NASCAR team owner Jay Robinson will make his Camping World Truck Series debut with former champion Travis Kvapil behind the wheel in two weeks at Daytona International Speedway. Following the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Feb. 20, Robinson will put champion dirt racer Wendell Chavous in the truck to run the remaining 22 races in a bid for Rookie of the Year. Sponsorship for the #94 Chevy will come from Vydox. Robinson, whose first career start as an owner came in 2000 with 2014 Sprint Cup champion crew chief Rodney Childers behind the wheel of a Busch Series car, claims more than 700 NASCAR national-series starts as an owner – but all in NASCAR’s top two series, never in trucks. Kvapil, 38, is the 2003 Truck Series champion. He has 147 career starts and nine wins, including two at Michigan International Speedway, and a pair of runner-up finishes at Daytona in 2003-2004. He’ll wheel a chassis that was Ryan Sieg’s back-up truck in 2014. Chavous, 29, made his Truck Series debut at Martinsville Speedway last fall in Mike Harmon’s Chevy, finishing 27th. He’s a native of Hephzibah, Ga., with three dirt-track championships in two states and nearly 40 feature wins over the last four seasons. Kvapil’s Silverado will be tuned by veteran crew chief John Monsam, who has victories in three different NASCAR series including nine Truck Series wins with Ron Hornaday, Mike Bliss, Rick Carelli, Dennis Setzer and Jon Wood. Monsam cut his racing teeth with NASCAR Modifieds in his native New England, scoring victories on his home turf with drivers such as ESPN NASCAR analyst Ricky Craven and Tom Bolles before moving south – where he’s worked for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Roush Fenway Racing and Wood Brothers Racing.(MRN Radio).(2-4-2015)
