In his debut K&N West season last year, Kraus scored one win, nine top-fives and 10 top-10s in 14 races en route to Rookie of the Year honors and a third-place finish in the points, trailing only Gilliland and fellow BMR teammate Chris Eggleston.
After a win in the season-opener – taking into account the caliber of drivers he was up against to do so – Kraus has his sights set on a much bigger prize this time and believes he can replicate what BMR has accomplished each of the last three years.
“The win (at Kern County) has given me a ton of momentum and confidence. The way we did it, who we beat … it all comes together and builds us up,” said Kraus. “Even going into the next race (Twin 100s in Tucson, Ariz. on May 5), now I feel like we can really do a lot and I know BMR will give me another great car.
“My biggest hope is that we can keep unloading this year like we did last year and have plenty of speed right off the trailer. That’s really the biggest key in having a whole weekend go right, because if you can unload and you’re struggling it’s hard to get everything going in the right direction with the limited amount of track time we have.
“If we can keep building off of what we did last year and what I remember from the race tracks, I think we’ll be alright. I think we’ll have a shot at the title.”
However, Kraus was hesitant to call his Kern County win the spark behind such a shot, noting that there’s still 14 more races where a lot can happen.
“It’s really early in the season to be talking about a championship run. There’s so much that can still happen and so many things that could go right or wrong,” Kraus said. “If we do our part at the race track every week though, and go out and score as many wins and top-threes as we can … the points should take care of themselves.”
“I’m really, really looking forward to the rest of the season and how it will turn out, especially with some of the new tracks we get to visit this year. I’m really excited to go to Gateway (for the second combination race of the season) and I know it’ll be different than when I was there in a super late model, but I’m hoping the track time will help us along the way.”
So which race is Kraus most looking forward to? That honor goes to the new dirt track race that will be held Sept. 13 at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I’m anxious, nervous and excited all rolled up into one for that dirt race in Vegas. That’s going to be way different than anything I’ve ever done in a race car,” admitted Kraus, who has no prior dirt experience.
“The closest I’ve ever been to (doing) something like that is running a RAZR in my backyard and sliding that thing sideways,” he laughed. “That’s going to be so much fun.”
