Martinsville (Va.) Speedway will always be a special place for Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 93 BK Racing Toyota. Kvapil made his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start at the half-mile oval in 2004, driving for Roger Penske. Since then, he has achieved five top-25 finishes and carries an average finish of 25th place at the historic half-mile oval.
Aside from starting his NSCS journey at Martinsville, Kvapil enjoys the speedway because of the memories it conjures up from his racing past. He relies on his childhood experience racing the Midwest short tracks with every return to Martinsville.
Kvapil’s best performance of the 2011 season came at Martinsville. He finished 16th in the October race. In NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition, Kvapil has one top-five and three top-10 finishes in 10 starts.
The No. 93 BK Racing team has moved up two positions to 30th place in the NSCS owner point standings following Kvapil’s 29th-place finish at Auto Club Speedway. They are currently 25 points outside of the top-25. He aims to continue the swing in this weekend’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500.
Comments from BK Racing Driver Travis Kvapil heading into Martinsville:
“Martinsville is obviously a little, flat half-mile short track. For me, it takes me back to how I grew up racing on quarter-mile and half-mile race tracks in the Midwest. It’s all about getting your car to turn in the corner and getting good forward drive on exit, and keeping the fenders on it for a long race, too.
“Martinsville is a special place for me. It’s where I made my first (NASCAR Sprint) Cup start in the fall of ’04, so it’s always kind of cool to go back there and have those memories. I haven’t quite pulled into victory lane there, but have had some really good runs in the Truck Series, some good runs in the Cup car and it’s a place I’ve always had a really good feel for.
“Race fans love Martinsville. I think it’s because it’s short-track racing. It’s grassroots racing. I think, for the most part, all of the drivers in the Cup race started out somewhere on a little quarter-mile track or a little half-mile track and everybody’s good when it comes to short-track racing. I think the fans enjoy the really close racing. They like seeing guys use the bumpers and not afraid to beat and bang a little bit. You won’t see that style of racing at the majority of tracks we go to, but when you go to Martinsville, it seems like a necessity.
“We don’t go anywhere else that like it. It’s old. It’s unique. It’s the only half-mile with super, super, super tight corners and curbs on the inside lanes. There’s no other race track like it. Martinsville is a place where aerodynamics don’t play much of a role, very minimal. Horsepower isn’t as important. We have great horsepower in our Triad motors, but if you’re off a little bit, it’s not as critical. It’s all about getting your car to mechanically rotate through the middle of the corners and mechanically getting forward drive off the corners. That will be our focus on our Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota. Time in the wind tunnel doesn’t really factor into that. It comes down to good communication with the team and a good feel for what I need to find in my race car. I think that goes back to all of the races at quarter-mile race tracks I raced on Saturday nights.”
BK Racing PR
