The quest for three CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car championships in a row was always going to be difficult. The competition is as good as it gets with any series in the country, but Carson Kvapil’s task became even harder when it was announced that he would be missing a race at Hickory Motor Speedway next month so he can make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut.

But even with that, Kvapil and his JR Motorsports team still proved to everyone on Sunday at Southern National Motorsports Park that the road to the 2024 CARS Tour championship goes through them as Kvapil opened the season with the victory.

Surprisingly, Kvapil’s race almost came to a very early end as he and Deac McCaskill made hard contact just a handful of laps into the race entering turn one. Kvapil’s white No. 8 machine ramped up the left rear of McCaskill’s white and blue No. 08 car, but amazingly both drivers were able to not only keep going, but stay in contention.

“I’m not really sure, but I thought I was up to his number with my nose and he just started coming down right at the flagstand,” explained Kvapil. “I wasn’t even turning into the corner yet and I was already climbing up his left rear. I’d have to see the video to make sure I’m right on that, but I feel like he kind of just chopped me on the entry.”

Even still, Kvapil was strong enough to not only pounce to take the lead late from Brent Crews who led most of Sunday’s 125-lap race, but Kvapil also saved enough to turn in his fastest lap of the day on Lap 121.

But even though he saved plenty for the end, Kvapil needed it as a rash of late-race cautions led to plenty of restarts, including the final one with just six laps remaining.

“It was really worrying,” said Kvapil. “Having Connor (Hall) behind me, I’ve raced with him the last two years on the series and he’s a tough racer. He knows what he’s doing and he ain’t no slouch. So I knew he was going to do all he could to get to me obviously. I felt like I had the best car at the end of the race, but on those restarts you never know if someone can hang with you for four or five laps.”

Hall, in his first race with Nelson Motorsports, did manage to hold on to second-place while McCaskill, even with the damage from the contact early with Kvapil, rounded out the podium. Chase Burrow and Kaden Honeycutt completed the top five.

Kvapil now heads to the second race of the season at New River All-American Speedway on March 24 in a very familiar spot: the points leader. That said, he is expected to miss the third race on the calendar at Hickory in early April to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut. 

Kvapil won the 2022 championship even with missing one race due to a suspension, but he said pulling off a similar feat in 2024 is going to be much more difficult.

“It’s really tough. I’m optimistic obviously, but I’m also realistic,” said Kvapil. “Butterbean, Connor Hall, Bobby McCarty, all these guys you name it, they’re on their A-game. They’ve got A-class teams, and they know what they’re doing. It would be awesome to do that again, but I feel times have changed even just in the past two years.”

CARS Tour at Southern National Motorsports Park Unofficial Results