Kvapil frustrated, Gray a runner-up after late-race collision for Coronado glory

CORONADO, Calif. -- Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray fought tooth and nail over the win in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series' inaugural race at Naval Base Coronado. In the end, neither walked away with the trophy and an exchange of words was shared after late-race contact from Gray turned Kvapil, and errors from Gray allowed Austin Hill to pounce toward Victory Lane instead. RELATED: Race results | Naval Base Coronado photos Kvapil led much of the final stages of Saturday's United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 in the series' first contest on an active United States military base. But as the handling of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet faded, Gray's No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drew closer. Gray made his presence known with three laps remaining, carving to Kvapil's left at the exit of Turn 9 and remaining side-by-side for the next three corners. It all went wrong in Turn 12B, where Gray contacted Kvapil's left-rear quarter panel and spun the No. 1 car backward into the retaining tire barrier. Kvapil bounced off the wall and continued, losing just three spots in the process and taking the checkered flag fourth. But in search of his first O'Reilly victory in his 60th try, losing the top spot was all he needed to be annoyed. "Man, I hate coming up short," Kvapil said. "You can only do it so many times before it really gets to be a problem, and I feel like I need wins right now. I need to run good. I need to win races. Giving away another good one like that really hurts, and just another lost opportunity." With Kvapil pushed aside, Gray darted away with the race lead -- but not by a comfortable margin. The hard-charging Hill steadily reeled in Gray, pressuring the No. 54 into the white-flag lap. Gray stumbled under braking entering the track's scenic third turn, opening the door for Hill's No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to scoot through to the race lead and eventual win, while Gray had to settle for second. [caption id="attachment_516047" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media[/caption] The pass happened in Turn 3, but Gray believes Hill's pass began when he erred by contacting Kvapil. "I was able to get a good launch off of (Turn) 9 and get to (Kvapil's) left side and just picked up really bad wheel-hop at the end of all of my runs," Gray said. "And whenever I got underneath them there, I just wheel-hopped really bad. And it didn't benefit me at all by doing that, right? The only thing it did was let the 21 catch me. My ideal situation was to get by Carson as fast as possible and then have the 1 in between me and Austin. So unfortunately, I need to go back and see what I could have cleaned up there and managed the wheel hop a little better at the time of my run there. "Same thing with the 21 and how he got behind me. Just wheel-hopped in front of him a little bit and gave him the chance to get to pressure my left rear." WATCH: Gray discusses San Diego result Kvapil approached Gray's vehicle immediately after rolling to a stop on pit road, expressing his displeasure while Gray was still in the process of unbuckling. Prior run-ins this season with Gray were on Kvapil's mind, but that conversation was the extent of any post-race interactions between them. "We've raced forever since we were kids and never really had any trouble till this year," Kvapil said. "We've gotten into each other a few times, and kind of just accidental stuff, right? It's not been nothing malicious. And I don't know. Whenever that happens, it's pretty easy to go straight to 'I got wrecked.' And it might have happened, right? He might have went in there and aimed for my left-rear quarter panel. I don't know. But just was really hard racing at the end of the day." Kvapil, who set the race's Xfinity Fastest Lap, leaves the San Diego area seventh in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series standings. Gray improved three positions to 10th in the standings to enter a provisional spot in The Chase, where 12 drivers will contend for the championship later this season. The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 27 (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).