For Hub City Times

 MADISON, IL – Derek Kraus notched a runner-up finish in his second straight race, finishing second in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Aug. 24.

Kraus, trying to repeat his win last year in the Monaco Cocktails 125 at the St. Louis area track, drove the Bill McAnally Racing No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry up to second on the final lap of the event, which ended with a green-white-checkered finish after being shortened to 98 laps due to time.

Kraus, who started 12th on the grid, faced a challenge in gaining ground on the leaders, as the pace was slowed by multiple cautions in the first half of the race.

“We had our NAPA Toyota set up for a long run,” said the 17-year-old NASCAR Next driver from Stratford. “The cautions didn’t help us at all. It bunched us up, but didn’t really help. We just had to manage our position and stay as close to the front as possible, because track position was big.

“We just needed a long run and got it in the end a little bit. That last restart, we had a really good restart and finished second. It was a good race and a really good points day.”

With his runner-up finish, Kraus extended his lead in the championship standings to 29 points. He has three wins, seven top-five, and nine top-10 finishes in 10 K&N West starts this season.

The combination race from Gateway, won by Spencer Davis, will be televised to a national audience on NBCSN on Aug. 29.

The next event on the K&N West schedule will be at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway on Sept. 28.