MARTINSVILLE, VA – Carson Kvapil led 119 laps en route to victory in Saturday night’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300, driving away from 2016 winner Mike Looney amid a flurry of late race restarts at Martinsville Speedway.
The win is the second time the JR Motorsports team has won the fall classic and was especially important for Kvapil, who may end up with a full-time ride in one of the NASCAR national series next year.
“This race is the biggest Late Model Stock race in the country,” Kvapil said. “To even be able to be in contention to win this race is huge and obviously to win it is even bigger. We just had such a good car at the end of the race. Bryan [Shaffer] really made some good adjustments during the halfway break and gave us a really good piece to work with at the end.”
The win will also mean a lot to Kvapil’s car owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
“I can’t wait to check my phone,” Kvapil continued. “I’m hoping he’s already sent me a text message or called. It’s huge. Josh [Berry] winning this race was huge and I’m super glad to be able to follow it up with a win as well.”
Kyle Dudley started on the pole but faded after the race’s opening laps and eventually got tangled up in incidents with Matt Waltz and Doug Barnes, Jr., derailing his miraculous effort. From there, it was a race between Kvapil and Looney as the two drivers swapped the lead several times throughout the remainder of the race.
Once Kvapil got the lead from Looney on lap 190, he would never look back, surviving an overtime finish.
Kade Brown had settled into the third position in the second stage of the race and much of the final stage and appeared destined to win the Virginia Triple Crown, but that run would come to an end after getting tangled up in an incident with Jake Crum, and then Aaron Donnelly, putting an end to his effort.
Peyton Sellers would go on to win the Virginia Triple Crown for the fifth time in his career with a ninth place finish after fading throughout the race’s second stage.
“That’s a real honor,” Sellers said. “To have this car here, the Hendricks ‘Flying 26’ on it, kind of a throwback scheme, saying how hard it is to win races in the state of Virginia. They’ve got a good thing with this Virginia Triple Crown. A lot of guys chasing it every year. To be able to win it five times is definitely a big feather in our cap.”
Attrition took its toll throughout much of the race. Jacob Heafner, Carter Langley and Parker Eatmon were involved in the race’s most spectacular incident when a bottleneck situation resulted in the three cars piling up on the frontstretch. Heafner, who walked away, got the worst of the incident.
Unofficial Results
- Carson Kvapil
- Mike Looney
- Treyten Lapcevich
- Casey Kelley
- Bobby McCarty
- Jake Crum
- Brent Crews
- Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
- Peyton Sellers
- Sam Yarbrough
- Andrew Grady
- Aaron Donnelly
- Lee Pulliam
- Jared Fryar
- Ryan Millington
- Doug Barnes, Jr.
- Clay Jones
- Camden Gullie
- Reyan Matthews
- Dillon Harville
- Daniel Silvestri
- Dexter Canipe, Jr.
- Blake Stallings
- Tristan McKee
- Connor Hall
- Landon Pembelton
- Kade Brown
- Conner Jones
- Stacy Puryear
- Buddy Isles, Jr.
- Trevor Ward
- Mason Diaz
- Timothy Peters
- Jacob Heafner
- Parker Eatmopn
- Carter Langley
- Matt Waltz
- Kyle Dudley
- Stuart Crews
- Jason York
