MONDAY MEMORIES: DEEGAN TOPS KRAUS IN COLORADO THRILLER

(June 8, 2020) – One year ago today, then 17 year-old Hailie Deegan won her third career NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West race. Deegan topped teammate Derek Kraus after a wild skirmish on the last lap of the series’ stop at Colorado National Speedway, sending Kraus spinning while Deegan saw the checkered flag.

The victory advanced Deegan within twelve points of Kraus in the championship at the time, and attracted a world of attention towards the Temecula, Calif. native. One of the most seismic victories in series history saw Deegan receive accolades from such drivers as Kevin Harvick. Harvick, himself the 1998 West Series champion, commented on Deegan’s win the next day from Michigan.

“Did you see the end of that K&N West race last night that Deegan won?” Harvick asked FOX’s Michael Waltrip. “I saw the 16 car (Kraus) come up and door slam her and then I saw her go for it. It was definitely aggressive but fun to see her being successful.”

Kraus sailed inside of Deegan into turn one on the final lap of the event. Contact ensued which placed Kraus into the lead. Heading into turn three, Deegan returned the favor with contact of her own, sending Kraus spinning. Deegan won while Kraus was relegated to an eighth-place finish.

“We ran our hardest race, everything I’ve been practicing, all the hard racing I’ve been running,” Deegan said in a Bill McAnally Racing release. “In the end, Derek ran me hard right there. So I was going to run him hard back. In the end, that’s racing. We were all going for the kill. In the end, I got the win. That’s all that matters.”

Following the victory, Kraus continued his strong run in the series. He scored a victory two races later at Douglas County in Roseburg, Ore. then added wins at Meridian Speedway in Idaho and Bakersfield’s Kern County Raceway Park to claim the series championship.

Kraus’ 2020 season is his first full-time campaign in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series racing for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. He recently finished seventh at Atlanta, boosting the new squad to ninth in the championship standings. The next NGOTS race will be June 13th from Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Deegan did not win again in 2019 but finished second at Roseville and managed third in the championship. She also added select starts in the ARCA Menards Series in 2019.

Her 2020 season has been more adversely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic. With two ARCA starts this year driving for David Gilliland Racing and Ford, Deegan has a second-place finish at Daytona and a seventh-place effort at Phoenix. The ARCA Menards Series returns to action on June 20th at Talladega Superspeedway.