NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

November 5, 2026

Carson Kvapil

Press Conference

An Interview with:

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I think it's hard because every situation is different, and the situation we're in is we've kind of got to make it happen, and we have nothing to lose and all to gain.

I don't really know if my dad, honestly, gave me much advice, other than just go rip it and not hold back and try to be 100 percent from start to finish.

But I think from Rodney and Dale and everyone on the team, I think it's more so been we've just got to go have a perfect day. We've got to qualify good. We've got to execute everything, from lap 1 of practice to the end of the race on the white flag. Just being perfect and not making mistakes.

Obviously if you pound the fence and blow a tire, your day is over, and our championship run is most likely over. But also, if you just run eighth in the stage and barely get any stage points, then your day is also going to be over too, or our championship run is going to be over I guess you'd say.

It's going to be a hard balance, but I think just trying to be perfect and execute from day one, or lap one.

Rodney has been great. He's been awesome. Just his veteran experience and his personality and everything, whether it's from a team aspect of bonding the team together, that's been great, to just on-track race cars, the speed of them. Everything is really good.

I think he's still figuring it out. I think he's starting to really hone in on it here these last couple weeks. Me and the crew guys have been talking, and we're all going to stick together next year for the 8 car.

But we're just thinking about how great our next year is going to be and how strong we're going to be out of the box, whereas this year, even though I jumped around from car to car, Rodney was figuring it out for the first half of the season.

I think next year, it's something we're really looking forward to, but first we've got to get through this weekend and try to do everything we can to win the championship.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: I'm going to go 9. Honestly, pretty good. I would say the only reason it's not a 10 is because this track isn't one where -- like I said, you can run a lap in your head.

I can't really run a lap in my head here. Places like Martinsville or Bristol or any of those tracks that I've been to a couple times, that I'm comfortable with, I can close my eyes right now and race a lap in my head and feel really good about it, where I don't really feel that about this place.

But really everything else is why I chose a 9. I feel like we're fresh off a win, so we're super pumped up. We're confident. We're happy.

The last 10 weeks have been epic for us really, I would say. I don't think our win count is there, but I feel like as an average running position the last 10 weeks, it's been great. That and I think Rodney with his veteran experience can really bring the heat to the last race and bring a fast car, and they were really good here at Homestead for all those years with Kevin.

Just feel really good about the weekend. We're in a position where we're not guarding anything. At worst we're going to lose one spot in the points and go on to next year, and we have four spots to gain up front.

We're just going to be on keel all weekend and just not hold back. Obviously you can't go out there and knock the wall down in Stage 1 and not finish the stage, but you also can't just go out there and ride around and finish 12th in the stage. We're going to have to make it happen. It all comes down to where we qualify and if our car is as fast as what I think it's going to be. All those fall details to bring it all together.

Q. Going out there and putting that run together, does that get in your head at all?

CARSON KVAPIL: I mean, yeah. You don't want to fire off the race and you qualify 9th and you fall back to 12th and you're melting down, right? But at the same time, you just have one thing to do, and that's to execute the day, get stage points, win the race, and not worry about anyone else. They're almost far enough ahead to where it's like, I don't even care where they're running. Let's just go have a perfect day. If we do everything we're supposed to do and win the race and we finish second in points, cool. If we go out there and win the championship, awesome.

Just going to try to focus on our deal and focus on our No. 1 car and try and do all the right things for our team and not really worry about what everyone else is doing.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: It's fun. This place is a really good racetrack. I feel like you can race just about anywhere on this track. The tires wear out like crazy, which is the type of racing us drivers really love. It's always fun to get up to the top and run the fence and do all those things and pull side jobs. It's just one of those tracks you always look forward to on the schedule.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I feel like this week compared to last week, I feel like last week we came in as underdogs and we didn't have a win, and we pointed our way in and everything worked out for us to be there.

Which didn't change the mindset of trying to be perfect and trying to win the championship and trying to do all those right things, but I feel like this year I feel a little bit more fitting or deserving, I guess you'd say, whatever that word would be. Just feel like we belong here.

I feel like we should be better than fourth in points right now. We've had a few bad races and a few races where we've lost 20 points on the last lap. It's been tough the last few weeks, but our cars have been really fast, and we're fresh off a win at Martinsville.

And the mood coming into this weekend has been really good for us. I feel like we were 79 out, then we were 59 out, now we're 31 out. Just need to keep making big chunks at it, and we're down to the finale here.

I'd much rather be 20 ahead right now, but where we're at, we're 31 out, and we're just going to go focus on our deal. That's just being on keel all day and not giving anything up.

I feel like where we're at, we have four spots to go forward, which is doable, and one spot to go back. I'd much rather lose one spot in the points at the end of the day if I make a mistake trying to get to the lead. Just try to be aggressive all day, whether it's on the box, whether it's in the car. Just going to try to lead every lap and win the race is really our simple goal.

Q. How do you feel that drivers deal with pressure? I'm wondering if it's true that you feel that you're better than an average person as a driver? What can you say about that?

CARSON KVAPIL: I think there can be good pressure and there can be bad pressure. Pressure is not one thing. I feel like for me, I feel a little bit of pressure going into this weekend just in the fact that I feel like we are a championship-caliber team and we should be able to win this championship.

But at the same time, I don't feel a lot of pressure because we made a few mistakes along the way to put ourselves in a hole, whether it's a loose wheel leading at Bristol or a mechanical issue at Charlotte or flat-out just getting passed on the last lap for a win.

I just feel like we're in a hole right now, and we have one spot to lose and four to gain. Just not really trying to pressure myself a whole lot. I'm trying to take the whole week -- I obviously prepped for this week and whatnot, but just trying to go into it just like any week mindset and try to be on keel from lap one of the race to the end.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: A little bit of both, honestly. It's not been like, all right, to win the championship we have to do this. But for us, it's been just talking about how we maximize the day and what we do to get the most points, whether we're going to put a set of tires on if it happens in the race. We're just trying to be ready for everything and be ready for any caution that comes out or whatnot.

But no, we all know that whatever -- however this race goes is going to be -- the championship is going to be on the line, but at the same time we're just doing what we've done the last 10 weeks straight, and that's trying to be good, trying to qualify good. We know we have a good pit stall in pit stall 1 and just trying to lead all the laps and win the race just like we have the last few weeks.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I think just his mood and how we're talking about the race and whatnot, it's not been nothing groundbreaking. It's just like anybody. We want to win the championship. We all do. But I feel like the biggest thing that's been really cool to see is how we've been as a team, and that's meetings before Talladega, meetings before Martinsville.

Just the confidence that he brings to the table and the experience and how he bonds the team together has been really cool to see, and I think he's done a really good job of that. It's given us all -- whether it's the front end mechanic, the crew chief, the driver, the spotter, it's given us all the boost or the kick in the tail to get every last little bit out of the car or get that last little bit in qualifying and do all those small things to put together a perfect race.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I feel like racing grassroots and late model racing, dirt racing, doing all that, for me -- there's a few different ways to look at it. If someone would have told me six years ago that I was racing for a NASCAR championship whenever I was just a nobody racing a late model for my dad, I would say you're crazy. But it's just super cool to have this shot to be here.

Like I said, I feel like we've made mistakes to take ourselves out of the lead of points and whatnot. I feel like we're better than what we are in fourth, but just super cool and just make the most of it and have a perfect day. Don't leave nothing on the table. Do all the right things to execute a perfect day of leading laps, winning stages. And if we win the race and it works out, we're champions; and if the 7 or whoever has a really good day and it doesn't work out, it is what it is, we'll move on to next year.

Q. Do you feel any extra momentum and confidence going into this weekend?

CARSON KVAPIL: Yes, because I feel like just like Indy, we won Indy and backed it up with Iowa. If we go with that, we should back Martinsville up with a win at Homestead.

But as a team, from a team standpoint, the worst thing you can do is lose points going into the final race because you feel like you're in a hole and you wish you didn't lose those points and what could we have done better.

The last few weeks for us, we've went from 79 out to -- we were 11 out, but then we went from 79 out to 59 out to 31 out, and now we're here. We're on the uphill climb right now, and we just need one more big chunk of points to be champions.

I feel like we're in a good spot because obviously I wish I could be five ahead in the lead. That would be great. But at the same time, there's no stress for me and our team. We know the situation we're in. We're not expecting to go out there and we should win the championship. That's not really the expectation.

But as a team, we all want to, and that's our goal is to win the championship and have a good day. But we're just far enough out to where it's going to be hard. Even if we win the race, we still have to score 11 more stage points or points than the 7 throughout the day. So that's going to be a really tall ask, considering he was the previous winner of this race.

But you just never know what happens. We just need to go out and do the best we can for our team and try to be tunnel vision on our team and our situation, and heck, we might win a stage and finish third in the next stage and win the race and the 7 finishes 10th.

You just never know how it's going to work or who's going to be fast. It's hard to tell until you get on track or practice. And then really, even with that, it's hard to tell until you get to Stage 1 of who's good and who's not. Just try to be perfect tomorrow -- or Saturday.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: It's a good one. I really like Miami. I liked seeing that we were coming back here for the championship race. I feel like this place is one of those where you've got to have a good car and you've got to be smart and you can move around a bunch. So it kind of leaves it up to the driver to make those small differences that add up to a lead.

It's a fun one. I liked Phoenix, going there for the Final Four. But at the same time I felt like there was a lot of things that could go wrong for you at Phoenix or things could get mixed up really easy, where I feel like Homestead, if you're running up front all day, you're probably going to run up front; and if you're off, you're probably going to be off all day.

I enjoy this place, and it's a good one for me.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, we've looked at it and seen our situation and evaluated what we're going to have to do, and just like I said, that's win the race. Still score 11 more points than the 7 car throughout the day. That's kind of the guy that we're circling because I feel like we're within eight or nine points of second place right now in fourth.

I think if you go have a good day and win the race, I think that is going to be taken care of alone. The next order of business would be trying to get in front of the 7 car in points, and that's just try and outrun him all day and outrun him at the end and just be perfect.

We know the situation we're in, which is not the best one. It's not the highest percentage winning points situation. But like I said, we went from 79 to 59 to 31 out. Just need to be perfect and win the race, get those bonus points and win stages and just have a really good day from top to bottom.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, it's been a really tough year, I would say. Bouncing around from the 1, the 9, the 91. There was 11 weeks straight where I was in a different car number and a different crew chief and a different trailer, all those things. It's okay, you can go do that. But to maximize this situation and this O'Reilly deal, it's so hard to jump around and do that when everybody else gets their consistency in.

I felt like once we went full-time with the 1 a few races prior to the Chase starting, gosh, we just hit the ground running. We were so fast and finishing races. I think we finished second the first two weeks in a row, then won Indy, then won Iowa. I felt like our whole Chase hasn't went how we wanted it to. We're fourth in points, and I'm disappointed in that. But I kind of thought going into it that you've got one bad race, and that was about it, or I feel like we've had two.

Kind of makes sense we're in the situation we're in right now, but at the same time everyone on the 1 team has done such a fantastic job to, A, bounce around at the beginning of the year with me and Connor, and B, to lock in and really figure it out here in the Chase. And we're fresh off a win at Martinsville. So the direction we're in is the right one, going up in points and we're getting wins, getting good finishes.

The situation is we've got to go have a perfect day, and we can't just go ride around and finish top 5, top 10 in the stages and look for a top 5 at the end. We have to win the race and win stages and get good stage points all day, and we have to outrun the 7 all day and win the race.

It's going to be hard. The situation we're in is not the best one. I'd rather be 30 in the lead than 30 in the red. It's the situation we're in, and we went from 79 out to 59 out to 31 out. There's no reason we can't get to the points lead on Saturday.

But it's not going to be easy by any means. We're all going to have to walk in, and I think from a team standpoint, the whole last week, the whole last two, three weeks really, we've been super focused on the goal, which is bringing the fastest race car and making the best decision and doing the best preparation for the week and getting every last little bit out of the car and me, and I think that's really started to come together.

Just got to focus in on our situation. I feel like we're far enough out to where we're not worrying about where the 7 is running and all that or where the 2 is at. It's just go run a race. If we do all the right things, which is win a stage, and just say if you get 15 stage points and win the race, there's a chance it doesn't work still, and there's a chance it does work.

It's just going to be all about trying to focus on us and trying to maximize our day just like any other week.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I feel like for me growing up, if I didn't work on it with my dad or do whatever with them to get them ready, I wasn't going to race. We didn't have the -- we weren't fortunate enough to be able to go and drive somebody's established team in a fast race car and do that.

But we had enough to where we could go out and buy a used race car and build interior panels for it and hang the body on it and do it on our own. I was fortunate enough to be in that situation. Some people aren't that fortunate.

But just we had to work on them. It was me and him, no paid employees, nothing like that. I still work on race cars every day. I do my stuff at JRM throughout the day and get ready for the race weekend, and then I go home and just -- like yesterday, I think it was, I went home after I did my meetings at JRM and pulled a transmission out of a late model.

It's just been that way. It's how I raced growing up. I understand the race cars. I understand the amount of work that goes into them. Gosh, I knock the nose off one of them and I feel bad for every guy in the fab shop and the whole team because I know how much goes into it, whereas some don't.

I try to let my O'Reilly guys handle it all because a lot of people ask me why don't you work on the O'Reilly car, and it's just different. I feel like everyone in the O'Reilly shop has a job, and that's their job; and if you try to do it, you're just in the way.

Just something I've always done, and it's just normal to me.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, I've got a clue of what he's going to try to do next year. It's nothing crazy. It's just like anybody trying to get a shot. It's maybe running this car here and there a couple times. Maybe you're going to get a shot to drive this thing three times.

But at the same time, I think you've just got to go figure it out on your own. And I helped him when he was going to Bristol in the 76 truck, just kind of get ready for it because it's a lot to take in right away.

But just like me, he's got my dad and Dale Jr. and all these good people in his corner and in his ear that they can help him through all those things. And I feel like I'm going to try to do my best to help as well, but at the same time just got to go figure it out and learn.

That's kind of where I'm at. I feel like I'm finally getting over the hump of trying to figure everything out and trying to understand what's going on, and I feel like I've gotten to the point where I get it now.

I feel like next year for us, just like I was telling somebody else, I was talking to my crew guys earlier this week, and it was, man, we need to go focus on winning this championship and doing all the right things and this is the main order of business.

But gosh, it's hard not to think about what we're going to have next year with Rodney having a year under his belt and me being on my third year, which I feel like is really the first year where I've fully, like, okay, I know exactly what to do Race 1 of the season.

Just super excited about next year and all those things.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, he's an asset to everybody. Just like anything, we go talk to him after practice and get his mood on things and what he thinks of the track or what he thinks of the rule change or whatever it may be. But really from a team standpoint, too, it's the guy that -- his experience is just so deep that he knows right away what's going to work, what's not going to work and all that.

Having him as a teammate is good, and I'm excited for him to come back for a couple years. He's fast. He's probably one of the -- he's probably the driver in the field that makes the best moves all the time, I guess you could say. There's times where you're like, man, how did he just pass me. It's crazy. Just goes back to all the experience he has, and he's in a fast car too. You match that all up, and there's a lot of success there.

Q. Internally, I think fans don't really understand what it's like going up against your teammate. What is that like, preparation, all that?

CARSON KVAPIL: It's hard because you've got what they've got and it's up to you to do a better job or it's up to your crew chief to make one correct change versus their car. It's hard because you're in the same stuff, especially when you go up against a guy like Justin. He's been racing since early 2010s, late 2000s of just full-time racing, whether it's an O'Reilly car or a Cup car or anything like that. He's just got so much experience.

When you go up against that and all the things that he's done, you have to outperform him with a quarter of the experience, or even less than that. The days you do outrun him and you win races, those are cool because you know how experienced he is and how good he is, and you were able to do a little better job, whether it was with the car or just on track.

Q. Your competition meetings, have those changed at all this past week?

CARSON KVAPIL: You can tell it's different, but it's not that different. For us, I feel like the situation we're in, it's not -- we're not calculating how many points to get here versus there versus this guy. It's just go race, go have a good day.

We're 31 out. The expectation is not to win the championship. We're not expected to make that gap up, no problem. It's going to be hard, but at the same time our goal as a team is definitely to win the championship. If we finish second in points -- we're fourth right now. If we jump to second in points, we're going to be disappointed.

No matter what happens, we're really happy with how the year has went. Really excited for next year, working with Rodney full time, in the same car every week and all that.

Yeah, there's definitely some differences where we're talking about what's different about this week versus any other week, car-wise, track-wise. But at the same time, we need to focus on our race car and race team and do what's best for us.

And if we go out and win a stage and finish third in a stage and win the race to win the championship, awesome, we did our job, we did all the right things. But if we do all those things and still don't win the championship, it's just one of the deals, okay, but just trying to be perfect and leave nothing on the table.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, it's hard because as a teammate, you don't want to go back to the shop Monday and say, "Man, why did you do this?" or "You screwed me here." You don't want to have those conversations as teammates. But these previous few weeks have been -- we've been trying to help each other and be teammates and do the best we can, and I expect us to do that starting Saturday.

But at the same time, when it gets down to it and we're racing for a win, I don't think there's going to be much give for each other. I mean, I don't think we're going to go out there and crash each other, but it's going to be more of a 1-v-1 I guess you'd say. If me and the 7 are racing for the win, let's say, it's not going to be, oh, he's my teammate, I'm going to lift here and try to give him another time; it's going to be, all right, we're racing for the win here, we're racing for the championship.

It's all situation dependent. If we get no stage points throughout the day and he's still 35 out from me and the 20 points ain't going to make the difference, then it is what it is. We're going to just go race and try to get another win.

But if we're racing for a championship with five to go and we're side by side, it's going to be really hard racing. I wouldn't expect him to lift for me or do something because he's a teammate. I expect to be raced just how I'm going to expect to be raced.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Man, I'm pretty good with everything, honestly. I feel like our O'Reilly car is putting on good shows right now. It's fun to race. There always could be better. They could always better it. It's never too good. Where we're at right now, I feel like compared to the 3 series is, is really good, and I've got no complaints really.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: It's been different because I only have one experience before, and that was a different format. Last year I was trying to learn that format. Now this year I'm trying to learn this format like everyone else.

It's been good. I love this new Chase format. I think the champion is way more deserving, I guess you could say. It doesn't come down to a green-white-checkered restart anymore. It's 10 races all compared to each other against other people and trying to be good every day, stacking points, not getting DNFs. So I really do enjoy it.

I think I like it better as a driver because I feel like I'm the guy that finishes most of them out and is not a wreckers or checkers type of racer.

I feel like we haven't done what we needed to do to set ourselves up to be championship favorites going in. We've had two bad races, and I feel like I was at most winning one.

So we're in this position. We're in this position because of our mistakes or our unfortunate situations going on. But now that we're here, we have one goal, and that's having a perfect day Saturday and not leaving nothing on the table and trying to win a championship.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: I mean, I feel like you should be, driving for JRM, honestly. Maybe not my first year. I think the first year, especially not winning and just stacking points to get there was a little bit of a surprise, where I feel like now being paired up with Rodney for the Chase and all that with a super fast car, I feel like fourth isn't really that good.

I feel like we should be leading or second in points because that's kind of where we've been if you averaged out the year of me in the 1 car. I feel like I should be here, and I wish I was a little better, if anything.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, we look over all the things we could have done different or could have done better or how I could have qualified better or this and that. But at the same time, it's just you've got to move on to the next week, take what you've learned the previous week and move forward with it and try not to get too caught up on what you could have done different. Just learn from it and move forward.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: I think we get like an hour and a half, two hours per week is a good number. It's enough. I feel like you can do too much.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yes, I've only been here once, and that was spring of last year. I love this place. I feel like I didn't even have that great of an experience here in the spring. We didn't run amazing, but it was still a ton of fun. For us drivers, the low-grip tracks that wear tires out and the tracks where you can run the bottom, the top, they're just super cool.

For me, it's a track that I really do enjoy, even though I've only been here once. Definitely have some stuff to learn or get better on and maybe smooth out a little bit, but at the same time, this place is a really good one, and it falls under that category of tracks that us drivers really like.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: Yeah, for me, I'd say I watched as a kid. My dad raced trucks, Cup cars, all that. And probably the one race that I really look at in all that is the 2003 Truck championship. My dad came in, similar situation, kind of far back, kind of a non-contender, and it worked out to where he won the championship here in the trucks. That's probably the one that I relate to the most or really pay attention to.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: It was huge. I was looking at maybe not being full time next year or maybe not racing at all. I was in a pretty bad situation, needed a win, and I've had about a week or two left to really make it happen.

And we did it at Indy, and obviously your first win is huge. A win at Indy and for all those things to be on the line and it all work out was super cool, and I really needed that win. To back it up at Iowa the week after and last week at Martinsville, another win coming was really good for our team and really solidifies that we're good enough to do this.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CARSON KVAPIL: It's cool. I pay attention a little bit, but honestly, I'm so busy with this O'Reilly Series that we run that I don't really pay attention to the F1 stuff or INDYCAR or any of those things. Really all I do is do my deal here in the NASCAR series but also maybe watch the late model stuff where I grew up racing, and that's really about it. But I do think it's cool to have young guys winning.