Twitter have been following the driver on an unusual road trip – and one that involves some photographic trivia. Kvapil has taken the wheel of the family motorcoach for a two-week trip to visit attractions between three of NASCAR’s race sites.
The Kvapils’ journey started in the Poconos, making stops at Hershey Park in Hershey, Pa., and New York City before arriving at Watkins Glen, N.Y. From Watkins Glen, they stopped at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, on their way to Michigan. Kvapil has been tweeting photos throughout his family’s trip on Twitter (@TravisKvapil) and inviting fans to guess where he is – even giving away Michigan race tickets to those who guess correctly.
Kvapil and crew chief Jay Guy will have to do a lot less guessing when they arrive at Michigan International Speedway later this week. The low-banked, two-mile track is the first track the pair will make a repeat visit to as a driver-crew chief team.
Working together since Week 5 of the 2011 season, Kvapil and Guy will go to Michigan with a solid foundation from their first visit there in June. The team had a fast car during practice and qualifying at that event, but had handling issues during the race and finished 31st. Kvapil’s career-best at the track is 13th.
Comments from Long John Silver’s team driver Travis Kvapil heading to Michigan:
“The road trip has been fun. The Gillilands did it last year and had a blast, so it got us thinking this year. And I thought, ‘If David can do it, I can do it.’ So, I’ve been wheelin’ the motorcoach the past couple weeks. We’ve seen a lot of cool stuff, from the Statue of Liberty to the Hershey factory where we made our own chocolate bars. We’ve done some hiking and other camping stuff, and now we’re headed to Cedar Point to see if we can find a ride that goes as fast as the racecar.
“What’s been cool, too, has been interacting with the fans on Twitter. We’ve been playing some trivia games, posting pictures of places we’ve been and just doing a lot of cool stuff on social media that you could never do before. I think that’s neat for our fans. It’s like they are along for the ride and we’ve been having a lot of fun with that. Like I said, it’s something that you can do now that you couldn’t just a few years ago.
“Heading into the Michigan event, I’m ready to work with Jay Guy again. He and I have come a long way since Week 5 when we first got partnered up. I felt like it took us four or five races just to kind of get in sync and try to give me the things I was looking for in my racecar, him understanding my language and vice versa.
“I felt like we had a pretty decent car there the first time. We kind of lost the handle a little bit in the race and didn’t get the speed out of it we thought we had from practice and qualifying, though. But, Michigan is a place I always like going to. It’s a place where we have a notebook together and most of these places from here on out we’ve been at the track together. So, being able to work with each other and settling in on our set-ups has given us a baseline, which is something we didn’t have in the past. We were just kind of learning as we go.
“Michigan is a great track. I love going there. It’s a place where you can run anywhere from top to bottom and really move your line around to make up for the handling your racecar is giving you. I’ve won there a couple times in the Truck series, and it’s always good to go to a track where you’ve had success before.”
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