Travis Kvapil

Travis Wade Kvapil (/ˈkwɔːpəl/ KWAW-pəl; born March 1, 1976) is an American former professional stock car driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for Beaver Motorsports.

He was the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion.

Kvapil grew up working on cars in his father's garage, and racing was a natural progression for the Wisconsin native. Kvapil began racing in 1992 at the age of sixteen at Rockford Speedway, competing in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series. He went on to win the American Short Tracker division track championship in 1994 at Rockford. In 1995, he moved up to super late models at Madison International Speedway, "Wisconsin's Fastest Half-Mile", and was named the track Rookie of the Year. He also became the track's Late Model Champion a year later in 1996. This honor made Kvapil the youngest to ever capture the title at the track at the age of 20.

Kvapil moved to the ARTGO Series, a Midwest asphalt short-track motor-racing touring series. He finished in the top-ten in points from 1998–2000.

In 2001, Kvapil made his debut in the Craftsman Truck Series driving for Addington Racing in the No. 60 CAT Rental Stores Chevrolet. In his 21st start, Kvapil won his first Truck Series race in the Silverado 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Kvapil's eighteen top-tens led him to finish fourth in the driver standings and win the Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. Kvapil also got to drive a race with powerhouse Richard Childress Racing at Kentucky in the Busch Series, but he ran poorly before flipping his car in a late crash.

In 2002, Kvapil managed to match his win total by winning the O'Reilly Auto Parts 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park. He finished the season with fourteen top-tens and finished ninth in the final driver points standings.

Funding issues at Addington caused Kvapil to switch to the No. 16 IWX MotorFreight Chevrolet for Steve Coulter's Xpress Motorsports team in 2003. He won one race during the season at Bristol Motor Speedway in the O'Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline Maxlife. Kvapil finished the season with 22 top-tens in 25 races (88 percent). Kvapil passed Brendan Gaughan and Ted Musgrave in points at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Gaughan wrecked and Musgrave was black flagged during the race, giving the green flag to Kvapil as he was crowned the 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champion. He was recorded at 99.9 percent lap completion rate, only missing one lap throughout the 2003 season.

Prior to the start of the 2004 season, Kvapil began a partnership with Alexander Meshkin to drive the No. 24 Line-X Spray-on Bedliners / eBay Bang! Racing Toyota. Kvapil came away with his first win of the season during the Line-X Spray-on Truck Bedliners 200 at Michigan International Speedway. The win gave Toyota their first win in the top-tiers of NASCAR. Two months later, Kvapil won at New Hampshire International Speedway. The same season, Kvapil won his first Bud Pole Award in the Craftsman Truck Series at the American Racing Wheels 200 at California Speedway. He finished eight in the final driver standings of the season.