I can understand if you’ve never heard of Travis Kvapil. That’s fine. He’s a low-level driver in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, he drives the Burger King #93 Toyota for a low-level race team, and about the only time you ever hear his name on the race track is when he crashes into the wall, blows a tire, or parks his car after ten laps because he’s already three laps down.
On Tuesday, Travis Kvapil made other news. Trust me. This isn’t the kind of news you want to make.
Charlotte television station WBTV reported that Kvapil was arrested and charged with assault, after police were called to his house. That’s Kvapil’s mug shot on the right. Yeah, that’s a mug shot, there’s no sponsor logos in that photo.
Capt. Joseph Cooke of the Mooresville (N.C.) Police Department later confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that police responded to a 911 call and arrested Kvapil, a 37-year-old with a wife and three kids. “The officers felt there was probably a case of an assault,” said Captain Cooke of the incident.
Kvapil posted bond and was released on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, BK Racing, the team featuring Kvapil and fellow driver David Reutimann, was in the middle of a promotion involving the support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Earlier this month, BK racing released this picture of the two drivers’ cars, complete with supporting decals.
Take a look at the back panels of the cars. Both cars have pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness… and purple ribbons for domestic violence awareness. This image was later yanked from BK Racing’s Twitter account. Probably makes sense to do that, since one of the drivers of these cars WAS INVOLVED IN A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DISPUTE!
Trust me on this. NASCAR has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to anything that might be considered detrimental to stock car racing’s current image. In many cases, it’s a one-strike-and-you’re-out policy. A team can lose as much as $20 million in yearly sponsorships if the sponsor feels that the driver isn’t adequately or properly promoting the company’s product. And this is BK Racing – the sponsor, Burger King, actually OWNS the team. “We’re trying to understand the situation right now,” BK Racing team owner Ron Devine told FOXSports.com. “I’ve known for less than an hour (5:40 p.m. EST) and at the appropriate time we’ll make an announcement.”
But this isn’t so much about BK Racing. This is about their driver who was arrested on two charges – assault on a female and false imprisonment. Here’s the announcement that BK Racing should make.
You have to drop Travis Kvapil from your team. Not just park him or suspend him. The guy was arrested for assaulting his wife. There are plenty of drivers with their firesuits on that can drive the #93 Burger King Toyota in a heartbeat; sign them for the rest of the season. Make a statement right now that domestic violence of any kind will not be tolerated by your organization. Travis Kvapil did not spend the night in jail on a trumped-up charge. This isn’t a case of mistaken identity. You don’t want a driver who has been arrested on charges of assault on a woman to drive your car and promote Whoppers and Croissanwiches. Cut Travis Kvapil loose, sand-blast his name off of the roof of your racecar, and don’t look back.
And as for Mr. Kvapil – and this is my personal opinion, and I’m entitled to it, as this is my blog – Mr. Kvapil, pay attention. I know you’re going to try to spin this as something that got out of hand, that you and your wife are going to seek counseling, that you’re going to put your life back together. Heard it before from a hundred athletes, will probably hear it again from a hundred more.
Take this time away from the sport, and repair what you’ve done to your family. Your family comes first.
Hopefully you thought about that while you spent the night in jail.
Idiot.
Chuck The Writer 
I never heard of the guy–don’t follow NASCAR or anything of the kid. Watched it a few t5imes live in Daytona when I lived & worked in Florida but I found it boring as hell to watch cars go around a track again & again. But you are absolutely on the money, Chuck. They need to cut the guy loose. He & his wife & maybe their attorneys need to figure out what’s best here. And he ought to be having a “sojourn” in state prison that would give him some time to figure things out on his end!
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Look what happened when Michael Waltrip was caught (for the second time, no less) cheating during the Richmond Race — he lost his MAJOR sponsor, NAPA. That’s a huge hit to his race team, but I agree with NAPA. You don’t want to be associated with someone who cheats. There are quite a few cars out there that need sponsors and NAPA, I’m sure, will go with one of them.
As for Travis Kvapil, he should be let go. No one, not a sports figure or the guy next door, has a right to be violent towards a woman, or anyone for that matter.
NASCAR lets drivers go for testing positive for drugs and alcohol, so why not for someone who chooses to do something violent.
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