Less than two years after winning the Hampton Heat 200 at Langley Speedway driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Late Model team, Josh Berry achieved a feat increasingly rare in NASCAR. He signed to race full-time in the Cup Series, with Stewart-Haas in 2024, based strictly on ability.
Berry displayed his talent most notably in finishing second second in the Cup race at Richmond Raceway in April as a substitute driver for injured Chase Elliott. It often helps nowadays for a driver to pair his talent with sponsorship money to get to the upper echelons of NASCAR.
In bypassing that route, Berry sparks hope in the hearts of every Saturday night driver with dreams of trading paint on a weekly basis with Elliott, Kyle Busch et al. One of them is the guy who succeed him in Berry’s Chevrolet at JR Motorsports, Carson Kvapil.
Kvapil, 20, the son of former Cup Series regular Travis Kvapil, will be one of 30 or so drivers on the starting grid Saturday for the 15th annual Hampton Heat 200. The defending champion in the prestigious CARS Tour Late Model Division, and its current points leader, Kvapil brings lots of talent to the 4/10-of-a-mile Langley Speedway asphalt oval.
Berry is an inspiration.
“It’s huge watching him come from where I am now,” Kvapil said. “He was at the same point I am, so to see him get the Xfinity (Series) ride (full-time with JR Motorsports in 2022) and then get the Cup ride shows that local guys like me and him can make it.
“Hopefully that gives me the same opportunity in the future, but even if it doesn’t, (Berry) shows that local guys can get it done. I’m super-excited that the Cup ride came together for him.”
Kvapil is plenty familiar with Cup and Craftsman Truck Series garages. His dad started 271 Cup races, finishing in the top 10 eight times, and ran 197 Truck races — winning nine of them and one series title.
Kvapil began racing when he was 10 and working in garages for his dad’s teams at 11, so he’s spent half of his life turning wrenches and steering wheels.
“Growing up around it makes it a lot easier when you decide to race,” Kvapil said. “It gives me a jump on some other guys who got into it on their own.
“I’m glad I grew up working on race cars because I think it does help me when it comes down to driving them.”
Defending Hampton Heat winner Jared Fryar and 2020 winner Brenden “Butterbean” Queen — both of whom also compete in the CARS Tour — say driving is something Kvapil does well.
“He always seems to find a way to find speed and always seems to be around when it matters at the end of the race,” said Queen, who is second in the CARS Tour Late Model Division standings, 19 points behind Kvapil. “He puts himself in a position to have a shot to win almost every week and that makes him hard to beat.”
Added Fryar, “He’s a great driver with a great team behind him. When all of those things come together you have the kind of season he’s having.”
Kvapil, whose three victories lead the CARS Tour this season, doesn’t dispute that racing for legendary Dale Earnhardt Jr. has its advantages.
“That’s every Late Model guy’s dream,” Kvapil said. “Everybody wants to drive for him, so to get the opportunity to be in the JR Motorsports Chevy (Camaro) is a huge deal to me.
“I still can’t believe it happened.”
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“Langley Speedway alone is one of the toughest places to show up and win, and the Hampton Heat is the hardest race to win there,” Carson Kvapil said. “Those guys have shown they’re not just good there, but they have so much experience at Langley, so a win in the Hampton Heat would be huge.”
Kvapil adds that it helps a lot that crew chief Bryan Shaffer comes as part of the package. In addition to guiding Berry to his ’21 Hampton Heat triumph, then leading Kvapil to his CARS Tour title a year ago, Shaffer has been the crew chief for victorious drivers in the big Late Model races at Martinsville and now-shuttered Myrtle Beach.
Those races are on the same caliber as the Hampton Heat, the kind of prestigious Late Model trophies every weekly driver longs for. Kvapil, who was third in the Heat a year ago, knows he will have his work cut out for him against Langley Speedway veterans Queen and Connor Hall, who is third in the CARS Tour standings and 11 for 11 in wins at Langley this season.
“Langley Speedway alone is one of the toughest places to show up and win, and the Hampton Heat is the hardest race to win there,” Kvapil said. “Those guys have shown they’re not just good there, but they have so much experience at Langley, so a win in the Hampton Heat would be huge.”
15th Annual Hampton Heat 200
What: 200-lap Late Model race paying $10,000 to the winner.
Where: Larry King’s Law’s Langley Speedway, 11 Dale Lemonds Dr., Hampton, Va.
When: Saturday. Grandstands open at 12:30 p.m., Hampton Heat qualifying at 4:30 p.m., racing (Legends 25, Super Street 40), UCAR 25) begins at 6:30 p.m.. Hampton Heat 200 at 8:45 p.m
Note: Parking will be on a first-come first-serve basis. Newton Bus Service will provide a free shuttle beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday from Virginia Peninsula Community College (525 Butler Farm Road, Hampton VA).
