Travis Kvapil No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra Darlington Raceway – Too Tough To Tame 200 March 12, 2011 No. 5 Randy Moss Motorsports International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra News and Notes
* This Week’s Tundra…The No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team and driver Travis Kvapil will race MDM-105 in Saturday’s 200-mile NCWTS race at Darlington Raceway. The No. 5 team last utilized this chassis at Kentucky Speedway where they qualified third and finished in the 13th position.
* Happy Birthday, Travis…During the downtime of the NASCAR Camping World Truck series schedule, Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs celebrated his 35th birthday on Tuesday, March 1st.
* Meet Travis…Fans at the track in Darlington, S.C. will have the opportunity to meet Travis Kvapil in the hours leading up to the race on Saturday afternoon. The driver of the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra will join other drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to meet fans and sign autographs. The NCWTS autograph session will be held on pit road at Darlington Raceway from 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST. * Previous Pole-Sitter… As the 2003 series’ champion, Travis Kvapil has an extensive and highly successful resume in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Now in his ninth season of competition, Kvapil has started from the pole-position on four occasions throughout his career, including the 2003 NCWTS event at Darlington Raceway. Kvapil led 11 laps that day en route to a fourth-place finish.
* Racing for a Championship…In 2011, NASCAR drivers are only eligible to race for one championship in the sport’s top three divisions. Despite being an experienced NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver, Travis Kvapil opted to race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. The Janesville, Wis. native won the series’ title in 2003, and hopes to record his second championship in the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra in 2011. Kvapil will also compete in nearly the entire Sprint Cup Series schedule, missing only a few events that conflict with his NCWTS schedule.
* Follow Travis…Fans are invited to follow Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra, on twitter @TravisKvapil and on Facebook (facebook.com/TravisKvapil). Fans can also check out http://www.traviskvapil.com for news, updates, and photos throughout the week.
* Watch and Listen…The Too Tough To Tame 200 from Darlington Raceway will be broadcast live on SPEED, MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio, channel 128, at 5:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, March 12. Qualifying will also be broadcast live on SPEED at 3:30 p.m. EST Saturday afternoon.
Travis Kvapil on driving at Darlington Raceway “After the past few weeks that I’ve had, I can’t wait to get to Darlington [Raceway]. It is one of my favorite tracks on the circuit, and I think it will be a lot of fun to get back in a truck there. The International Truck/Monaco RVs team has built and prepared great Toyota Tundras every week; we just haven’t had any luck. I think the race at Darlington [Raceway] will give us a great opportunity to turn our luck around and come home with a strong finish.”
Crew Chief Rick Viers on racing at Darlington Raceway “The No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team has had some really bad luck to start off our season, but we’re looking to turn it all around this weekend. Darlington [Raceway] is a track that Travis has been very excited about going to. We’ve had strong trucks over the last few weeks; we just haven’t been able to piece everything together to get the results. Hopefully this weekend will change that—we have a truck that has raced well in the past, a driver with a great history at Darlington [Raceway], and one of the best teams in the business backing us up.” Travis Kvapil Driver Bio Birthdate: March 1, 1976 Hometown: Janesville, WI Residence: Mooresville, NC Status: Married to Jennifer Children: Kelsey, Carson, Caden With the 2003 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship highlighting his resume, Travis Kvapil is sure to be an asset to the No. 5 International Truck/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra team throughout the 2011 season at Randy Moss Motorsports. Over the last decade, the Janesville, Wis., native has established himself as a tough competitor in the top levels of motorsports and a mainstay in the NASCAR arena. In 2011, Kvapil will take over the wheel of the No. 5 machine to chase his second NCWTS title in his young career.
Growing up working on cars in his dad’s garage, racing was a natural progression for Wisconsin-native Travis Kvapil. Kvapil first got behind the wheel of a racecar at the age of 14, competing at Rockford Speedway and sharpening his skills on the Midwest short track circuits. By 18, Kvapil won the American Short Tracker division track championship, and then moved up the ranks to race Super Late Models at Madison International Speedway. “Wisconsin’s Fastest Half Mile” couldn’t slow down Kvapil, who earned Rookie of the Year honors in 1995 in his first season of competition. Kvapil returned to the track the following year, earning the championship and becoming the youngest Super Late Model track champion in Madison International Speedway’s history. In 2001, Kvapil made his debut in the NASCAR ranks, earning a ride in the No. 60 Addington Racing entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Kvapil posted his first top-10 when he finished runner-up in his just his second NCWTS start at Homestead-Miami Speedway that February. Kvapil would ultimately score 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 24 races that season, finishing fourth in the NCWTS driver standings as a rookie. Kvapil earned his first win in the series at Texas Motor Speedway and took home the NCWTS Rookie of the Year title. After signing with Xpress Motorsports, Kvapil drove the No. 16 truck in 2003. Kvapil added another win to his stats after taking the checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway, and completed all but one lap that season, earning a 99.9% lap completion rate. With 13 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes in the first 24 starts of the season, a sixth-place finish at the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway would allow Kvapil to edge out Dennis Setzer by nine points to win the 2003 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. In 2004, Kvapil brought his talents to Bang! Racing, driving the No. 24 truck for Alexander Meshkin. During that season, Kvapil gave Toyota its first win in one of NASCAR’s top-three series at Michigan International Speedway, and then earned his second win of the season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kvapil earned his first career pole and totaled six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, finishing in the top-10 in driver points for the fourth consecutive season. Additionally, near the end of the 2004 season, Roger Penske invited Kvapil to drive the No. 06 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry for Penske Racing for three races. Kvapil qualified fifth in his NSCS debut, finishing 21st. Roger Penske was so impressed by Kvapil’s performance in the three races he completed that he signed him to drive the No. 77 for the 2005 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Despite earning two top-10 finishes, the No. 77 team closed its doors at the end of the season. Kvapil got behind the wheel of the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet for PPI Motorsports in 2006. Kvapil received a huge opportunity when Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing, offered him a seat in the No. 6 Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2007. Kvapil had a landmark season, collecting four wins, three poles, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes, ending the season sixth in the driver standings. Since 2008, Kvapil has been a mainstay in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage while racing for Yates Racing and Front Row Motorsports. With a handful of top-ten finishes and a pole award from Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 2008) in the Sprint Cup Series, Kvapil returns to Randy Moss Motorsports with the hope of winning his second NCWTS title.
