Kraus Records Third Career Top 10 In Kansas
• Rookie Advances to 9th in Closing Laps
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (Oct. 17, 2020) – Derek Kraus made the most of his third career start at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 19 ENEOS Toyota Tundra to a ninth-place finish on Saturday afternoon.
The performance marked his third top-ten at the 1.5-mile oval, driving for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
The 19-year-old series rookie from Stratford, Wisconsin started 12th. He avoided a spin in the closing laps that involved the race leader, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. He charged to ninth at the finish of the Clean Harbors 200.
Kraus had been in 20th at the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 30, then restarted 17th after pit stops and the choose rule. He avoided a multi-truck skirmish in front of him exiting turn four, to advance to 13th by Lap 38. He battled just outside the top-ten when the race reached the end of stage 2.
A solid green-flag pit stop on lap 105 saw Kraus cycle through in 11th before the late-race caution. The final restart enabled him to score his 11th top-ten finish of the 2020 season.
Up next for Kraus will be his second start at Texas Motor Speedway in the SpeedyCash.com 400 on Sunday.
Derek Kraus – Thoughts about this week
Three races, three top-10 finishes for you this season at Kansas, Derek. How was your race today?
“We worked on it all day. We got it a lot better than what it was in the beginning of the race. We were able to get a little bit of track position, then we went a lap down under the green flag pit stops. We (got) our lap back and then ended up finishing ninth. We were able to get a few spots there on the last green-white-checkered there. It was a pretty good ENEOS Tundra towards the end of the race. I felt like we had a top-10 truck for sure toward the end of the race and we were able end up ninth, so that was really good.”
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Event:
Race: Clean Harbors 200, Oct. 17, 2020
Format: Three Stages; Lap 30 / Lap 60 / Lap 134
Location: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan. (1.5-mile oval)
Derek Kraus
No. 19 ENEOS / NAPA Toyota Tundra
Age: 19
Hometown: Stratford, Wis.
Start: 12th
Stage 1: 20th
Stage 2: 12th
Finished: 9th (Running, completed 134 of 134 laps)
Race Winner: Brett Moffitt
2020 Series Stats:
Races: 20 starts, 3 top fives, 11 top 10s
Laps completed: 2,665/2,687
Series standings: 11
Next Race:
SpeedyCash.com 400, Oct. 25, 2020, Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas (1.5-mile oval)