2005–Present
At the end of the 2004 season, Kvapil made his first NEXTEL Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway. Kvapil drove the No. 06 Mobil 1 Dodge, the fourth car on the track from Penske Racing. Prior to the 2005 Sprint Cup Series, Kvapil was chosen by Penske Racing to drive the No. 77 Eastman Kodak Dodge, replacing Brendan Gaughan.
Kvapil scored his first ever Sprint Cup Series top-10 at Bristol Motor Speedway when he finished seventh during the Food City 500. He picked up another top-10 at Phoenix International Raceway during the Checker Auto Parts 500. The two top-10 finishes pushed Kvapil to finish 33rd in the point standings during his first season in the series. When the season ended, the Penske Racing No. 77 team disbanded when Kodak pulled out of the sponsorship deal.
After his departure from Penske, Kvapil signed with PPI Motorsports for the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season. He drove the No. 32 Tide Chevrolet for the 2006 season. He had his best finishes of the season at Kansas Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway, where he finished nineteenth in each event. Kvapil finished the season 36th in points, and was forced to find a new ride for the next season as his PPI contract only lasted one year. PPI eventually shut down after the 2006 due to the inability to find a sponsor to replace Tide. The team also did not have a manufacturer commitment for the 2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season.
In 2007, Jack Roush, owner of Roush Racing, offered Kvapil a seat in the No. 6 Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Kvapil replaced Mark Martin in the truck, who moved to Ginn Racing, and David Ragan, who was promoted to replace Martin in the No. 6 Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Jack Roush, excited about signing with Kvapil, said, “We are pleased beyond measure that we were able to get a driver the caliber of Travis Kvapil. At only 30 years old with a Truck championship and two years of Sprint Cup experience under his belt, Travis brings great long and short term potential to and for Roush Racing.” He finished the season with four wins, three poles, eight top-5s and 12 top-10s. He finished the season sixth in the driver point standings. He returned to Roush Fenway Racing as a part-time driver in 2008 when Joey Clanton was released from the No. 09 Ford.
Roush recognized Kvapil’s talents, and helped him move over to the newly formed Yates Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2008. Doug Yates took control of the company from his father Robert, and had a solid goal for the 2008 season. “By the 2008 Daytona 500, Yates Racing wants to be in an elevated position where we are competing successfully against any race team in the sport.” Kvapil drove the No. 28 Ford Fusion after the No. 88 was given to Hendrick Motorsports to be used for their new driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.. Prior to the start of the season, Kvapil and teammate David Gilliland did not have full-time sponsorship on their Yates Racing Fords. K&N Filters sponsored Kvapil’s team for the Daytona 500. Two weeks later, Kvapil scored an eighth place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the UAW-Dodge 400. The finish at LVMS, which was in an unsponsored car, gave Kvapil his third top-10 of his career. After the race, Zaxby's announced sponsorship for the No. 28 team for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He finished 29th in the race at AMS. With a one-race sponsorship deal with Northern Tool and Equipment, Kvapil finished in the sixth position at the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The finish gave him his career-best finish in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kvapil picked up another top-10 finish at Darlington Raceway at the Dodge Challenger 500. Despite the lack of sponsorship for the year, Kvapil collected four top-10 finishes, one pole and finished 23rd in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.
In 2009, Kvapil returned to the No. 28, but the team was forced to close after six races due to lack of funding. Kvapil qualified in place of Bob Jenkins and part-time off-road-racer Robby Gordon.
Kvapil returned to the seat of a full-time Sprint Cup ride, driving the No. 34, 37, 38 Long John Silver's Ford for Front Row Motorsports. Kvapil returned to FRM, but signed up to compete for the Camping World Truck Series championship with Randy Moss Motorsports in their #5 Toyota. However, after 10 races Kvapil was released in favor of defending Truck champion Todd Bodine, whose Germain Racing team partnered with RMM to continue running Bodine for 2011. Kvapil stuck with FRM in the Cup Series, driving their #38 for most races until J.J. Yeley swapped rides with Kvapil, with the latter driving FRM's start and park #55.
Leaving FRM after the end of the 2011 season, Kvapil was signed by BK Racing to compete in the Sprint Cup Series for 2012. Kvapil drives the No. 93 Toyota starting with the second race of the year at Phoenix International Raceway with Todd Anderson serving as his crew chief; At Darlington, where David Reutimann drove the No. 93, Kvapil drove the No. 73 for BK Racing, though he will drive the No. 93 for the remainder of the season, with Reutimann driving the No. 73 in the remaining 9 races where Danica Patrick will be driving the No. 10 car for Stewart-Haas Racing . He also drove for RAB Racing in the season-opening Camping World Truck Series event, replacing the suspended John Wes Townley.
Read more about this topic: Travis Kvapil, NASCAR Career