NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi has come to Carson Kvapil’s defence after criticism over the JR Motorsports driver’s burnout across the Yard of Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He said the first-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series winner simply got caught up in the moment and should not be vilified for an honest mistake.
Kvapil, 22, claimed his first O’Reilly win at Indianapolis on his 64th series start this past Saturday. He celebrated with a burnout that left black rubber marks across the famous bricks, where drivers are told not to spin their tyres out of respect for the speedway’s history.
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Speaking on The Teardown podcast, Bianchi argued that the reaction towards Kvapil was overblown and unfair to a young driver who had just won for the first time at the national level.
“This irritates me to no end. I think the conversation is ridiculous. The young kid made a mistake. He didn’t know. He’s won a race, first career race at NASCAR national series level. His career is on the line. He’s racing for his job. He wins at Indianapolis of all places after all these close calls,” he said.
“He made an honest, genuine mistake. Dale Jr. apologized. Carson apologized. Let it go. There’s no need to like sit there and point fingers and beat this kid up on social media at all.”
The speedway staff scrubbed off the rubber from the bricks by hand after the celebration sparked a wave of criticism on social media from fans who felt Kvapil had disrespected the speedway’s 116-year history.
Some fans said Kvapil should have been out there helping the speedway staff clean the bricks.
Carson Kvapil and Dale Earnhardt Jr. apologise for Brickyard burnout
Carson Kvapil passed Ross Chastain in the final run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then held off his teammate Justin Allgaier to complete a JR Motorsports sweep of the top four spots.
NASCAR had radioed him on the cool-down lap to remind him not to do it, but Kvapil later revealed that he was unplugged from the radio and never heard the warning. He called it a mistake in the post-race press conference.
“I was unplugged, so I have no idea if they said anything or not,” Carson Kvapil said.
JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. also took responsibility for the incident. He wrote:
“Our apologies. The driver was unplugged from his radio when NASCAR sent the reminder. Lots going on when that all went down. Certainly regret any inconvenience.”
Meanwhile, the Indianapolis win ended a frustrating run of near misses for Kvapil. He entered the weekend with five runner-up finishes in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and had come close to victory several times over the past two seasons. One week earlier at Atlanta, he looked set to break through before teammate Justin Allgaier beat him late in the race.
Edited by Palak Gupta