Just because it was the championship race for the K&N Pro Series West on Saturday night didn’t mean others wouldn’t try to rain on Derek Kraus’ day in the Arizona Lottery 100. Former NFL Coach and current NASCAR owner, Joe Gibbs, watched on as his 17-year-old grandson made a late-race move to win in the Pro Series’ first visit to ISM Raceway since 2015.
An onslaught of national drivers hopped into the race at the home of NASCAR’s semifinal weekend. Some of the best youngsters in racing like Ty Majeski, Zane Smith, Riley Herbst and others came with some hot rods. the big name though, was K&N East Series Champion, Sam Mayer.
Mayer dominated most the day, winning the pole and leading the most laps. Everything changed though when a slew of cautions brought a boatload of restarts, giving Ty Gibbs lots of practice to make the pass and hold off the field in triple overtime. Gibbs took the win on Saturday night in the Arizona Lottery 100 at ISM Raceway, spoiling the party for the K&N Pro Series West regulars.
K&N East Series Champ, Mayer held on for a second-place finish and the K&N West Champion, Kraus, would grab a podium spot. West Series regulars Hailie Deegan and Jagger Jones would round out the top five after Corey Heim’s car was penalized.
Jones, a Scottsdale resident and Notre Dame Prep senior picked up his eighth top ten of the year placing him second in the final points standings. That points finish gave him the 2019 K&N West Rookie of the Year Honors in his debut in front of his home crowd.
But the big story was the crowning of a new champion, Derek Kraus. After five wins in 2019, Kraus dominated the season, only needing to take the green flag to win the title.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will become the ARCA Menards Series West in 2020. Their schedule has yet to be released, but the ARCA National Series will race at ISM on Friday, March 8, featuring three different series racing against one another in a single race.
