Two races ago, Carson Kvapil was searching for career win No. 1 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
He hasn’t lost a race since then.
Kvapil took the lead with a great restart on the first overtime attempt and then held off teammate Rajah Caruth on the second overtime attempt to win the HyVee Perks 250 at Iowa Speedway.
“It feels really cool to win again, but not as big as Indy, I guess you’d say,” Kvapil told The CW after the race. “Just super excited. It just goes to show what this No. 1 group has and what they bring to the racetrack. I think we were not the greatest in the first two stages, and Rodney [Childers, crew chief] did his touches to it, and turned us into a race-winning car.”
Fresh off of a big first career win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kvapil ran up front most of the day on Saturday (Aug. 7) at Iowa, but wasn’t really much of a factor compared to teammates Ross Chastain and Justin Allgaier, who combined to lead nearly 150 laps on the day.
Ryan Sieg started on pole, the first of his lengthy career. The lone caution for incident in stage 1 came when Nathan Byrd spun in turn 4 on lap 28. Sieg dominated the first stage and captured the stage victory.
Similarly, only one incident slowed the field during stage 2, when Ryan’s brother Kyle Sieg spun in turn 2 on lap 77. Allgaier cruised to the victory in second stage.
Stage 3 saw six cautions over a 50 lap span between laps 150 and 200. It started with an Anthony Alfredo spin in turn 4 on lap 151. The ensuing restart lasted just five laps before William Sawalich got turned by Patrick Staropoli on lap 159 to bring out another caution.
Lap 167 saw Carson Ware get turned into the outside wall by Jesse Love, who was dozens of laps down after going to garage to fix transmission issues. The crash ended Ware’s day.
Lavar Scott went for a spin in turn 4 the lap after the ensuing restart after getting turned by Sammy Smith. Scott got a piece of the wall, as did Ryan Ellis attempting to avoid the No. 45. The field again got less than five laps in a green flag run before the next caution, a spin by Mason Maggio down the frontstretch and into turn 1. Lap 194 was the final caution in that 50-lap period, after Corey Day and Smith made contact, sending Day hard into the outside wall in turn 1.
The ensuing restart featured Ryan Sieg and Chastain battling for the lead, with Chastain clearing Sieg after about a lap. Chastain continued to pull away and looked to have the win in the bag when Jeb Burton had a tire go down in turn 2, spinning down the backstretch on lap 246 to bring out a caution and set up overtime.
Chastain and Kvapil made up the front row for the attempt. Chastain spun the tires as the leader, stacking up the outside lane, while Kvapil got a push from Sieg to take the lead. As Kvapil sailed into turn 1 with the lead, Brent Crews dove under Sieg but slid up the hill, turning both of them and collecting Allgaier into the outside wall. Sam Mayer got turned in the chaos, as did Joey Gase. Meanwhile toward the back, Carson Brown, making his O’Reilly debut, was turned and slid up into the outside wall, collecting Staropoli and Kyle Sieg. Taylor Gray also got a piece of the melee as well.
Kvapil and Chastain again comprised the front row for the second overtime attempt, and again Chastain was the one who spun his tires. That allowed not only Kvapil to clear to the lead, but his teammate Caruth cleared into second. Kvapil managed just enough of a gap to deny Caruth his first career O’Reilly win, while winning his second-straight race in the process.
Sawalich rebounded from the early spin to finish third, while Chastain and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top five.
Next up for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is a second date with Daytona International Speedway. It’s the final race before The Chase begins, and the cut line is as chaotic as it has ever been.
The top seven spots have all been clinched: Allgaier, Kvapil, Creed, Love, Day, Brandon Jones, Austin Hill and Smith. Parker Retzlaff is in a good spot on points, but can’t have his day go too sideways at Daytona.
The real drama starts at 10th place, where Mayer sits just 19 points above the cut line. Meanwhile, three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates — Sawalich, Crews and Gray — are separated by just one point, with Sawalich and Crews holding the final spots and Gray sits as the first driver out. Behind them, Caruth’s big points day at Iowa sits him behind Gray, just 15 points out of a Chase spot. Everyone else behind them is eliminated from Chase contention.
So there are six drivers competing for the final four spots, and if Retzlaff can largely stay out of trouble, it becomes five drivers in a really tight battle for three spots. It will make for gripping entertainment when the series rolls into Daytona Beach at the end of the month.
Coverage for the Winn-Dixie 250 begins at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 28. The CW will once again carry the television broadcast, while the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90 will carry the radio broadcast.
Featured photo: NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Twitter/X.
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