Stolen car sidelines NASCAR team

NASCAR driver Travis Kvapil never imagined his race weekend would end before it started because his car would be stolen from a hotel parking lot, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday morning.

The 38-year-old American, never better than 23rd in 267 races over a decade in the NASCAR series, issued a plea for help over Twitter after thieves drove off in his truck and trailer that contained his Sprint Cup Series race car for the QuikTrip 500 in Georgia.

“Wow. Anyone near Atlanta find my stolen Cup car let me know! Unreal,” Kvapil tweeted. “I bet when whoever has it opens the trailer and is going to be like ‘oh snap.'”

Because the team does not own a second car, it was forced to withdraw from Sunday’s race.

Kvapil posted a photo of the black truck and white trailer as well as the orange and blue number 44 car inside the trailer, saying, “Here it is……New Jersey plates.”

Kvapil’s Team Xtreme Racing was staying at the Drury Inn about 16 miles north of Atlanta Motor Speedway. The car had been driven south from North Carolina on Thursday night and team members said hotel security video showed the theft took place at about 5.30am.

“This is a big setback for this little team,” Kvapil said.

It would have been the first start of the season for Kvapil, who finished 15th in NASCAR’s truck racing series last weekend at Daytona.

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