I think everyone started talking about the Kansas heat in Daytona this year. Going to that track is like a Catch-22. Everyone hates the heat but looks forward to seeing so many dedicated fans braving the weather.  It's always one of the best turnouts of the year. But as usual, the most heat came from the competition on the track - and another unlikely spot - the seat of my pants.

Ronda Greer Photo

It was anything but hot on Friday when the team woke up to grey skies and rain over the speedway. During the rain delay, our teams waited out the weather in the haulers hoping for a chance to get some practice in and qualify since everyone was excited about the trucks we brought to Kansas. Our truck had performed really well at a recent Chicago test, and I was confident about my chances at getting my first pole of the season. While the trucks made several attempts to dry the track, I was busy pacing back and forth from the hauler to the garage, sitting around in the lounge listening to some tunes and watching TV, getting a bite to eat, walking around some more, doing a couple of media interviews and laughing at my owner taking all of our team's money in a game of poker.  Fortunately, I kept my money in my pocket and was smart enough to just sit back and watch. NASCAR finally called the day and set the field on owner's points so the team left the track to catch an early dinner.

And wouldn't you just know it. When we left the track, the weather started to clear up. By the time we got to the restaurant, the sun was out and it was a nice and sunny. After dinner, we found a restaurant to watch the Daytona Busch race. Talk about a race. I think everyone on our team was yelling at the screens with three laps to go. What an exciting finish, probably one of the best that anyone has seen in a long time at Daytona, and I was hoping to put on an even better show for the Kentucky fans the next day.

During our quick 30-minute practice session in the morning, my truck was pretty tight, but overall it drove well and had a lot of horsepower so I knew I'd be fast later in the day. When I passed other trucks, it was very stable and just felt 'racey' throughout the session. The crew had to make some quick but significant changes in springs to help me turn the truck. After comparing some notes with Eric and Mike, we thought we knew what direction we needed to go in to get faster.

At the beginning of the race, the No. 24 Line-X truck was a little bit loose but after the first pit stop and some great adjustments with a little bit of wedge and air pressure, my team got my Tundra where I could drive up in the top-five. I was really putting up some great lap times, and the truck was driving just beautiful. I was running Jack Sprague down in second from so far back in the field and I though he'd let me go, but instead, he ended up racing me. I got a run on him and got tight, and when I tried to turn underneath him, I clipped him in the bumper and wrecked us both. I felt terrible about it because we had a truck that definitely could've won the race or surely would've been duking it out with Shane Hmiel. When I came in to get the truck patched up, I'm pretty sure Sprague wasn't the only one hot. I was hot, too - literally. The seat of my truck didn't have the best heat insulation from the exhaust pipes, so the seat my suit was extremely hot. I was pretty miserable since there was no escaping it and nothing that they could do during the race to help me out. They just focused on putting the truck back together as best they could.

After I wrecked and tore the fenders up on my Tundra, the suspension and front steering were knocked out of wack. The steering wheel was even off a quarter turn. My crew had to straighten the tow in the best they could, but the biggest thing was patching up the fenders and hood that got bent up to get the down force back in the truck. When they did that, I was able to go back out and lay down some good lap times and get back on the lead lap. They never gave up, and we got our lap back when the next caution came out with the 'lucky dog' pass.

Toward the end of the race, my truck started getting tight because of the damage, and I was fortunate to get as good of a finish out of the race as I did. I'm definitely disappointed in my self since I know we had a truck that could've won. But I give a lot of credit to Toyota for the engine which gave me the opportunity to even stay up there and get a top-10 finish. Our truck was torn up, the body was tore up, the steering was tore up, but the great Toyota power under the hood really helped me out at the end of the race and kept me in contention for a strong run and on the lead lap. Not to mention my crew. They did an amazing job helping me get my second top-10 this week. 

After my finish at Kansas, I can't wait to go to Kentucky. Although they're somewhat different, both tracks share similarities in that they are a mile-and-a-half, D-shaped ovals with similar banking. I feel like the package I had at Kansas will be what I need to take to Kentucky to be in contention for a win there. So we're going to patch up Cheddar, and hopefully, we'll show up at Kentucky and unload with the same speed we had at Kansas. I'm looking forward to putting the heat on all the other drivers again this week.

- Travis Kvapil, Diary of a Champion

2003 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion
2001 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year