Carson Kvapil fades late to P5 result after leading career-high laps at Gateway
Rachel Horton | NASCAR Digital Media
MADISON, Ill. — A second consecutive pole award and a career-high 105 laps led Saturday evening at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway were not enough to net Carson Kvapil his third win of the 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season.
After being passed for the lead by Jesse Love with 15 laps to go, the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet faded in traffic and wound up fifth at the checkered flag -- a fifth top five in the last six races -- while Love took his first victory of the year.
Kvapil had the clear-cut fastest car during the weening daylight hours, but as the night sky took over, the No. 1 didn't have the same pace.
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"I felt like our stuff was, for the first 30 (laps) was really good and then we were probably just even from there on out for the runs," Kvapil said after the race. "Stage 2, really good car again. Got passed on a restart and kind of got a taste of dirty air. Honestly, I felt like we were still the best car and just was kind of stuck in the air. I felt like our stuff probably faded just a touch on the long-run stuff compared to those guys. But I mean, either way, we had a really fast car all day, led a lot of laps, and qualified on the pole again this week. They did all the right things."
On the final 24-lap run to the finish, Kvapil got to the point before Turn 1 on the restart and appeared to set sail.
However, Love and Sheldon Creed were able to keep pace with Kvapil and eventually ran down the No. 1 with Love nudging Kvapil out of the lead in Turns 3 and 4 to get out front.
Kvapil kept bleeding spots and even found himself outside the top five before rallying around Austin Hill in the closing laps to save a top-five result amid a career day,
"I felt like we just got tighter," Kvapil said. "We loosened it up and got ourselves to the other side, but we were also in traffic so it's kind of hard to really say. We tightened it back up there for the last set of tires, and honestly, it fired off good. But I felt like we were probably just too tight to hold on for for a whole 50-lap run or whatever the number was there. Probably should have had them keep freeing it up, but was a little worried with the previous restart being a little free and just a little late back to wide open."
Amid a night of on-track tempers and drivers nodding to another chapter in a rivalry in Sunday's Cup Series race, Love's race-winning move to contact Kvapil may as well go down as clean as any normal pass in the same circumstance.
Kvapil has no issue with the move and hopes Love will feel the same if he returns the favor later in The Chase.
"It is what it is, right?" Kvapil said. "I'm probably not impressed about it, but I hope when the shoe's on the other foot that it's not a big deal. I probably wasn't the best car there at the end. I was kind of just trying to hold on and trying to get those guys racing. Definitely had more pace than me, but I don't know. I mean, it's for the win. I get it, right? Whoever gets clean air and gets out front's gonna probably win the race. So it's an important pass to make, but just hope whenever the shoe's on the other foot, there's no complaining."
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