What’s Happening?

Carson Kvapil continues to impress every time he hops into a race car, but he is without a full-time ride. Kvapil could go in plenty of places, but getting a full-time opportunity is easier said than done. What does he have to do to nab one 2025?

• Carson Kvapil is a multi-time CARS Tour Champion and the son of 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Champion Travis Kvapil. Carson still competes full-time in the CARS Tour for JR Motorsports.
• In the Xfinity Series, Carson has three top-five finishes in five starts for JRM. His connection to JRM makes that an attractive landing spot.
• However, some things could keep Kvapil from going there. Getting a full-time ride in NASCAR requires many things to go right, including the right opportunity and enough funding. Does Kvapil have everything he needs to find a full-time seat in NASCAR?

The Obstacles Kvapil Faces

On pure merit, Carson Kvapil could easily get a full-time ride for plenty of reasons. He’s a CARS Tour Champion who always performs well when he joins the Xfinity Series grid. In his lone Truck Seris start in 2023, he rebounded from a 27th starting spot to finish 12th.

Kvapil has struggled on qualifying day, with an average starting position of 24.3 across these starts. Some of that can be explained away by qualifying getting canceled, and it’s worth noting that Kvapil is not getting much practice time before qualifying. Either way, he figures it out by race time and finds a way to the front.

However, it’s not always that simple. Heading into this year, Kvapil did not have a major corporate sponsor backing him through the ranks. Chevy Truck Season sponsored his first two Xfinity Series starts, and HendrickCars.com backed him for his lone Truck Series event. If teams wanted him, they’d have to find a way to fill that sponsorship gap.

Clarience Technologies has hopped on board, which is helping Kvapil a lot. This added six additional races to his 2024 schedule, bringing his total to nine. Whether or not that expands to a full season is uncertain.

Another factor is open seats. JRM is crowded, especially with Connor Zlisch reportedly in talks to join the team in 2025. Sam Mayer may leave to join the Cup Series, and Brandon Jones might have his contract up at the end of the year. However, no one knows how that will work out, so it’s unclear if there will be room for Kvapil at JRM.

The same goes for other prominent Chevy teams in the lower series. Chase Purdy has struggled with Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series, but will he be gone after the year to open up a place for Kvapil? Does Kvapil have the funding to go to Kaulig in the Xfinity Series if there is a reshuffle?

The right opportunities have to open up, and Kvapil has to have enough funding to get there. Time will tell if that happens, but it’s certainly possible he could race full-time in 2025.

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