“Learning more every weekend”: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s NASCAR driver pens down heartfelt note after Homestead race

Carson Kvapil, driver of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 1 Chevrolet, shared his thoughts after finishing 10th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The rookie driver noted he's still adjusting to stock car racing with each weekend.

Before signing his first full-time Xfinity Series ride, Kvapil, 21, competed in the CARS Tour under Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team. The North Carolina native kicked off the 2025 NASCAR season with a fourth-place finish at Daytona. He then struggled to post good race results until the Homestead-Miami race.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post, Carson Kvapil penned an assessment of his early rookie year with JR Motorsports.

"Learning more every weekend. P10 finish this weekend after working hard in the @JRMotorsports Johnny Morris @BassProShops Clarience Technologies Chevrolet," Kvapil wrote.

He also reflected on the 200-lap race around the 1.5-mile Miami track, saying:

"Early in the race we had to serve a pass-through penalty for pulling out of line from the front of the field checking up. P12 finish in the first stage and P13 finish in the second stage. Came home with a P10 finish after the green-white-checkered. Gained good speed and experience as the race went on."

The No. 1 Chevy pilot looked forward to next week's stop at Martinsville Speedway, which should be a more familiar race given his championship-winning CARS Tour background.

"Next weekend we will be at Martinsville Speedway. Can’t wait to see what we’re able to do!" he concluded.

Carson Kvapil sits 14th in the standings six weeks into the 2025 season. He is behind all his JR Motorsports teammates, including Connor Zilisch (seventh), Sammy Smith (sixth), and Justin Allgaier (first).

The Marine Corps 250 at Martinsville Speedway is slated for March 29 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Kvapil finished fourth the last time he visited the 0.526-mile track piloting Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevy in 2024.

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"They're gonna have to battle each other hard": Dale Earnhardt Jr. sends message to his young driver after COTA showdown

After an eventful Circuit of the Americas race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his conversation with Connor Zilisch, who felt bad despite scoring his first win of the year. He told Zilisch to get his head up as the incident could happen more often through the season.

During the race, Connor Zilisch was neck and neck with his teammate Carson Kvapil for the lead with about 13 laps remaining. The two made contact and Kvapil later blew a tire to drop to 23rd, with Zilisch taking the checkered flag.

In an episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the JR Motorsports boss said:

"You learn over the course of your career, I think, to be a good teammate and try to help your teammates when you can, because that's gonna come around and help you. Their crew chiefs see it, their crew chiefs, then wanna help you." [0:25]

Since the Chevrolet-affiliated team is a frontrunner for race wins, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Zilisch should always expect to fight his teammates at the front.

"If you got four, and in this case, five cars that are very good cars, and five very capable race car drivers, they're going to hit, they're going to run up front, they're going to have to battle each other for positions, and they're going to have to battle each other hard," he concluded.

JR Motorsports is the defending champion as Justin Allgaier secured his first title last year. The team retained Allgaier and Sammy Smith and signed Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil for their 2025 campaign.