SALISBURY, N.C. – Eleven-year-old Caden Kvapil came oh-so-close to a historic victory in Wednesday night’s inaugural Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic presented by Toyota Racing Development.

Even though he wouldn’t have even been eligible for the grand prize had he pulled off the win, Kvapil still left competitors and fans alike in awe after a performance that was filled with poise under pressure.

After qualifying second-fastest in his time-trial flight on Tuesday night, the younger Kvapil brother turned up the wick when it mattered on Wednesday. He powered to the win in his heat race, earned a spot in the RacerTents.com Pole Shuffle, and then beat out both Tyler Seavey and Tyler Letarte to earn the top starting spot for the night’s 50-lap championship feature.

Starting from the pole, Kvapil led the first 13 laps before finally losing the lead to Jesse Colwell, when Colwell buried his kart to the bottom of the third turn and completed a gutsy slide job to take command.

Even still, Kvapil didn’t go away quietly. He hung on to Colwell’s bumper until contact with the slower car of Andrew Neff caused wing damage to his No. 35k, dropping Kvapil back to third behind Mike Wheeler just prior to the halfway break.

Kvapil’s team made stellar repairs during the five-minute intermission and the young shoe took full advantage during the second half of the race. He held down a podium position for the duration of the feature and challenged Wheeler for second multiple times during the latter stages, before Wheeler’s engine finally gave up the ghost with five laps to go.

From there, though Kvapil wasn’t able to close back in on Colwell for the win, he did still notch a career performance in just his fourth Open division start ever and his third in the top class at Millbridge.

After the race, the 11-year-old tipped the main reason why he didn’t have any more left in the final laps: he legitimately didn’t have any more left in him!

“I needed more energy,” Kvapil admitted. “I was really tired in the last few laps. The start was good and I was able to get to the lead, but Jesse just came out of nowhere and really did well.

“This feels like a win. It’s really amazing to come out here and do this tonight on a big stage.”

Had he gotten back to the front, Kvapil would have become the youngest winner in track history in a premier-class feature, but as it was he was thrilled with his overall performance.

“I never expected we would do quite this well tonight. I can say that I beat my brother, too,” he grinned, referencing his older sibling Carson Kvapil, who raced in out of the B main and ultimately finished 10th.

On the other side of the pit area, a proud father watched on in amazement at what his youngest son accomplished over the course of the three-day event.

“That’s incredible, what he (Caden) did out there,” said former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil. “We weren’t even going to run this race two weeks ago … but this kart has been running so well that we finally decided, ‘well, why not?’

“I actually took the ‘For Sale’ sign off the wing just before hot laps tonight, because this was the oldest kart in our fleet and we were going to sell in, but not after this,” the elder Kvapil added. “We’re keeping this one now.”

Travis Kvapil said he knew just before the pole shuffle that his youngest would have a good shot, but still nearly couldn’t believe it even as it happened.

“Right before he went out against (Tyler) Seavey, I showed him how he needed to work the clutch … because he had never been in that type of a situation before with having to wait until the line to fire,” Kvapil noted. “Then he went out there and did it perfectly and beat one of the best ever in these outlaw karts. It was incredible to watch and I’m so, so proud of him and what he did out here.

“This is a big stage and he didn’t let it get to him at all.”

Caden Kvapil’s father was far from the only interested onlooker as well.

Wheeler came immediately to the Kvapil pit after the race to shake the young driver’s hand, while in victory lane, Keith Kunz smiled when talking about the 11-year-old who left “a huge impression” on everyone in attendance.

“Jesse (Colwell) winning was just a matter of making that big lunge and getting around the (Caden) Kvapil kid, but the Kvapil kid was great,” said Kunz. “I didn’t know if anybody was going to have anything for him – he and Jesse kind of checked out early. He was really impressive to watch, though.

“Performances like that are the ones that you leave the race track smiling about.”

At the end of the night, that was one thing Caden Kvapil was certainly doing.

“I’ll probably be smiling for a couple days now,” he laughed.