Motorsport photo Matt Weaver Sun, November 1, 2026 at 5:08 AM UTC · 7 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carson Kvapil got Rodney Childers his elusive Ridgeway Grandfather Clock trophy and with it, a chance for both of them to keep their championship hopes alive for at least one more week at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Remarkably, throughout his decorated career as a Late Model Stock driver and then Cup Series crew chief, Childers never won at Martinsville Speedway in any capacity. He is a short tracker through and through and really wanted one of these.
That Kvapil delivered, but also reignited their championship hopes, made this one of the best nights for everyone involved.
There was literally a conversation earlier in the week about this between Kvapil, his dad and 2003 Truck Series champion Travis and Childers, at the JR Motorsports shop.
"How does Rodney not have a clock? I can't comprehend that," Kvapil said to his dad. "I asked him, I said, 'How many clocks do you got, Rodney?' And he said, 'I ain't got none,' and I'm like, 'Oh, this guy is just messing with me. I don't even want to know how many he's got.'
"But somebody clarified that he actually doesn't have any clocks so it's cool to get him his first and you never turn down getting more clocks. It's one of the coolest trophies in the sport, I think. It's super cool and I'm running out of room for clocks.
"My brother's got one, I've got two now. I don't know. I'm going to have to find somewhere to put it, but it's a good problem to have."
Watch: Kvapil honored to deliver Rodney Childers first grandfather clock
Kvapil won a Late Model 300 at Martinsville in 2024 and younger brother Caden won that race last month as well. Thus, the three his family has. Now, the 2014 Cup Series winner and future Hall of Fame crew chief has his own too.
"Short track racing means the world to me," Childers said. "But I knew coming here with him was probably going to be one of the best shots I've had. And they've got three Martinsville clocks sitting in their house and they got four now. So just an awesome family. They get it here. They really do. They understand this place. They push each other to be better. But for him and his brother both to win here this year, I can't imagine what that feels like as a family."
How it felt was 'grateful' as both father and son expressed so much happiness that Childers agreed to come on board for this team.
"These last couple weeks, I feel like we should have won three of them that we haven't," Kvapil said. "So it's tough, but you're going to lose a lot more than you're going to win. And it's fun to be able to race with the 1 team and know you're going to contend for a win.
"You don't ever question, man, 'what's the car going to do first lap on the track' because you know it's going to be good. So I think we've had some bad races in The Chase and The Chase hasn't went how we needed it to, but we're starting to pull our stuff back together here and we might have a shot at it."
Carson Kvapil wins Martinsville as Justin Allgaier takes NASCAR O'Reilly points lead
It's a championship that is suddenly possible because Jesse Love had a disaster of a night. He lost brakes. His team cut a water hose trying to repair fender damage and then crashed to finish 30th.
His 19-point championship lead is now a 22-point deficit.
"Everybody's gonna ask me how am I gonna process this, and how long I'm gonna be upset about it, and I'm pretty much already over it," said Love, in his post-race media scrum. "You guys are my last obstacle in the way of putting it behind me, which is fine, but at the end of the day, next week our goal is to become a two-time champion, and in order to do that, obviously winning the race is going to achieve that. So when there is one goal at hand and pretty much one avenue to achieve that goal, there's a lot of clarity in that moment. So yeah, not going to take a whole lot for me to put this one behind me."
It helped him that Justin Allgaier ultimately couldn't find a way around Kvapil in the closing laps, despite a tire advantage. Had Allgaier won, earning the 20 point bonus that went to Kvapil, Allgaier would be poised to coast his way to a second championship next weekend.
"It's always good to be the points leader," said Allgaier, a six-time winner this year. "At the same time, you would love to be further ahead. You'd love to have a 70-point lead and go in there and not have to worry about it, but either way, I'm proud of the team, proud of the effort. I think that Homestead's a great race track for us.
"Obviously, getting the win there last year and just the speed that we've had there. You know, this team, I'm so proud of the effort, and I'm disappointed for my guys that we didn't get the job done. But it's hard to be disappointed at JR Motorsports 1-2."
Watch: Carson Kvapil reflects on whirlwind last 12 months
Corey Day rallied to a third-place finish after a first stage crash left him without any first stage points but still gained to 23 points out.
Again, its 20 extra points to the winner of any race over second-place, which could be the difference amongst the top-three.
"I'd say we have a pretty good chance," Day said. "I'd say we're in a must-win. I don't really see (Allgaier) running worse than top five there, for sure. So yeah, a must-win's OK, though. I like that. I like those odds. It's better than being out of it entirely."
So despite an off-season format change, replacing the Final Four for the Chase for the Championship, this championship appears likely to come down again to a winner-take-all.
The irony is not lost on the defending champion.
"Unless (Allgaier) has a DNF, right, and then it's between me and (Day), you're going to have to win the race to win the championship. So funny how that works out. But you know, regardless, I feel that there's a lot of, again, clarity mentally when you show up the race track with that mindset, and I feel like our team will do a great job in a moment like that. So yeah, just put our eggs in one basket, go to Homestead with a chance to win, and prepare to do so, and I feel very confident in that moment."
Allgaier entered the Chase as the number one seed and immediately lost the lead and did not regain it until now. Surely, he's got to feel somewhat secure now.
"No, that just means you're the hunted," he said.
But it's a position they have planned all month for.
"We've spent the last few weeks working on Homestead," Allgaier said. "We really haven't even touched the last few races, going in the simulator or really just kind of standing on our laurels of what we know has worked well at these last few racetracks and really just focused in and tried to focus on Homestead. Because we knew that that's a difference maker."
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