Caden Kvapil picks up where left off in CARS Tour opener

Laissez les bons temps rouler

For those who are not Louisiana French, or otherwise from the Gulf Coast a week removed from Mardi Gras, this roughly means ‘let the good times roll’ because that is exactly what is happening with the JR Motorsports No. 88 now piloted by Caden Kvapil.

The youngest son of Travis Kvapil, the 2003 Truck Series champion, and brother to two-time CARS Tour champion Carson is now the full-time driver of the JR Motorsports Late Model Stock Car.

He won the season finale last year at North Wilkesboro, then the prestigious South Carolina 400 in November and now opened his championship pursuit with a victory in the season opener on Saturday at Southern National Motorsports Park.

“This is really cool,” Kvapil told Short Track Scene in inspection after the race. “I said in Victory Lane, it’s really special for me and my dad because I know everything about this car. I set it up, get it all ready at the shop, me and him, the prep, maintenance, we do all the work to it.

“Obviously, we have Bryan (Shaffer), Deron (Denning), Slim and everyone at the shop but I mainky focus on the maintenance and body work and work really hard in the shop to win these races.

“So to win three big Late Model Stock races in a row, really big ones to me, and now momentum for the championship is a big deal.”

Kvapil started near the back after bottoming out in qualifying and needed to methodically work his way to through the field. His starting spot also allowed him to conserve tires as leaders Lee Pulliam and Chad McCumbee set a torrid pace.

The decisive lead change took place in lapped traffic on Lap 107 of 125. However, a caution with 11 to go and then another with nine to go set up an emotionally charged post-race scene.

Southern National is a definition one groove race track, and that feature was exaggerated by weepers in the middle groove, that persisted after a rainy week. To wit, the top-five all took the bottom on the final restart.

Doug Barnes took the front row then came contact in Turn 4 just as he almost cleared Kvapil.

“I pinned him hard enough that I got a monster run down the back,” Barnes told STS. “I don’t know if I was clear. I know I was close but I wasn’t gonna take it unless I had like a half car length. I knew he was gonna run me over but, I don’t know, not in a million years did I see him fencing me that hard with all the momentum in the world.

“Like, he was going to get the spot, you know what I mean? You come to expect it in the CARS Tour and I guess it’s been a long off season, so I didn’t expect it. I have a lot of respect in that organization, and look up to Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and I’m not blaming him but I look up to that team and I like Caden Kvapil, think he’s a good driver. I think he’s talented.

“But that was, he’s just better than that. He probably knows he’s better than that. Like, I felt like I ran about as hard and as clean as possible.”

Barnes needed to be separated from the JR Motorsports car in Victory Lane. Kvapil said they were racing for a CARS Tour win and believes both tried really hard to make it happen.

“I mean, he just got a really good restart and … I think I was at his quarter getting into (Turn) 3,” Kvapil said. “I got into the apron a little with my left front (and) kind of slid up the track, got into his door and he was pinching me tight like he should.

“I think our right front hit his left front and they kind of locked together because I didn’t feel it but I was just going straight and put him into the fence. It was hard racing and I came up from last so I wasn’t just going to kind of throw it away. …

“But he put up a really good shot on the outside and I kind of didn’t mean to get into him but we were racing hard for the win and it’s a CARS Tour race and there’s no room given in this series.”

Pulliam led the first 107 laps but just felt like McCumbee pushed him too hard to both of their detriments.

“The 16 was really good too and that was the problem,” Pulliam told STS of McCumbee. “If the 16 hadn’t have been here tonight, I could’ve ridden and been okay. But, I had to run a little bit too hard to stay in front of him and knew I was hurting the tires and knew if guys were riding in the back at all, it was going to pay off for them.

“And I just didn’t have nothing left that last little stint. So I went and put a little gap on them and pulled away some but started getting loose in, loose off, and the right rears were gone on this thing and just didn’t have enough and lap traffic wasn’t helping me any.

“Thet were definitely racing hard, and I don’t know man, you have to but the bullet and give in to the leaders that late, I feel like but I also recognize that everyone is running their own race and I just didn’t have enough tire.”

It’s the third race in a row that Pulliam has finished second in this ramp up to his debut in the O’Reilly Series at Martinsville for JR Motorsports and he’s put a lot of work into physical and mental fitness.

On one hand, he’s thrilled to be competitive at 37 and five years removed from racing full-time, but also really wanted to win.

“Yeah, it’s really weird, right,” Pulliam said. “Because all these races seem to slip away at the end, man. I don’t know because I could have won every race since I came back these last couple of months and there’s a lot to be proud of but I haven’t been able to celebrate in Victory Lane in almost seven years.

“But I am really grateful for what’s coming up next and life is really good.”

CARS Late Model Stock Tour Folsom Fence Supply 125
Southern National Motorsports Park
February 28 2026