In his 64th career start and five runner-up finishes, Carson Kvapil finally snagged his first win as a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver on Saturday, conquering Indianapolis.
The JR Motorsports driver excitedly celebrated the emotional victory, and left a burnout across the hallowed yard of bricks in the process — which is frowned upon.
NASCAR did radio Kvapil on the cool-down lap to remind him of that guideline, but it appears the message never actually reached the race winner’s ears.
“I looked at that about 20 minutes after the race and I was like, uh, probably wasn’t good,” said Kvapil in the post-race press conference. “I was unplugged (from the radio), so I have no idea if they said anything or not. Yeah, I made a little bit of a mistake there, probably.”
Later, JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed the burnout on the fabled Yard of Bricks via social media, with Dale Jr. posting: “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.”
Carson Kvapil, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Just over an hour after celebrations wrapped, employees of Indianapolis Motor Speedway were out on the frontstretch, working by hand and scrubbing away at the historic bricks to remove the black streak of rubber across them. Angela Moryan of the WISH-TV8 local news station caught the process in the following video:
Now, Kvapil isn’t the first to break this unwritten rule at IMS. In 2015, NASCAR legend Kyle Busch angered fans (and the speedway) when he performed a burnout across the bricks following his win Saturday’s O’Reilly race. He ended up sweeping the weekend, and kept that celebration far away from the start/finish line following his first Brickyard 400 victory on Sunday.
Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson also parked his car on the bricks and did a burnout while nosed up against the wall following his 2012 Brickyard 400 triumph.
So hey, at least you’re in good company, Carson!
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