Bill McAnally Racing’s (BMR) trio of drivers are headed to Florida for NASCAR Speedweeks as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East kicks off its 2019 season at New Smyrna Speedway on Sunday.
Derek Kraus, driving the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, begins his third year with BMR in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series; Hailie Deegan will be in her second season with BMR in the series, driving the No. 19 Monster/NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota Camry; and Brittney Zamora will be making her series debut in BMR’s No. 99 ENEOS/NAPA Filters Toyota Camry.
All three BMR drivers are set to run the full schedule in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West this year, while racing in select K&N East events.
Sunday’s 175-lap race is part of the 53rd Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway. BMR has competed in all five previous K&N East races at the high-banked, half-mile track since 2014. In addition to winning the event in 2016, with Todd Gilliland behind the wheel, BMR has accounted for four top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes.
In two starts at the Florida track, Kraus finished third in 2017 and fourth in 2018. Deegan made her K&N Pro Series debut in last year’s event, but was sidelined with mechanical trouble.
Kraus is a 17-year-old from Stratford, Wisconsin. He captured the K&N West rookie title in 2017. Last year, he topped the series with the most wins, most poles, and most laps led.
Deegan, also 17, is from Temecula, California. She is coming off a history-making season in which she became the first female driver to win a race in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the first woman to win a pole award in the series – along with being the first woman to win the rookie title in the series.
Kraus and Deegan are both members of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s emerging stars.
Zamora is a 19-year-old, second-generation driver from Kennewick, Washington. She has raced in super late models the past three seasons and was honored last year with NASCAR’s 2018 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award.
Deegan and Zamora are Toyota Racing development drivers.
In advance of Sunday’s event, the BMR team will participate in a storefront show at the NAPA AUTO PARTS Store in DeLand from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday. New store owner Chris Wall, with Wall Automotive Group, extended an invitation to the team to make the visit.
BMR’s No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry will be on display, tours of the BMR NASCAR transporter will be provided, and BMR drivers are slated to make a store appearance.
In addition, a group of NAPA guests from the DeLand store – as well as Wall’s NAPA Stores in Daytona Beach and Deltona – are scheduled to attend the New Smyrna race. A VIP Experience is planned for the group.
BMR PR
