Amidst all the excitement and ceremony of the season-opening “Speedweeks” in Daytona Beach, Fla., Travis Kvapil was already eagerly anticipating Race No. 2. Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway is a favorite of Kvapil’s and is representative of the type of tracks where Front Row Motorsports expects to improve greatly in 2011. The driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford is ready to rebound after a less-than-memorable Daytona 500 this past weekend, when his early surge in a fast car was cut short by an accident that left his machine uncompetitive.
Getting back to business in Phoenix, Kvapil has a top-10 finish in eight career starts at the one-mile tri-oval and is ready to challenge for another.
“It can be hard for teams to get ready for Phoenix because Daytona is the biggest race of the year – even the most important race of the year – and you want to get the season started off right. So that’s a battle that teams always face, figuring out how much time to put in your Daytona cars. You can’t get wrapped up into putting months into these cars when the majority of the schedule is places like Phoenix and Las Vegas – flat or intermediate tracks. That’s why our team tends to concentrate more on our downforce cars and getting that fleet of cars ready for the races that follow Daytona.
“I really like Phoenix. It’s the kind of track I really enjoy racing on because it’s got a real short-track feel to it. I’ve had some pretty good runs there in the past, so I always look forward to going there and it’s a good track for Race No. 2. It gets you into the rhythm for the rest of the season after Daytona.
“Phoenix will be the first race where we have the new qualifying procedure, where you go out according to practice times, from slowest to fastest. I kind of like the idea that the last car should get the pole. There’s some excitement and some drama in that. It’s going to be a little bit harder on the guys who are the first ones out to qualify every week typically, because the guys with the slowest speeds will always be out qualifying first. But it adds excitement. I think it will add something for the fans to tune in and enjoy. I’m a fan of Formula 1 racing and they do something similar – not that format but they have knockout qualifying. And it definitely adds drama to the situation.
“Our new cars and our new FR9 engines for this season have really made a difference already. I can tell that after just one race. Last fall at Talladega was the last restrictor-plate race we went to. We were one of the slowest cars there and missed the field because we weren’t fast enough to qualify for the race. Now we’ve got new cars, new engines, a new crew chief (Bill Henderson), and we’re so much more competitive. We locked ourselves solidly into the Daytona 500 field after qualifying 20th. There’s just no way we could’ve done that with what we had last year.”
FRM PR
- Dover Weekend Schedule - April 21, 2024
- Kaulig Racing Race Recap | Ag-Pro 300 - April 20, 2024
- Odd Tony Stewart Talladega Post Race Q&A - May 7, 2012