Kvapil's Sprint Cup stolen from Georgia hotel

Feb 27, 2015 - 7:58 PM Hampton, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Travis Kvapil's race car for this weekend's Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was stolen in the early morning hours of Friday outside the team's hotel in Morrow, Georgia.

Kvapil, running a limited schedule in Sprint Cup this season, was scheduled to drive the No. 44 Chevrolet for Team Xtreme Racing at Atlanta. The team does not have another car and therefore has withdrawn its entry in Sunday's 500- mile race here.

According to Kvapil and Team Xtreme, the race car was inside a white trailer that was attached to a black Ford pickup truck. Both the trailer and truck have New Jersey license plates on them.

Surveillance video from the Drury Inn in Morrow showed the theft occurring in the parking lot at 5:32 a.m. (ET). A police report noted that a silver or gray Jeep Cherokee was spotted leaving the hotel at the time of the theft.

Team Xtreme's hauler was already at this 1.54-mile racetrack on Thursday when Sprint Cup teams were here for an open test session. Kvapil's car was not ready in time for testing and was brought separately in a trailer from the racing organization's shop in North Carolina on Thursday night.

"While this is obviously a setback for this weekend, our plans remain to compete in the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season," Team Xtreme owner John Cohen said. "We are working closely with the Morrow police in hopes that our truck, trailer and race car are safely returned."

Kvapil had been posting updates as well as other comments on Twitter earlier in the day. He first tweeted, "Wow. Anyone near Atlanta find my stolen Cup car let me know! Unreal."

"I bet when whoever has it, opens the trailer and is going to be like 'oh snap'," Kvapil tweeted shortly after.

Kvapil also posted on Twitter a photo of the truck and trailer, stating, "Here it is......New Jersey plates."

The location of the hotel where the truck and trailer had been parked is roughly 20 miles north of the racetrack.

Reed Sorenson drove the No. 44 car to a 32nd-place finish in last Sunday's Daytona 500.