When Travis Kvapil got the call Friday, he figured someone on his race team was playing a joke.
“They said there was trouble with the car,” Kvapil said. “I thought we could figure it out when we got in the garage area. They’re like, ‘No, the car is gone.'”
The No. 44 NASCAR Sprint Cup car owned by small-budget Team XTREME was stolen from a hotel parking lot near Atlanta Motor Speedway, police said, forcing Kvapil to withdraw from this weekend’s race before he even got a chance to qualify.
The $250,000 race car was still missing late in the afternoon, and police were hoping the public could assist in the search. The owner of one NASCAR sponsor offered a pit pass to every race the rest of the year to anyone who helped located the high-powered Chevrolet.
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Associated Press Writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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