Getting used to the cab
On the surface, Travis Kvapil's project looked easy.
He slides into the Fords that Mark Martin drove to victory six times in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series last season, he benefits from the same crew chief and the same setups and he picks up right where Mark Martin left off.
Well, not exactly.
"There's more to it than just switching drivers," said Kvapil, the Janesville native who comes to the Milwaukee Mile for the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200 on Friday night, having scored his first victory of the year Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Truck bodies changed. Tires changed. Setups changed. And everyone else changed for the better, as well.
"If we were trying to do what we did last year, we wouldn't be as competitive," Kvapil said. "We'd still be top-10, but we'd be just one of the guys.
"Things we're doing right now, I feel like we're still trying to stay ahead of the curve. It just takes a little time to get everything going in the right direction and get everyone on the same page."
Mark Martin, a 25-year NASCAR veteran with 89 victories in the three top divisions, wrote the book on truck racing last season, winning twice as many races as anyone else while competing in 14 of the 25 events.
When Mark Martin backed off from his plan to race the full truck schedule this season, Roush Racing called upon Kvapil, the 2003 Craftsman Truck Series champion who had spent 2005 and '06 struggling in Nextel Cup.
He and crew chief Mike Beam had to get to the racetrack and earn each other's trust while working together.
"He's got a notebook and trucks that won a lot of races last year with Mark Martin, but he's got a driver, me, telling him that this is not working good, we need to try something else," Kvapil said. "He listened to me, I guess. We moved forward and worked on our trucks and got them to where I was fast instead of saying, 'Well, this is what won races last year.'
"Obviously after working with them a couple weeks, it's paid off. I feel confident going to the racetrack every week."
It's not as though Kvapil ran poorly earlier in the season.
He came within about 100 feet of winning at Daytona, where Johnny Benson pushed Jack Sprague past in the draft; he got caught for speeding on pit road at Kansas; he suffered from a mismatched set of tires at Charlotte and he got spun while leading at Texas.
Everything finally came together at Michigan. Now fifth in the standings - closer to leader Mike Skinner than to Roush teammate Erik Darnell, who is in 13th - Kvapil comes to the track nearest his hometown.
Kvapil has finished 10th or better in his four Craftsman Truck Series starts at the Mile and is hopeful for Victory No. 1.
"I think more than anything I've had really good-handling trucks there," he said. "There's that added pressure and excitement coming home this year, friends and family and that sort of thing."
In case the pressure of following Mark Martin weren't enough.
See more at www.jsonline.com
