On Saturday, April 18, Carson Kvapil,  a rising star for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team, JR Motorsports, started the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in Kansas from pole position. Even though Kvapil's day ended with just three laps, he came out without any injury after an airborne crash. How was it possible?

Driving the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Kvapil was on lap three, battling three-wide with his teammates, Justin Alleiger and William Byron. Byron, who was on the inside, made contact with Kvapil’s left rear, making him spin out into the outside wall before Parker Retzlaff hit him.

The hit from Retzlaff caused the car to go airborne. After twisting through the air, the car crashed down on its side and flipped over entirely. It then slid the length of the backstretch on its roof before tumbling a few more times and coming to rest upside down near the entrance of Turn 3.

The red flag flew out immediately as the safety crew rushed to help the driver out of his car. Fortunately, the driver escaped the crash unharmed and was released from the infield care center. 

"I actually didn't think it was going to flip over like that but once it started doing that, really didn't seem too bad," said Kvapil after being released from the infield care center. “My biggest thing is that I just hate it for this whole Bass Pro Shop team. Rodney [Childers, crew chief] and these guys brought a really fast race car, and I was just hoping to get through the first couple of laps and kind of sort it out.

Even though Kvapil came out unscathed, Retzlaff suffered heavy nose damage. Meanwhile, Kvapil entered the Kansas Lottery 300 in fifth and was competing for the  $100,000 bonus money. However, with the DNF, he will no longer have a shot at winning the prize. 

Carson Kvapil Opens Up About His Role in the Incident

Kvapil said it marked the first time he had ever gone over in a stock-car race. Even then, he took a majority of the blame for the incident

“I feel like I could have done a little bit better to position myself differently, to not be in that spot. But the biggest thing is, just got aero-free off the left rear when the 88 got to me and went around," Kvapil said.

Kvapil mainly drives the No. 1 Chevrolet under the guidance of Rodney Childers. But he has also made a pair of starts in the No. 9 car. He will also run four races with DGM Racing in 2026. Earlier, Kvapil drove the No. 91 Chevy at Circuit of The Americas.

Now, Kvapil is looking forward to putting this incident behind him and focusing on Talladega, scheduled for April 25.

“I feel like the points are such a big deal this time around or this season, and I felt like we were kind of clinging on to fifth in points and a couple good races and we were going to be hopefully top three, top four,” he said.

Will he make up for points left on the table at Phoenix? Share your thoughts.

Read more at RFK Racing Digest.

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar