Kraus Aims To Finish 2021 Strong In Final 2 Races

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The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series travels to Virginia this week for some door-to-door short track action at Martinsville Speedway.

The United Rentals 200 on Saturday is the penultimate event on this year’s series schedule.

Derek Kraus, driver of the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing No. 19 IncredibleBank Toyota Tundra, has raced in two series events on the historic half-mile track – coming away with a top-10 finish as a rookie in last year’s race. He had notched an 18th-place finish there in 2019, as he ran a handful of series races that year in preparing for his rookie campaign.

Kraus missed the playoffs this year by just 18 points and is 13th in the championship standings. He knows, however, that with just 19 points separating him from 12th place, he can still gain a spot in the rankings with a strong performance in the final two races of the year. He is confident that his experience at Martinsville and Phoenix – site of the season finale – will benefit his effort.

Kraus and the MHR team are participating in this year’s Honor A Cancer Hero campaign at Martinsville. Above the driver’s door of the No. 19 Tundra, his name will be replaced this week with #BrooklynJeansTeam – to honor Brooklyn Jean Grishaber. She is from Kimberly, Wisconsin and has been battling leukemia since she was 9 years old. Taylor Haufschildt nominated her and selected Kraus because he is also from Wisconsin and has raced with many teams that support #BrooklynJeansTeam.

Derek Kraus – About this week

How do you approach Martinsville as the 2021 season winds down?

“The season’s almost over. We’ve just got to try to capitalize on what we can, try to make no mistakes and finish out the season strong. Going to Martinsville, we’ve got to just try to stay clean and be there at the end.”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Event:

Race: United Rentals 200 (200 Laps) (Race 21 of 22) Oct. 30, 2021

Location: Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Va. (.526-mile oval)

Television: FS1 on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. ET

Derek Kraus

No. 19 IncredibleBank Toyota Tundra

Age: 20

Hometown: Stratford, Wis.

Career series stats: 48 starts, 2 poles, 4 top fives, 19 top 10s

Most recent series finish: 20th – Talladega (10/2/21)

Best career series finish: 2nd – Darlington (9/6/20)

Last series finish at Martinsville: 10th (10/30/20)

2021 Series stats:

Races: 20 starts, 2 poles, 1 top five, 4 top 10s

Average finish: 19.8

Laps completed: 2,370/2,618

Laps led: 58

Series standings: 13th

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing PR

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