Kraus fourth in NASCAR truck race

Young star does well in pro debut

By Casey Krautkramer

Derek Kraus, 18, of Stratford, garnered a fourthplace finish out of 32 drivers competing in his first professional NASCAR truck race on Friday at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

“It felt great to place fourth place because it was my first time racing at Daytona; it was a learning experience for me,” Kraus said on Tuesday. “I started out in seventh place during the race but then the left front wheel weights came off, which caused my truck to vibrate on the race track. I pulled over for a pit stop and I was lucky a yellow caution flag stopped the race, which allowed me to gain one lap back after I got back out there.”

Kraus said he was also fortunate to be driving far enough back in the 100-lap race to avoid a big wreck that occurred with only four laps left in the race. Kraus maneuvered his No. 19 Toyota Tundra truck to a fourthplace finish to gain 33 points toward this season’s Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series standings. He competes for McAnnally Hilgemann Racing.

He placed one spot higher than Natalie Decker, a 22-year-old native of Eagle River, who finished in fifth place while driving her No. 44 Chevy Silverado. Grant Enfinger, a 35-year-old Ala- bama native, won the opening truck series race to earn 53 points toward the season standings.

Kraus was in awe of the amount of NASCAR racing fans from around the world that attended his truck race at Daytona International Speedway. Kraus arrived back home in Stratford on Sunday night, and he was stocking shelves on Tuesday morning before school at his family’s grocery store in downtown Stratford. He cheered on his Stratford varsity wrestling teammates competing in the WIAA Division 3 sectional championship match on Tuesday night in Cumberland.

His next NASCAR truck race, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this Friday, Feb. 22, will be televised live on FS1 on cable, satellite and Internet live streaming television at 8 p.m. Central time.