Travis Kvapil's team withdraws from race after car theft

Jeff Gluck | USA TODAY Sports

HAMPTON, Ga. – Team Xtreme Racing on Friday was forced to withdraw the No. 44 Chevrolet from Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway after its only available vehicle was stolen from a Drury Inn parking lot in Murrow early in the morning.

Team owner John Cohen told USA Today Sports that the team will enter the event next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Cohen said he didn't have an estimate on the value of the race car. However, according to the police report obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the car is valued at $250,000.

The only lead, Cohen said, was a surveillance video showing the team's unmarked dually trailer being stolen with the car inside. The team hauler with tools was already at AMS.

"All we know is it was a silver jeep," Cohen said. "One guy got out and they pulled off together."​

Travis Kvapil was preparing to attempt to qualify for Sunday's race in the car Friday afternoon at 5:45.

Kvapil said he got a text this morning from a crew member that there was "trouble with the car," but he didn't think much of it because "I kind of thought they were messing with me."

Only when he got voicemails from the crewman and his crew chief an hour later did he figure it was something important.

"I thought maybe something happened in tech (inspection) or NASCAR was going to confiscate it or something like that," he said. "Come to find out we had big problems on the car."

Team Xtreme qualified for the Daytona 500 last week and finished 32nd with driver Reed Sorenson. But Kvapil is in the car this week with Sorenson driving for another team.

NASCAR teams tested at Atlanta on Thursday, meaning all the other cars are already secured inside the track.

The two Daytona cars -- one that was destroyed in qualifying and one that ran in the Daytona 500 -- are back in the race shop. The stolen car was one that was being prepared to run at Atlanta and Las Vegas, but its preparation was stalled when the team had to scramble to ready the Daytona backup.

Team Xtreme sent the race hauler to the track Wednesday ahead of the storm, but the car wasn't ready. The team of eight-to-10 crewmen worked until midnight Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare the car, then until 5 p.m. Thursday. That's why it arrived via small trailer on Thursday night.

"There's a lot of money inside that little trailer right now," Kvapil said. "For the team's sake and John Cohen's sake, hopefully it can be recovered. Otherwise it would be a really, really huge setback for the team."

Morrow (Ga.) Police told USA TODAY Sports the car was inside an unmarked white Sunbeam trailer being hauled by a black 2004 Ford F-350 and was parked outside the Drury Inn. The team had parked its race hauler at the track earlier, but was bringing the car down separately.

Police are searching for the race car and trailer.

"Sometimes what happens when thieves see trailers, they might just assume there's something in the trailer they can go off and sell," Morrow Police Sgt. Larry Oglesby told USA TODAY Sports. "Sometimes when things like this occur, they will drop off the items in a parking lot somewhere -- like a Walmart parking lot -- once they realize what they have.

"They'll open it up and say, 'Oh my God, this is not what we thought it was. Let's get out of here.' And they'll take off and leave it sitting there. We're hoping that will be the situation so he can get back to his races this weekend, because they drove quite a distance to participate."

According to the police report, surveillance footage captured part of the theft. At 5:25 a.m., a newer model silver or grey Jeep Cherokee was observed driving into the Drury Inn parking lot. It was seen returning at 5:32 a.m.; two minutes later, the trailer and the car inside were seen leaving the property.

Team Xtreme crew chief Peter Sospenzo called police at 5:52 a.m. to report the trailer missing.

According to the police report, a backup engine also inside the trailer is valued at $100,000 and there was $17,500 worth of other equipment in the trailer.

"It would be a loss if we couldn't locate the vehicle," Oglesby said.

Kvapil is aware of fans tweeting at him saying the missing car is some sort of karma for never being punished by NASCAR as a result of his domestic violence incident in October 2013.

Kurt Busch was suspended by NASCAR after a judge granted a restraining order against him last week for an alleged domestic violence incident with his ex-girlfriend in September 2014.

"Obviously there's been a lot of things happening over the last few weeks and now with this, there's a lot going on," Kvapil said. "I appreciate the fan support and I guess I somewhat understand their questions on the other side of it as well. All I can do is just know what my situation is and try to get on the racetrack and do the best job I can."

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck and James @brantjames