NASCAR driver’s stock car stolen from hotel parking lot

Travis Kvapil’s orange stock car, the ride he intended to use for qualifying Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, was stolen from his hotel parking lot early Friday morning along with a spare engine and the truck and trailer hauling it.

Kvapil was in Morrow, Georgia when at around 5:30 a.m. the Ford F-350 truck, trailer and the most valuable contents inside — his primary car and a backup engine, valued at a combined $350,000 — turned up missing from the Drury Inn where Team Xtreme was staying.

Team Xtreme owner John Cohen said Friday the team was forced to withdraw from Sunday’s race after its only available vehicle was stolen. Cohen said the team would enter next weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

According to reports, a Jeep Cherokee was spotted on surveillance footage in the parking lot before truck and trailer disappeared.

Kvapil posted via Twitter (@TravisKvapil) a picture of the white F-350, trailer and the car.

“Wow. Anyone near Atlanta find my stolen Cup car let me know! Unreal,” he wrote. “I bet when whoever has it, opens the trailer and is going to be like ‘oh snap.’”