NASCAR Truck Series: 5 possible first-time winners in 2021

Possible 2021 first-time winners: Derek Kraus

Back with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Derek Kraus enters his second full-time Truck Series season ready for his first win. Last year, he finished in 11th place in the championship standings as the highest non-playoff driver.

Last season, he earned three top five finishes and 13 top 10 finishes, only missing a top 10 finish in 10 events. He earned his career-best finish of second place at Darlington Raceway, the penultimate race of the regular season. He lost that race by 0.785 seconds to Ben Rhodes. Now Kraus will have Rhodes’s 2020 crew chief, Matt Noyce, atop the #19 pit box.

He is ready for his sophomore season in the Truck Series.

https://twitter.com/derek9kraus/status/1341419791316226049

Kraus’s 13 top 10 finishes were more than three playoff drivers last year, so he had a fast #19 Toyota. What he needs to improve upon is his laps led. Last year, he led only 31 laps, lower than all playoff drivers.

Kraus won a combined 13 races in the now ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West. Of those victories, his only win at a course on the Truck Series schedule came at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. In his lone Truck Series start at that track, he started in 10th place and finished in 13th.

Kraus, and arguably all Truck Series newcomers last year, were at a disadvantage due to the lack of practice sessions and qualifying. Although NASCAR has not specified how many Truck Series races will have practice and qualifying this year, Kraus has now logged laps on those courses. He finished 22 out of the 23 races last year, with his lone DNF coming due to a mechanical issue at the Daytona International Speedway road course.

Where then is Kraus most likely to earn his first Truck Series victory? World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway could be a possibility. He has also been strong at Kansas Speedway, with one top five finish and three top 10 finishes in the three Truck Series races there last year.

Kraus also could win at Darlington Raceway. As mentioned, he finished in second place there last year. This year, he has Noyce, who could better set up his #19 Toyota for the race, in his corner. Both Kansas Speedway and Darlington Raceway host the Truck Series in the regular season, so if Kraus wins at either one of those two venues, he would likely clinch a playoff berth.

Finally, Kraus impressed at his first trip to Talladega Superspeedway. In that race, he led a race-high 19 laps, accumulated 11 stage points thanks to winning the second stage and survived the six caution flag periods en route to a 10th place finish.

Although the Truck Series won’t visit Talladega Superspeedway until the second race of the round of 8, if Kraus advances to that round, he could be a force to be reckoned with to potentially win his way into Championship 4.