DGR NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Advance: Kansas

Hailie Deegan, No. 1 Toter F-150

  • Deegan makes her seventh start of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season in the No. 1 Toter F-150 on Saturday evening at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The rookie driver will start from the 20th position.
  • Deegan has three starts and top-10 finishes at Kansas in the ARCA Menards Series. Her best finish of sixth was earned in October 2020.
  • Kansas is the site of Deegan’s first ever Truck Series start. In October of last year, the young driver started 34th and finished 16th while piloting the No. 17 Ford F-150. This weekend marks the first time Deegan is returning to a venue for the second time in the Truck Series.
  • Kansas will be the third mile-and-a-half track Deegan has raced on this season in the Truck Series. The California native earned a best finish of 21st at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.
  • Since the April 17 race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Deegan participated in a rookie development test at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway with David Gilliland Racing. In preparation for the May 22 Truck Series event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Deegan also spent time at Skip Barber Racing school to hone her road racing skills. 
  • Veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. has one win with Todd Bodine in 2005, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at Kansas.
  • Click here for Deegan’s career statistics. 
video

 

 

Check out Deegan’s YouTube channel for her vlog which covers her Charlotte Motor Speedway rookie test. She mentions doubt, gaining confidence and gets advice from David Ragan and David Gilliland.

 

Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance F-150

  • Gray makes his seventh start of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season on Saturday and will start the 134-lap event from the 18th position.
  • Dating back to 2019, the 22-year-old driver has made five career starts at Kansas Speedway between the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. In ARCA action, he recorded a sixth-place finish in 2019 and a fifth-place run last season.
  • The Truck Series visited Kansas three times in 2020. Gray earned his first career top-five on the second day of the July doubleheader with a fourth-place result. He finished 18th on day one of the doubleheader, and 36th due to a crash on lap 37 when the series returned in October.
  • On tracks between 1-2 miles in length, the New Mexico native has 19 starts in the Truck Series with two top-five and six top-10 finishes.
  • Seth Smith will serve as crew chief of the No. 15 Ford Performance F-150 this weekend. A veteran in the ARCA ranks, Smith has called the shots for nine NCWTS races in his career including the first three truck races of Tanner Gray’s career in 2019. This season he has worked primarily on the No. 17 entry with David Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Kevin Harvick and Bill Lester.
  • Click here for Gray’s career statistics.

Gray on Kansas:

 

“Kansas is one of the few tracks on the Truck Series schedule where I actually have a good amount of experience heading into it. With racing there three times last season, I feel like we have a good notebook and I know what I need out of the truck to run well. It was cool to get a top-five there last year and I think we have a really good chance of breaking into the top-five or top-10 this weekend.”

DGR PR