Derek Kraus Secures 2019 K&N West Pro Series Championship!

2019 has been a wild ride for young, ENEOS-sponsored, Bill McAnally Racing driver Derek Kraus, who ended the season on an extremely high note by securing the NASCAR K&N West Pro Series championship during the series finale at ISM Raceway in Arizona on November 9, 2019 in his BMR #16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry.

Awarded a third-place finish in the race following the disqualification of another car, Kraus secured his title simply by taking the green flag. He ends the season with a 49-point lead in the overall standings – the largest margin since the series adopted its current point system in 2012. His win marks a record ninth series championship for BMR, and its fourth in five years.

Kraus went into the event with a challenge: his qualifying time was disallowed due to a technical issue in post-qualifying inspection, which relegated him to 16th on the starting grid. At the drop of the green flag, he charged ahead and by lap 8 was already in the top 10. By Lap 75 he was in the top five.

“We struggled in practice,” Kraus said. “But we made our way through the field and were placed fourth on the final restart. We had a solid run in the last race of the season.”

Kraus ends his season with five wins, 11 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 14 series starts. Additionally, he scored two wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, leading the standings in both divisions for the first half of the season.

“It means a lot to me to be the champion of this series,” Kraus said happily. “Everyone at Bill McAnally Racing worked their tails off on these race cars to get them as good as they are. I can’t thank them enough for being behind me.”

Additionally, Kraus pulled double duty by racing his #19 ENEOS Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series this weekend, but was sidelined early after another truck made contact, sending him into the wall.

Series rookie and ENEOS-sponsored racer Brittney Zamora also contributed to BMR’s successful season, finishing seventh in the #99 NAPA Filters / ENEOS Toyota Camry, and fifth in overall in championship points, which puts all three BMR drivers (including Hailee Deegan) in the top five of the 2019 final championship standings. She was the runner-up in rookie points, and concluded her first year with six top-five and ten top-10 finishes from 14 starts.

You can catch the Arizona Lottery 100 race on NBCSN on November 14 at 3PM PST.