Tundra driver Derek Kraus made his Daytona debut in tonight’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors and RV Truck Series and claimed a top-five finish as he crossed the finish line in the fourth position.
DEREK KRAUS, No. 16 SHOCKWAVE Toyota Tundra, McAnally-Hilgermann Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Describe your evening.
“Just surviving really. We survived all night. I just rode in the back with Ross (Chastain) there, and we kind of had a strategy there going into the race, and we executed the strategy and we ended up fourth.”
What’s it mean to get a good start to the season?
“This is really big start to the season, especially for my no. 19 SHOCKWAVE Toyota Tundra. I cannot thank SHOCKWAVE enough for coming on board for this race, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
What did you learn in this race?
“Yeah, I learned a lot. Coming into this race, I didn’t really have a lot any drafting experience at all, so we learned a lot in practice and in the race, we kind of just bided our time. In the beginning, we had a few wheel weights fall off. We pulled in, got a lap down and then we got our lap back and just slowly just stayed in the back and raced with Ross for a bit. We followed him and then in the end we went.”
When you had to go down pit road early what were you feeling?
“I asked right away if we were going to go a lap down, and Kevin (Bellicourt, crew chief) said we probably were, but we would be the first car a lap down. Stages are kind of short – just a 20 laps – and it went by pretty quick actually. So we just tried to stay calm.”
Toyota Racing PR
