Carson Kvapil, Spencer Davis Take CARS Tour Wins at South Boston

Carson Kvapil returned to zMAX CARS Tour victory lane on Saturday night, winning the Late Model Stock portion of the AutosByNelson.com 280.

The win, Kvapil’s second in the last three CARS Tour events at South Boston, was his first with the series since May 3 at Ace Speedway.

Kvapil started sixth and quickly faded to the ninth position at the start of the race. He broke into the top five at lap 62 and methodically worked his way forward, taking the lead on lap 102 from Ryan Millington.

“I thought we had a pretty good car all race long,” said Kvapil. “We fell back to eighth or ninth there to begin the race. I didn’t really know if we had that good of a car at that point. I felt like we did. It seemed like we didn’t have the pace and couldn’t get off the corner like those guys could.

“Once the race started winding down, we were able to pick them off. Once we figured out the line we needed to run with this car, we had a little bit better tire at the end. We had a better car all race long, managed it better and were there at the end.”

Since that last trip to victory lane, Kvapil has added six more starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to his resume with JR Motorsports. However, he still has a healthy amount of respect and appreciation for his CARS Tour roots.

“I have a lot of appreciation for this series, honestly,” said Kvapil. “I feel like this series is so tough and prepares you so well for moving up and moving on. Everyone’s tough. [Ryan] Millington, Bobby McCarty, Butterbean [Queen], Connor Hall, these guys are no joke. This isn’t a Saturday Late Model race. We’re all here for one reason, to win. Everyone here has a car capable of winning.”

Treyten Lapcevich finished second, continuing a string of strong finishes in the second half of the season.

“We really just made a lot of adjustments on the car and got it where it needed to be,” said Lapcevich. “Everyone with the BKFC No. 77 was really good tonight.

“I just think I needed to get by the 15 [of Millington] a little bit earlier. I knew that if the 8 [of Kvapil] got out front, it was going to be tough to get back to him. I had a great time for my first time at South Boston. Thanks to all the fans for coming out, and hopefully I can come back next year.”

Coming off a win at Florence Motor Speedway, Millington finished third to add another podium finish to his tally. While Millington started on the pole and led the first 100 laps, he knew his car was struggling with a tight condition and could be susceptible late in the race.

“I knew pretty early on tonight we were probably a little bit too tight when I had to go to the top to find some speed when those boys got a run on the bottom,” said Millington. “I knew we didn’t have what we needed to win the race. Who knows, if we had been able to stay out front on that restart, we might have been able to hold them off. When the 8 got out front and the 77 got around me, there wasn’t much I could do.”

Layne Riggs finished fourth, with Brenden Queen rounding out the top five.

It took 10 CARS Tour races for Spencer Davis to score his elusive first win of the season at Florence Motor Speedway. He didn’t wait nearly as long for the second win.

Davis took the checkered flag in the Pro Late Model feature on Saturday at South Boston Speedway, giving him back-to-back wins in his pursuit of the series championship.

The veteran driver chalked his team’s recent surge up to a simple factor – tough love.

“Tough love, man,” said Davis. “You can’t settle for ordinary, you know what I mean? We settled for ordinary so long in my career Truck racing once we got out of the KBM stuff.

“I’m here to win. That’s the only thing I’m here to do, win. We wanted to put it on them this weekend. We won every practice, sat on the pole, won the race.”

While Davis won from the pole, it did not come without a challenge. On the final restart, he had to hold off Tristan McKee to secure the victory.

“Tristan McKee gave me a run for my money on the outside there that last restart,” said Davis. “When we got away, it still wasn’t smooth sailing. Determination, that’s what it takes to get these wins. Everyone grinds deeper, everyone works harder.

“It stresses you out, to be honest. I’ve been in the other situation where you lead everything, do everything perfect and it gets taken from you. That seems like the storybook of my career so it’s nice and different for a change. Soaking it up, you never know when you’re last one is, so you’ve got to win them like it’s the last.”

McKee settled for a second-place finish despite the late-race battle for the win. McKee now has five top-five finishes in 11 CARS Tour events this year.

“It was feeling pretty good the first run,” said McKee. “The second run it got a little tight. After we had that caution for the last run, it got better. We had some contact in three and it went away after that. We had a really good car.”

The night started in dramatic fashion, with several cars involved in an incident – including front-row starter T.J. DeCaire – before the field ever reached turn one. Caden Kvapil was one of the cars involved in this melee, but recovered for a third-place finish.

“We definitely had an unlucky start there,” said Kvapil. “I really don’t know how we’re missing shifts in Pro cars, but definitely hurt my car, for sure. The toe was knocked out like crazy. The team got it fixed close enough. We didn’t really know if we had any more damage after that. We had a really good car. I was able to pick up a couple of spots.

“Once I realized we could keep going and we weren’t going to end up in the pits, I was able keep rolling top. Most people looked like they were on the bottom, and I knew from last year when I ran all year on the top I had to be up there to make some passes.”

Kaden Honeycutt finished fourth, with T.J. DeCaire rounding out the top five.

-Photo credit: CARS Tour

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