2019t raced since his annual Xfinity Series one-off, which resulted in an 11th-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in April.\u00a0
He qualified sixth for Wednesday\u2019s race and dropped out of the top 10 early, but made a spirited rally in the closing stages.\u00a0
A 1-3 finish for JRM was more than enough reason for Earnhardt to share in Kvapil\u2019s raucous victory lane celebration.\u00a0
\u201cWe\u2019re certainly tickled with how everything happened,\u201d Earnhardt said. \u201cCarson did such a great job. Honestly, I\u2019d rather he win just for his development, long-term. \u2026 This was a lot of fun. I had a little compound off Turn 2 and all my family here. I was happy to be part of it.
\u201cWhen I was sitting in the car, you could see all the fans and you could just feel the energy. It was special. It honestly felt like you were back in 1990.\u201d
The second portion of\u00a0Racetrack Revival heats up Oct. 4, when dirt racing makes its long-awaited return to North Wilkesboro\u2019s .625-mile oval.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NWS PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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