Richmond Is ‘Perfect Short Track’ Say’s Kvapil

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Richmond (Va.) International Raceway is the perfect hybrid of a big, fast speedway and a quirky short track.  And Travis Kvapil is looking forward to finding the perfect middle ground of speed and handling when he hits the .75-mile track for Saturday night’s Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400.


The driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford is coming off a strong run at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where the team’s 29th-place finish didn’t adequately reflect the strong effort and fast car they put on the track.


Kvapil has eight starts at Richmond in his Sprint Cup career, with a top finish of 11th.


“We learned a lot at Martinsville, another short track, a couple weeks ago.  But Richmond is really a different animal.  Some of the basics of how you put a short-track car together apply to a place like Richmond.  But Richmond’s a little bit bigger, a little bit faster, a little more banking, so set-up is going to be a little bit different.  But it’s a fun track to go to, especially when the groove opens up and you can run two- and three-wide. 

“It’s kind of like the perfect short track, really.  It’s fast enough for aerodynamics and horsepower to play a big role.  But at the same time, it’s all about making the car turn through the middle of the corner and have good forward drive off.


“Night racing is always fun. It reminds me of short-track racing back home.  And Richmond is one of the coolest places for night racing.  The fans always come out for the race and fill up the stands.  They’re right on top of the action, too, and it’s just always an exciting race. I always look forward to going there.


“We actually had a pretty good race at Talladega.  You wouldn’t know it by looking at our finish, but that’s only because we had to go to the garage at the beginning of the race to make some changes because of the impound rules.  Once we got back out on the track, we were fast.  And with the two-car drafting deal, guys figured out pretty quickly that we were a fast car and that they should try hooking up with us.  If we’d had a chance to get back on the lead lap, we might’ve had a shot at something good.”

 

Front Row Motorsports PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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