“He’s Like a Son!” Dale Earnhardt Jr. In Tears as Carson Kvapil Secures Maiden O’Reilly Series Win at Brickyard

NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. is over the moon after his JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil won at Brickyard.

“He’s Like a Son!” Dale Earnhardt Jr. In Tears as Carson Kvapil Secures Maiden O’Reilly Series Win at Brickyard

Carson Kvapil and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Via @JRMotorsports/X)

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday witnessed history as Carson Kvapil secured his maiden win of the 2026 season and proved why he is one of the highly rated prodigies in the sport, after a tough start to the season. Team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., was over the moon as his drivers continue to dominate the second division.

He has made significant investment into the driver and was excited to finally see it yielding rewards. The two times champion was fighting the tears, while talking to CWS about his driver’s success, as the youngster is like a son to him. Everyone at JGR has been working hard behind the scene to make it happen and it was a special moment for them.

Oh, man, this has been a long time coming. He’s like a son, almost.  You work with these guys for so long, and you work so hard… We worked so hard with Josh Berry and all our drivers. You just want them to have success. He’s got a win to keep going. You gotta win if you want to stay in this deal. He has got so close, and I’m just so, so happy for him, for Travis, his dad.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said after the race.

Further talking about the point, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained the family dynamic that exits at his team JRM and how everyone works hard as well as feel the pressure the on the same scale. They were heartbroken when the racer missed out on the opportunity to win last week at Atlanta. So, coming to Indy redemption was the goal and with the earn exactly what they hoped for.

You get to working with these guys, you become family. Like brothers, or father and son… they are as important to you as your own kin. I feel a lot of pressure to provide him a race car that I think’s capable of his talent. I just was really happy to see him get one. Last race at Atlanta, he was disappointed with how that landed. We talked about it…Came here, focused, got the job done, and now we’re even better off in the points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

During the high moment of victory, a hilarious mistake happened. JRM irked NASCAR by doing a burnout on the iconic bricks at IMS. The drivers were banned from doing it, but JGR couldn’t tell the racer as the radio was disconnected. They team had to wash the bricks and the veteran team owner even apologized via X.

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.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, wrote on X.
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Carson Kvapil is on could nine after winning for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Talking about his maiden win in the second division, Kvapil admitted that the last few laps were really challenging for him, as his veteran teammate Justin Allgaier was running to close to comfort behind him. Fortunately, he was able to take advantage of the car’s pace and keep the gap till the end.

I was just waiting for that yellow that I thought was going to come out, to be honest. Just tried to keep the gap and not big mistakes. I knew the 7 was going to get to me at some point, or he was going to get close or at least gain on me. Luckily, we had a good enough car, a fast enough car I could back off enough to make sure I wasn’t going to make any big mistakes.

Carson Kvapil said.

JRM also had another milestone moment to be proud of as they swept the first four finishes. Allgaier finished P2 while part-times Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott finished P3&P4. If it wasn’t for Sammy Smith scoring P19, they could’ve been the only team to sweep the top-5 in the history of the series.

Also Read: Kyle Larson Declares NASCAR Cup Races are “Too Long”