Catchfence

Commends NASCAR for Return to ‘Old-School Racing’

Statesville, N.C. (November 16, 2010) - Travis Kvapil is ready to get into the groove at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway – although he’s not sure which groove it will be. The driver of the No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford looks forward to finishing the season at the 1.5-mile oval, known for its multiple running lines, in this weekend’s Ford 400.

Kvapil has five Sprint Cup career starts at Homestead, including a seventh-place finish in 2008. The 2003 Camping World Truck Series Champion will also return to the cockpit of a race truck for the first time since August 2009, participating in Friday’s Ford 200.

Comments from Long John Silver’s Driver Travis Kvapil on Homestead-Miami Speedway and His Assessment of NASCAR’s “Boys, Have at It” Policy in 2010:

“Homestead is a really fun racetrack. I raced there originally when it was flat. It didn’t have any banking until a few years ago when they repaved it and added the banking to it. And they did a really unique job when they did it. The bottom groove is banked less than the middle, which is banked less than the high groove. So, there are three or four different lines that you can run. Depending on how your car is driving, you can run all the way down on the white line or all the way against the wall. So, that makes it really unique how you can find the right groove during the race where your car will handle the best and carry the most speed.

“It’s a fun racetrack to go to. It’s always neat to go to racetracks that give you options like that, where you can move around and find where your car is happy. So, I’m excited to go there. And it’s a Ford-sponsored weekend, so we want to go down there and have a good run for Ford. And, of course, it would be nice to finish the year off on a high note.

“When NASCAR said at the beginning of the season they were going to have a little bit different attitude – a ‘Boys, have at it’ attitude – it took the handcuffs off the drivers a little. It gave everybody the opportunity for retaliation, knowing there probably won’t be the consequences there might have been in the past. We saw a really obvious example at Martinsville a few weeks ago. One guy got pushed out of the way and, right away, the other driver took him out and ruined his day.

“I think it was a good call by NASCAR to say that at the beginning of the year. I think some of the racing in the past few years has kind of had our hands tied behind our backs. You were afraid to say what you wanted to say or push a guy out of the way on the racetrack. They kind of went back to old-school racing, the way it should be.”

About Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing:
Front Row Motorsports was formed in 2005 by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins. Since that time, the team has entered a car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series. In 2010, Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing will partner with Ford and Roush/Yates Engines to field a three-car operation based in Statesville, N.C. The team fields the Long John Silver’s Ford driven by Travis Kvapil, the Taco Bell Ford driven by David Gilliland and the A&W All American Food Ford driven by Dave Blaney.

- Breaking Limits Marketing for Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing, Press Release