For the Hub City Times

ROSEBURG, OR – Derek Kraus led flag-to-flag in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West action at Douglas County Speedway on June 29 to win the Clint Newell Auto Group/Toyota 150 presented by ENEOS and NAPA AUTO PARTS for a second straight year.

It marked the third victory this year and eighth career series win by the 17-year-old driver of the Bill McAnally Racing No. 16 NAPA Toyota Camry.

 “It was a really good NAPA Toyota they prepared for me,” said Kraus, who set the fast time in qualifying to win his first pole of the year. “It was really good on longer runs. It fired off a little tight, but overall once you got 10 or 15 laps on these tires it was really fast. I can’t thank these BMR guys enough.”

With the dominant win, Kraus was able to build on the slim one-point lead he held in the championship standings coming into the event. The NASCAR Next driver from Stratford leads his BMR teammate, Hailie Deegan, by eight points. Along with his three wins, he has four top-five and six top-10 finishes in seven starts this season. In addition to leading the points in the K&N West, Kraus leads the championship standings in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

Completion of the Roseburg race, which was the seventh event on this year’s series schedule, marked the halfway point of the season.

The race will be televised to a national audience on NBCSN on July 4.

The next event on the K&N West schedule will be a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway on July 26.