NASCAR Cup
Travis Kvapil preview
Talladega
Edited: Jun 1, 2018, 12:53 PM
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Kvapil to Get Back up to Speed at Talladega
Doesn't Expect Plate Change to Affect Racing
Statesville, N.C. (April 12, 2011) - Travis Kvapil and the No. 38 Long John Silver's team head to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway this weekend ready to make a point - and gain some points. After failing to qualify for last weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway, the team is eager to put that miss behind them and get back to business at Sunday's Aaron's 499.
Travis Kvapil, Front Row Motorsports Ford
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
TMone returns as an associate sponsor on the No. 38 Fusion, which will hit the super-fast track with the benefit of Ford's FR9 engine under the hood. Despite NASCAR's restrictor-plate change for the race - shrinking the holes and sapping horsepower - the team expects to see the usual high-speed, draft-driven racing the track is known for.
Kvapil has six previous starts on the 2.66-mile speedway, including one on the pole (fall 2008). Talladega is also the site of his best career finish in the Sprint Cup Series - sixth (spring 2008).
Comments from Long John Silver's team driver Travis Kvapil on Talladega:
"NASCAR made a restrictor-plate change for this Talladega race, making the openings smaller. I'm not really sure if it's going to have that much of an impact. I guess time will tell, but I don't think it will matter. At Talladega, we could go there and run 200 miles an hour or 190 miles an hour and it's going to be the same type of racing.
I feel like we would race the same with the bigger plate or a smaller plate.
Travis Kvapil
"The surface of the track is still so new. It's so smooth and it has a lot of grip. We don't ever really challenge the grip of the tires and handling is just really not an issue when we go there. I feel like we would race the same with the bigger plate or a smaller plate.
"I'm excited to go to Talladega. It's where I got my best career finish in the Sprint Cup Series. It's a place where, as David (Gilliland) showed in Daytona, anything can happen. It's an opportunity for us to go out and run in the top 10 for sure and even have a chance at winning.
"Obviously we need to regroup after missing the race at Texas last week. That was definitely not something we were expecting going into that race weekend. But we just struggled with our set-up a bit and didn't have the speed we needed. Going into Talladega, we shouldn't have to worry about handling, though. It's more about horsepower, which we have with the FR9 engines. So, we expect to rebound. We missed last fall's Talladega race but we plan on being in the middle of the action this Sunday."
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