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TRUCKS: Kvapil Goes Two-for-Tennessee in Nashville
Written by: Kevin Krefting   
08/10/2007
Nashville, TN
 
Travis Kvapil proudly displays his Gibson after winning the Toyota Tundra 200 on August 11, 2007 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) » More Photos
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series runs three races annually in the State of Tennessee at tracks in Memphis, Nashville, and Bristol. The Memphis race was run at the end of June, the Nashville race sits firmly in the middle of August and Bristol closes out August each season. Travis Kvapil picked up a controversial win at Memphis after late-race contact with Brad Keselowski, but there was no controversy on the track in Nashville as Kvapil came on strong in the final third of the Toyota Tundra 200 to go two-for-Tennessee. Combined with his win earlier in the season at Michigan, Kvapil has a trio of victories after 15 races of the 2007 season.

Kvapil started the No. 6 K&N Filters Ford from the eleventh position and methodically worked his way through the top ten throughout the first 100 laps of the 150-lap race. The longer the field ran under green, the better Kvapil's became and as they neared 40 consecutive green flag laps following the third caution of the day, Kvapil made quick work of second place Ted Musgrave and then race-long leader Mike Skinner to make the first pass for the lead.

Musgrave would lead as the caution waved for fourth time on lap 111, but Kvapil retook the top spot after pit stops and led from lap 112 through the conclusion.
Ted Musgrave just wants to improve one position in this year's Smith's Las Vegas 350. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR) » More Photos

"We weren't that good off the trailer, but Mike Beam and the guys never gave up and worked and worked to give me a chance to get up there and race with Skinner and Musgrave," Kvapil said. "Even when Skinner was so far ahead in the early part of the race, they were thinking about what we needed to do to make it better. We needed some track position, because clean air always helps and once we were able to get up there and get past them and get out front, the truck was a
lot better."

Ron Hornaday worked his way past Skinner late in the going, and following the final caution flag at lap 122 it appeared Hornaday would make a challenge for the victory. But after pressuring Kvapil hard for the first couple of circuits after the restart, Hornaday eventually was forced to settle for second at the finish. Unofficially, the No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet was 2.403 seconds behind Kvapil at the stripe.

"Travis runs me clean, and I wasn't going to play rough with him with 30 to go," Hornaday said. "Maybe if it was three laps to go it would have been a different story. We were a little better through the corners but he was a little better off the corners."

Hornaday relied on a mid-race change by his Rick Ren-led crew for improved performance over the final half of the race.

"I don't even know what Rick changed," Hornaday said. "Whatever change he made to the right side air pressures really made the truck come alive and we were able to get up there and run with Travis and Skinner."

Skinner was forced to settle for third at the finish. Skinner led the first 103 laps in the No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota and looked like he was on pace to pick up his fifth win of the season, but he was not able to keep Kvapil and Hornaday back at the end.

"Our truck got a little tight. When we were in clean air, we could get away with it. In dirty air, we didn't have anything for Travis," Skinner said. "His truck was just really, really strong -- they mashed the gas when they needed to go. Our Tundra was strong, we just got too tight. If we could have got a little better handling on this coil binding -- this is only the second time that we ran this stuff."
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