Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not only a believer in Carson Kvapil, but is adamant about giving him the chance to succeed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“We had other opportunities this year to do something else entirely with some pretty cool names and up-and-coming projects that would have been good and brought some money,” Earnhardt Jr. told RACER. “But I kept telling Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) and everybody here, ‘My priority is Carson full-time.’ Yes, this is nice and this is easier financially, but I’m not giving up on this idea of him running full-time, and here we are.”
Kvapil, a rookie in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 1 Chevrolet, will compete for the series championship this weekend at Phoenix Raceway. And he will return next season to again run full-time and chase wins with JR Motorsports.
That was always the plan, even if the organization caught folks off-guard with how they rolled out their announcements. In September, JR Motorsports announced the hiring of Rodney Childers. Childers will be the crew chief for the No. 1 team, with Kvapil and Connor Zilisch sharing the ride.
“We had every intention of Carson being a full-time driver, and we, or me personally, felt like that was what we were going to achieve,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We had Rodney coming in, we had some other announcements coming together with Rajah (Caruth), and so forth. So, we felt like, let’s go ahead and tell everybody we’ve got Rodney and he’s going to do a car with Carson and with Connor. We were literally just announcing the Rodney deal, and most of the replies were, ‘Wait, Carson is not going to be full-time? This is crazy. How is this possible?’
“I was like, wait a minute, we’re going to get him full-time. His family and I, privately, are looking at all the options of every car in the field. What would it cost? What are the races? Our belief is that Carson is going to go drive races with Rodney and win, and if he does that, he needs to be in every other race to be eligible for the playoffs. Rodney and Carson are going to have every race in the playoffs, because Connor can’t drive in the playoffs. So, if we win a race, we need to be ready.
“So, inside this building and in my head, it was automatic that Carson would be full-time. How we made that happen could have happened 100 different ways.”
Earnhardt Jr. is adamant that Kvapil will be in competitive stuff throughout 2026. Once he advanced into the Championship 4 last weekend, it helped solidify the deals that were coming together.
Kvapil is the 22-year-old son of 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil. The expectations for the younger Kvapil were admittedly “super high,” according to Earnhardt Jr., after he earned four top-10 finishes in his nine starts with the team last season. Among those results were a near victory at Dover Motor Speedway and being in contention for the win at Michigan International Speedway before being collected in a late-race incident.
But the results this season have not been as expected, and the cars have been a struggle for Kvapil and crew chief Andrew Overstreet. The duo is winless with an average finish of 13.8, and is likely the underdog in the championship fight.
“We have all been in the room multiple times and talked individually… trying to figure out what it is,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “No one ever wanted to blow it up. No one wanted to ever say we change a big piece here, or maybe it’s this or that. I believe in Overstreet as a crew chief. He’s worked really hard to be in that position, and I think he’ll be a crew chief on one of our cars next year.
“I called Rodney and I said, ‘I have this opportunity for you if you want to think about it.’ He said, ‘Man, that sounds pretty fun.’ I told Rodney this, ‘I believe in Carson, and I don’t know how many chances I’m going to have to get him to victory lane and get him recognized, and if you can come in here and we can go get this kid what I think he can do, then he’s off to the races.’”
Earnhardt Jr. praised the work Kvapil and Overstreet have put in together, and their maturity in not making things awkward about the plans for next season. He also said spotter T.J. Majors has played a significant role in Kvapil’s development throughout the season, putting together packages of information for the driver to consume.
“Carson has never bitched or complained or said anything where I want, ‘Man, that’s rude,’” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He’s never talked down about his team. He’s never minimized Overstreet. He’s never pointed the finger at anyone. He’s not that kind of guy. And there have been some tough moments this year where they have struggled, and he gets down. He has emotion. But he’s handled it pretty well considering the pressure he’s under.
“I don’t think anybody appreciates how much pressure he’s under. They (his family) have risked everything – financial support and everything they’ve done – to give these kids this opportunity. Their dad and their family, they’ve all sacrificed everything they’ve got to give Caden and Carson a chance.”