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Carson Kvapil, who is competing in his rookie Xfinity season in 2025 for JR Motorsports, shared his thoughts after a stellar performance in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. The rookie finished the United Rentals 300 in fourth place, however, in his post-race interview, he made it clear that he wanted to finish a few spots better and probably would have done so if not for the damage to his car early in the race.
The race on Saturday saw the 21-year-old driver overcome early challenges to put on a remarkable recovery drive, finishing the best of the four JRM drivers. When asked if he would have liked to finish in an even better position, the 21-year-old driver shared:
"I mean yeah, we definitely wanted to obviously be a few spots better than that but at the end of the day just from what we had to deal with; spinning out there and getting quite a bit of damage to the back of our car. I feel like our team really rebounded well...these guys definitely didn't make it easy on them," Kvapil told Frontstretch.
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"We probably pitted about double the time of most guys just trying to fix our stuff. But we just methodically kind of picked ourselves up to the front of the field...We were able to stay straight and not have any day-ending tire failures or suspension components, or anything like that. So just really proud of this whole team and really good way to start the season considering how we were running mid-pack mid-race there," he added.
There was a big wreck on the backstretch on lap 5 when Jesse Love, who started alongside Carson Kvapil on the fifth row got into the rear of the No. 20 car of Brandon Jones and turned him sideways in the middle of the field. Kvapil and his JRM teammate Connor Zilisch were involved in the crash, however, it was Kvapil's No. 1 car that received major damage.
By lap 102, Carson Kvapil had recovered towards the front of the field and the four JRM cars were leading the middle lane with Zilisch leading the pack. From there on, Kvapil ran a clean race and ended up finishing the race in fourth as the highest-placed rookie on the grid.
How Carson Kvapil earned a full-time ride at JRM
Even before securing his full-time NXS seat at JR Motorsports for the 2025 season, Carson Kvapil was on the radar of Dale Earnhardt Jr. In his late teens, Kvapil has been making a name for himself in Late Model Stock Car racing. However, the young driver first gained attention in 2020 when he won the Carolina Pro Late Model Series championship.
His outstanding performance in 2021 in the Cars Super Late Model Tour caught the attention of Dale Jr., who invited him to compete in the Late Model Stock division for JRM. Earnhardt Jr. eventually ended up giving him a full-time seat in JRM’s Late Model Stock Racing program.
He kept impressing the JRM owners, and when he finally got his first shot at an Xfinity Series race in 2024, he delivered a fourth-place result confirming that he belongs on the NXS grid. Finally, in October last year, Dale Jr. decided to promote Carson Kvapil to a full-time ride in the Xfinity Series as the team renewed its contract with long-time sponsor Bass Pro Shops.
The announcement came via a tweet from JR Motorsports as the team shared:
"The call he's been waiting for. JR Motorsports is proud to promote @Carson_Kvapil to FULL-TIME @NASCAR_Xfinity Series racing in 2025 with backing from @BassProShops."
The rookie continues to impress as he finished best of the four JRM drivers in the NXS's season-opening race at the Daytona International Speedway.
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