Let's Talk About Derek Kraus Going 2 for 2 Top-10 for Kaulig

Derek Kraus's #10 at Martinsville Image: Derek Kraus FB

2019 K&N Pro Series West champion Derek Krause is without a doubt a very talented racer. 10 wins in K&N West and 3 in the East showed that for sure. In his first Craftsman Truck Series race at Phoenix in 2018 Derek ran the #19 Bill McAnally Racing Toyota Tundra netting an 8th place finish and he followed that up the following year matching that finish in Dover in his 3rd career start. 

2020 Kraus got his first full-time ride in the Series, he remained in the 19 truck for the rebranded McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and their switch to Chevrolet. Kraus scored his first Top-5 in the season opener at Daytona. He then followed that up netting a season total 13 Top-10s and 3 Top-5s finishing 11th in the standings. 2021 saw 4 Top-10s including a single Top-5 at the Knoxville Dirt race and finishing 13th in the standings. 2022 Kraus returned for his 3rd full-time season at MHR netting yet again another 11th standing with 7 Top-10s to his name. So again, he is clearly a talented driver. 

Going into the 2023 season, MHR announced that they would be adding Christian Eckes to the 19 truck with Jake Garcia part time in the 35. That left Derek out in the breeze. He did however get a start at Daytona with Young's Motorsports where he finished P18 and that was the last we heard from him for the next few weeks. 

Kaulig's 10 Car

With last year's full-time driver of the #10 Kaulig Xfinity car Landon Cassill losing his sponsorship pre-Daytona. Kaulig needed some fill-in drivers. They of course have AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley in their Cup Series entries to fill-in some, but also added Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon to their roster. In the first 6 races, the #10 had finished in the Top-10 all 6 times including a win at COTA. Going into Richmond it was announced that Derek Krause would get his Xfinity Series debut for the team. 

Derek would fit in perfectly scoring the team their 7th consecutive Top-10. Once again, Kraus would back that up with another Top-10 keeping the 10 at Martinsville and even scored the 10 a Stage Point in the second Stage of the race. Draus's consistency on the short tracks kept the Kaulig Racing #10 as the only car all season long to finish Top-10 all season thus far. 

Per NASCAR's preliminary entry list for the Xfinity Series, Kraus is getting his 3rd opportunity in the #10 this weekend at Talladega with Leaf Home Water Solutions on board. 

By: Tom Luttermoser