Derek Kraus has been all over the place the past two seasons.
The 2019 ARCA West Series champion spent the next three years full-time in the Truck Series with McAnally Hilgemann Racing and Spire Motorsports but has spent the past two all over the place.
Kraus, still 22-years-old, has made sporadic Cup Series starts for Kaulig Racing after making eight starts for its Xfinity Series program the year before. All the meanwhile, racing his family operated Super Late Model with his dad, veteran racer Mark Kraus.
The general consensus in the garage when discussing Kraus is something along the lines of ‘great kid, really clean race car driver that doesn’t tear up race cars but needs more of a killer instinct gear.’
As Kraus starts to work on his 2025 package, is he aware of that reputation for good and the bad?
“Yeah, I do,” Kraus said. “I feel like a lot of that comes from racing our Super Late Model. We spent countless nights in the shop, me and dad, seeing everything he has put into our car and I learned that when you wreck, that has a consequence for someone like my dad.
“But I’ve also learned the last couple of years that you can’t race that way because everyone is so aggressive and they’ll take advantage of you for it. I do have to find a balance from that standpoint, start to race how you get raced, but my style does come from racing our Super Late Models and the way I was brought up.”
Kraus is working towards whatever next looks like.
“The main goal is to be full-time in something, because even with the Super Late Model, it’s hard to just jump in one car after doing something else for awhile and run decent,” Kraus said. “It can be done, but I just really respect that Larson jumps in and out of five different cars and runs good in all of them. That’s the one guy that is doing it regularly.
“So, I do want to be full-time in something but it’s sponsorship and funding and being able to put that in one basket.”
If Kraus isn’t racing in NASCAR or in Super Late Models, he is working the phones, trying to put that package together.
“It’s rewarding when you’re able to find the right partnership that works for both sides, but there is a lot of luck and timing involved, and you learn to deal with getting told no, too,” Kraus said. “No matter what happens next year, I have been fortunate to have a lot of people that have helped me over the years and I have driven some of the coolest race cars in the world, living my dream, and I’m grateful to everyone who has been part of that.”
Kraus has at least two marquee short track races coming up in the World Crown 300 at Cordele Motor Speedway and the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.