Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Breaking news

Derek Kraus gets lead and stays out front to win K&N opener

K&N Pro Series West Series driver Derek Kraus made a daring pass for lead and held on after a late caution to pick up his seventh career win.

Race winner Derek Kraus

Race winner Derek Kraus

Nigel Kinrade Photography

Derek Kraus, BMR

Derek Kraus gets lead and stays out front to win K&N opener

K&N Pro Series West Series driver Derek Kraus made a daring pass for lead and held on after a late caution to pick up his seventh career win.

Derek Kraus took advantage of Colin Garrett and Ty Gibbs bumping each other while racing for the lead on Lap 134 and took the top spot for himself and held on for the victory.

The sixth and final caution of the race flew when Brittany Zimora spun in Turn 1, setting up the 10-lap dash to the finish.

Gibbs held on for second with Brandon McReynolds placing third. Sam was Mayer fourth and Anthony Segi rounded out the top five.

“It’s a really good car BMR brought me here, but we struggled a lot to be honest during practice and we didn’t get to do our moch runs,” said Kraus. “We had to start the race deep in the field but once the race started I knew we had a pretty good car underneath me.”

Kraus, who won four times last season driving for Bill McAnally Racing, started the race 16th after qualifying was washed out on Sunday and the rain also postponed the race until Monday night.

Kraus made his way through the field and was fourth at the last break of the race on Lap 125 of the 175-lap event. Having to work his way through the field and save his equipment was important to Kraus whl credited his spotter for helping him throughout the first half of the race.

“It helps to have someone good like (spotter) Freddie (Kraft) in my ear every lap telling me to not burn the right rear of this thing (car). We had a plan to come in on the front break and stayed out the second break. Track position is big here and it’s pretty tough to pass, but if you have a good turning car like I did it’s easier (to pass).”

Hailie Deegan started the race from the pole position after the starting lineup was set per the NASCAR rule book but she quickly fell back, allowing Chase Cabre to take the lead by Lap 7.

Cabre remained out from until Drew Dollar passed for the lead on Lap 13. Cabre retook the lead once more but fell out of contention with rear end problems on his car ending his chance for the win.

Dollar got back to the point where he remained until Garrett took the lead and eventually lost it with his door-bagging battle with Gibbs allowing Kraus to the lead for the remainder of the race.

The K&N Pro Series East will return to the track in early April when they visit Bristol Motor Speedway for the first of two races there this season on April 6th.

Race Results

Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Status Led Pts
1   16    Derek Kraus NAPA Auto Parts / Curb Records   (Mike Curb) Toyota 175      
2   17    Ty Gibbs * Joe Gibbs Racing / Arai Helmets   (David Gilliland) Toyota 175 1.058    
3   74    Brandon McReynolds The Reichert Group   (Marie Benevento-Visconti) Chevrolet 175 2.066    
4   21    Sam Mayer * Chevy Accessosries   (Maury Gallagher) Chevrolet 175 2.708    
5   20    Anthony Sergi * MJS Concrete   (Ben Kennedy) Toyota 175 4.037    
6   18    Colin Garrett * Emry's   (Sam Hunt) Toyota 175 4.765    
7   82    Spencer Davis All Pro Tower Sealants Ford 175 5.994    
8   6    Ruben Garcia UTI-NTI / Max Siegel, Inc   (Max Siegel) Toyota 175 6.970    
9   54    Drew Dollar SRI Performance / Dollar Concrete   (James LaMastus) Toyota 175 7.623    
10   31    Connor Hall * Viking Yachts   (Ted Marsh) Chevrolet 175 7.871    
11   1    Max McLaughlin * Mohawk NE / Textron   (Shigeaki Hattori) Toyota 175 9.542    
12   15    Tanner Gray * Gray Motorsport / Valvoine / Durst   (David Gilliland) Toyota 175 10.101    
13   22    Brandon Oakley Oakley Blacktop / Duncan Oil   (Thomas Oakley) Chevrolet 175 10.688    
14   24    Mason Diaz * Friends of Jaclyn Foundation   (Michael Diaz) Ford 170 5 Laps    
15   99    Brittney Zamora * NAPA Filtern / ENEOS   (Bill McAnally) Toyota 156 19 Laps    
16   19    Hailie Deegan Monster / NAPA Power Premium Plus   (Bill McAnally) Toyota 127 48 Laps    
17   4    Chase Cabre Honda Generators / E3 Spark Plugs   (Max Siegel) Toyota 77 98 Laps    
18   5    Juan Manuel Gonzales ToughBuilt / Illux   (Carlos Crespo) Toyota 65 110 Laps    
19   87    Charles Buchanan Spring Drug   (Charles Buchanan) Chevrolet 20 155 Laps

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Julia Landauer returns to Pinty’s Series in 2019
Next article NASCAR Mailbag: Car setups and more addressed this week

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA