Still in pursuit of his first career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory, Carson Kvapil came closer than he's ever come before to achieving it in this past weekend's inaugural race at Qualcomm Circuit, more commonly known as the Coronado Street Course, on Naval Base Coronado.
He still managed to finish fourth, giving him five consecutive top 10 finishes and strengthening his position in the point standings relative to the playoff cut line. With five top five finishes and five more top 10 finishes this year, he's seventh in the standings, 124 points above the cutoff.
One year ago, Kvapil made a surprise run to the Championship 4 as a rookie, after it had already been announced that he would be splitting time behind the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with Connor Zilisch, who graduated from JR Motorsports to the Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing after his 10-win season.
As it turned out, Kvapil ended up retaining his full-time status for 2026 after all, as JR Motorsports have run a part-time fifth entry, the No. 9 Chevrolet, for him on select occasions. When both that entry and the No. 1 car are occupied, he's competed for DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports behind the wheel the No. 91 car.
Carson Kvapil switching teams yet again
The No. 91 car is the car he's set to drive this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, marking his seventh team switch and 14th total car switch through the first 19 race weekends of the season.
Kvapil has not driven the same car two races in a row since the April races at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
This weekend, Zilisch is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet, and the No. 9 Chevrolet has been added by JR Motorsports for his Trackhouse Cup teammate Shane van Gisbergen.
The No. 9 car was not entered at Coronado, so Kvapil had been the most recent driver of both the No. 1 car and the No. 9 car entering this weekend. He drove the No. 9 entry to a 10th place finish at Pocono. His four starts in the car this year have produced four top 11 finishes.
Zilisch has two wins in seven O'Reilly Series starts this year, all in the No. 1 car. He won at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and at Watkins Glen International in May. Van Gisbergen finished eighth in the Watkins Glen race after winning earlier in the year at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Both of his starts so far this year have come in the No. 9 car.
As for Kvapil, he is set to replace Jesse Iwuji this weekend. Iwuji's first start of the year fittingly came on the San Diego Navy base. Kvapil has run the No. 91 car three times so far this season, and his top finish of ninth came at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
Saturday's Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Sonoma Raceway starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season's fourth and final non-oval event!
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