Kvapil a Contender at Texas, Until a Bad Chain of Events Travis Kvapil, No. 6 K&N Filters Ford F-150Texas Motor Speedway/November 2, 2007
~RFR
Ft. Worth, Texas(November 2, 2007) – The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returned to action under the lights of Texas Motor Speedway this Friday and it was not without drama. The No. 6 K&N Ford F-150 was a top contender heading into the race and driver Travis Kvapil was confident he could have win number five on his hands. Kvapil raced up front at the start of the race, leading laps and chasing down the competition but as the laps wore on a mechanical problem, fuel **** and ultimately blown tire resulted in a 26th place finish for the Wisconsin-native.
The No. 6 K&N F-150 was one of the top-three trucks in both practice sessions Thursday and later that night, Kvapil drove the truck to the sixth qualifying spot clocking in at 29.477 seconds. Once again Mike Skinner took the pole, this time with a fast lap time of 29.326 seconds. With the field set the teams waited all day Friday for their shot to claim victory Friday night.
Skinner led the 37-truck field down the front stretch to take the green under a crisp Texas night. The inside line started to pull past the outside line but as the trucks rounded the 1.5-mile track for the first time the No. 6 F-150 emerged in sixth but the first of multiple cautions flew on lap two after the No. 16 spun on the front stretch collecting the No. 09. Under caution Kvapil reported that the K&N F-150 had a lot of speed but was tight behind traffic. Crew chief Mike Beam called for Kvapil to stay on track but put together his strategy for the team’s first pit stop which came on lap 39.
Between lap two and 39, a total of three cautions waved all for accidents along the front stretch. Kvapil had forged his way as high as third but due to his handling issues, had settled into fifth when he came down pit road for the first time under caution on lap 39. The K&N team serviced Kvapil’s truck at a quick pace changing four tires, re-fueling and making a wedge and air pressure adjustment to help the tightness. Kvapil bounced from fifth to first for the re-start on lap 44 where he ran away from the pack with the No. 51 of Kyle Busch.
On lap 66 Kvapil radioed that he might have a cylinder going down so the team immediately went through the check list to diagnose the problem. Kvapil continued to run in second but when the fourth caution flew on lap 69 Beam called for him to come down pit road to check things out under the hood. Kvapil returned to the track in 20th for the re-start on lap 75 and was now out of pit sequence with the rest of the competition. The team found nothing visibly wrong with the No. 6 Ford so Kvapil continued to run using the draft to help pull him along. With the leaders hot on his bumper, Kvapil took it up a notch and by lap 114 had cycled to 12th.
The remaining trucks began to pit for the final time while the No. 6 K&N Ford continued to move towards the front of the pack hitting third by lap 131. It was then that Kvapil asked how they were on fuel. Beam reported that the team was about seven laps shy but Kvapil was confident he had saved fuel while he had run in the draft. The team mulled over the decision of whether to stay out and go for the win, or play it safe, pit and finish 10th or 11th. At lap 137 Beam tossed the decision to Kvapil who said he’d try to conserve more and decided to go for it. Just two short laps later Kvapil hit the wall when a right front tire went down. The truck was destroyed and as Kvapil rolled back to the garage, the truck caught on fire causing a moment of panic. Kvapil escaped un-harmed and ultimately finished a disappointing 26th.
“I knew it was on fire on pit road and I was looking for somebody,” said Kvapil after he escaped from the truck. “It was a bad chain of events. We had an awesome K&N Ford and we definitely were contending for the win. We just kept riding it out and riding it out and we got to the point where we were only going to need fuel. So I said, ‘let’s just ride it out.’ I was on three-quarters throttle in the draft when I was back in the pack because we were down a cylinder. I was trying to save enough fuel to make it until the end. Then about two laps before I spun there, I told the team that I had a vibration in the tire and it was going down. We were going to try and ride it out. It was unfortunate; we had a truck that was capable of winning the race. It was just a bad set of circumstances for us to end up like this.”
Following Kvapil’s caution, the field would see two more cautions and a red flag. As the field re-started following Kvapil’s accident, a multiple-truck wreck transpired taking out one of the championship contenders, Ron Hornaday. The field was stopped under red for cleanup then wrecked again during the last re-start. Ted Musgrave went on to win the 147-lap race breaking a 66-race winless streak.
Kvapil maintained third in the overall point standings but now sits 401 points behind the leader. Kvapil’s teammates finished 14th (Erik Darnell) and 17th (T.J. Bell). The Craftsman Truck Series returns to action once again on Friday night but this time under the lights of Phoenix International Raceway.
About K&N Engineering, Inc.
K&N Engineering, Inc., with headquarters in Riverside, California, has been the world's leader in performance filter technology since 1969, serving the needs of the automotive, motorcycle, marine, industrial and military markets. K&N is heavily involved in nearly every form of motorsports from off-road and powersports to drag racing, stock cars and road racing. For more information about K&N Filters, please contact K&N Engineering, Inc., P.O. Box 1329, Riverside, CA 92502-1329, (800) 213-4182 for a dealer near you, (800) 858-3333 for technical service/questions, (951) 826-4001 Fax, e-mail
tech@knfilters.com, or visit
www.knfilters.com.
About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating 14 motorsports teams, five in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup with drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; five in the Busch Series with Kenseth, Biffle, Edwards, McMurray, Ragan, Todd Kluever, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Danny O’Quinn Jr.; and three in the Craftsman Truck Series with Edwards, Peter Shepherd, Travis Kvapil, Erik Darnell and T.J. Bell; and one in the ARCA/REMAX Series with Colin Braun and Darnell.
