Derek Kraus, a 19-year-old NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racer from Stratford, WI, is sponsored by IncredibleBank. He has been competing on the Truck Series circuit since 2018, and in 2020 started full-time on the circuit. He is currently with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
Early Years
Before taking the NASCAR world by storm, Kraus started out his racing career in go-karts and bandoleros. He had immediate success, winning GSR Kartway championships in 2012 and 2013.
After a couple years of being a champion in go-karts and bandoleros, Kraus decided to take his talents to the next level of competition. He started competing in the Midwest trucks circuit and the competitive Super Late Model series in 2015, taking home the Midwest trucks circuit championship in the same year. At age 13, Kraus became the youngest driver to win a feature race at Rockford Speedway in Loves Park, Illinois while he was racing in the American Ethanol SuperTruck Series.
In 2016 Derek moved up to a higher level of competitive racing, joining the ARCA Midwest Tour. He finished fourth in the season standings and became the youngest driver to win a race in the series, surpassing Wisconsin-native and NASCAR Champion Matt Kenseth to do so.
Champion And NASCAR Start
Derek continued his ascension up the racing ranks in 2017, scoring a full-time ride with Bill McAnally Racing (BMR) in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West tour. His early success in racing carried over to the Pro Series, where Kraus won K&N West Rookie of the Year in 2017. Kraus continued to run in the Pro Series tour throughout 2018 and 2019, eventually becoming champion of the series in 2019. Although becoming champion of the K&N Series was a big accomplishment in the young drivers career, in 2018 he also made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at ISM Raceway, driving the No. 19 Toyota Tundra for Bill McAnally Racing. Not only did he qualify for the race, but he finished eighth, which was quite the feat for the then 17-year-old racer.
In 2019 Kraus continued his partnership with BMR on the NASCAR Truck Series, competing in five races that year. His best finish of the year tied his career best eighth place at Dover.
Full-Time NASCAR Ride
2020 was Derek's big breakthrough in the NASCAR Truck Series, as it was announced on January 13, 2020 he would be racing full-time for the newly formed team of McAnnally-Hilgemann Racing, a partnership with fellow Stratford-native Bill Hilgemann. Kraus had a number of accomplishments in his first year running full-time, finishing fourth at Daytona International Speedway and second at Darlington in NASCAR's overtime format. This year, Kraus has continued to run in the No. 19 Toyota Tundra full-time, adjusting to working with a new crew chief in Mark Hillman early in the year.
Derek's most recent race in the No. 19 IncredibleBank Toyota Tundra took place at Martinsville Speedway, where he finished 24th.
Derek and IncredibleBank
When the McAnnally-Hilgemann Racing team was formed, they were in need of sponsors for their full-time ride. IncredibleBank is proud to be one of those sponsors, and we have been with Derek since 2020. Not only do we sponsor the No. 19 Toyota Tundra, but we are Kraus' bank of choice. "No bank treats me better than IncredibleBank, which is why I'm so proud to be driving the IncredibleBank Toyota."
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