Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil began racing at the age of 16, at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Raceway, in 1992. He was a constant participant and until '95, that was the only event that he stayed in. In 1995, he competed at the Madison International Speedway event and won the Rookie of the Year honours. In 1996, he won the Late Model Series race event at the same place.

Travis was always competing in local events and in 1999, he decided to try his hand at the NASCAR Autozone Elite Division event, in the Midwest series and got two wins on his way to the 10th place. In 2000, in the same race, he finished at fourth place. He went into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2001 and got his first win in his first year itself. His fourth place, overall finish, meant that he would win the Rookie of the Year award as well for 2001.

His 2002 season didn't go as well in the series as he only managed a ninth place despite a win. But in 2003, he made it to the top. He was third in the standings going into the final race of the season and his exploits o the last day saw him leapfrog into first place and grab the title. This was his first title with Bang! Racing and he only managed 8th place in 2004. He also took part in the IROC series but didn't have any noteworthy results. He also tasted the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the first time with three races for the Penske Racing team.

In 2005, Travis got a full run at the Sprint Cup and with limited success in the Short Track events, he finished 33rd in the series. In 2006, he got the chance to run just 31 races and only managed a best finish of 19th (three times in the season) to finish at a lowly 26th place.

He returned to the Craftsman Truck Series in 2007; maybe in a bid to regain his confidence and things seem to work for him. With Roush Fenway racing, he managed another 4 wins in the series and finished 6th in his first year back in the category.

He will be back at the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2008 and will hope that his fresh attempt at the Sprint Cup will yield better results than what he's seen in the past.