Kraus Takes Seventh at 2020 NASCAR Kansas Double-Header

Despite having to miss his high-school graduation, Derek Kraus still celebrated by taking the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing #19 ENEOS / NAPA Toyota Tundra to a seventh-place finish at the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck series double-header at Kansas Speedway, July 25, 2020. The result moved him up one spot in the championship to ninth.

Saturday’s finish was Kraus’ sixth top-10 from 10 starts this year, coming less than 24 hours after he completed a fifth-place finish on Friday night, which placed him 11th on Saturday’s starting grid.

He charged to sixth in the early laps, lost a position after a big slide through Turn 3, ending the first stage in 10th at Lap 30. He then worked his way to the front as he had the night before, finishing the second stage fifth on Lap 60.

Midway through the race, Kraus found himself facing two big setbacks. After restarting 18th on Lap 77, he spun coming out of Turn 2, which sent him back to 28th on the restart after switching for fresh tires and grabbing fuel. He reclaimed several positions by avoiding a big pileup following the restart, then gained more when his competitors on the lead lap made their pit stops. Kraus restarted in ninth place on Lap 88 and made a dash into the top five, where he remained through a series of cautions in the second half of the race. He held on during the closing laps to finish seventh.

Kraus moved to 10th in the standings on Friday with a four-point margin over the cut-off for making the NASCAR playoffs, he then jumped to ninth — 27 points above the line on Saturday.

“This double-header weekend was really good,” said Kraus. “Our first race in our ENEOS Toyota Tundra required a little adjustment but was solid. We moved into the top-10 with points, and McAnally-Hilgemann Racing is already looking forward to Michigan in a couple weeks.”

NEXT RACE

Derek Kraus and the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team head to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan for the NASCAR Ganders RV & Outdoors Truck Series on August 7, 2020.