Caden Kvapil doesn’t just have a chance to win Martinsville, but a chance to make history Saturday night

A fourth place effort in qualifying will put Caden Kvapil on the pole of a heat race Saturday night in Martinsville, as he looks to become the second Kvapil to capture a grandfather clock in Late Model Stock racing’s marquee event.

However, that’s not all that’s on the line for Kvapil Saturday night. He has a chance to do what no driver – not his brother Carson Kvapil, or Peyton Sellers, or Bobby McCarty, Phillip Morris, Josh Berry or Lee Pulliam – no driver has ever done before: Win the ValleyStar 300, the Virginia Triple Crown, and the CARS Tour championship in the same season.

In fact, no driver has ever won Martinsville and the CARS Tour title in the same year, regardless of the triple crown. Only one driver has ever won the Triple Crown and CARS Tour title in the same year, and that same driver, McCarty, is the only driver to win all three period over the course of their career.

Kvapil has a chance to do it all in seven days. He currently leads the Triple Crown standings, has a great shot at Martinsville and a lead large enough in the CARS Tour standings to clinch the title a race early next Saturday at Newport Speedway with a good run. So, how does the young JR Motorsports driver handle that pressure?

“There’s definitely a lot that’s going through my head,” Kvapil told Short Track Scene. “I’ve been kind of worrying about Trevor [Ward] in the Triple Crown and all that but at the same time, I feel like we’re here more to just win. The clock is awesome and that’s our main goal is to bring that home all year.

“So, obviously we’re going for the win but in the back of my mind the triple crown is definitely going to be there, I think I have to finish a couple spots within Trevor or whatever to win it. I’m not sure the exact number, but hopefully I can figure it out to night so I kind of have a game plan going into tomorrow in case that is the situation. There’s a lot, like you said it’s been a really good year for us in CARS Tour, late model racing, just in general we’ve had really good speed everywhere we go.

“I feel like as a driver, trying to fill the shoes my brother left for me, it’s kind of hard because I feel like I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself and I want to do really good and succeed. Right now, I feel like we’re in a position where I can do a lot just with a couple races left to go in the season. Just hoping to capitalize on all that opportunity and seal up the Triple Crown tomorrow [Saturday], and hopefully the CARS Tour championship next weekend.”

Now, how about his brother Carson. A two-time CARS Tour champion in his own respect, won the ValleyStar at Martinsville back in 2024, after some near misses at victory lane. Both are competing for a clock Saturday night so how much, if at all, has Caden leaned on big brother?

“I think I leaned on him a bunch more last year just because of my first attempt,” Kvapil said. “He wasn’t racing. Now that we’re competitors, I don’t know if I can really ask him much. He’ll help me but luckily, we have really similar setups in our cars.

“I guess I haven’t really had to ask him much about how to get around this place because I’ve been faster than him all day, so that definitely helps. But yeah, we’ve got tomorrow still so I can’t brag too much, he might be there in the last 200 laps and beat me at the end of the race. I’m still looking forward to it, it’s really fun racing against him, we don’t get to do a whole lot and when we do, it always seems like we find a way to be next to each other. I hope we get to race each other in the 200 and put on a good show.”

The Virginia Triple Crown title is decided by average finish between the ValleyStar 300 at Martinsville, Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway and South Boston 200 at South Boston Speedway, so a bad finish on Saturday night at Martinsville can derail the chances at the title with a quickness. How does one manage that, while also racing for a win and a grandfather clock?

“I feel like if it’s me and him [Ward] racing for the clock at the end, we’re going to just race for the clock,” Kvapil said. “Obviously if we’re up front, racing hard together, it’s going to be a clean battle, Trevor’s one of the cleanest guys out there so you can’t really worry about him wrecking you, that’s out of the picture. But, I hope we’re both at the front tomorrow and we can race for the win, and if it comes down to it, me and him, I hope we put on a good show.

“It’s going to be tough, he’s really good around here and I don’t really have a whole lot of laps here and my experience last year wasn’t very fun, … coming back this year and having the car that we do so far, I’m feeling a lot more confident in the ability of our car that we can go win tomorrow and or just win the Triple Crown.”

It’ll be a tall task, no doubt, but Kvapil is on the verge of history. A win Saturday night would put him in a category of his own, and put a bow on what has been a near perfect debut full-time season of Late Model Stock racing that also includes wins at Nashville Fairgrounds with the CARS Tour and Langley’s Hampton Heat. He’ll have 300 laps between the heat race and main event between him and history, but Kvapil has already proven this season that he’s up for the task.