Hailie Deegan enters Kansas Speedway for the 19th race of the 2022 season — her 42nd career start in the NCWTS.
Despite consistent top-10 speed throughout the weekend, Deegan had a bumpy weekend last time out at Richmond Raceway. The Temecula, CA native overcame two penalties en route to a 26th-place finish.
Kansas Speedway is one of the 21-year-old’s preeminent tracks, averaging a 15.3-place finish in three career starts. Deegan made her NCWTS debut at the 1.5-mile oval, making history as the highest finishing female in their first-career series appearance.
Veteran Crew Chief Jerry Baxter has a history of solid runs at the venue. In nine career Kansas Speedway appearances in the NCWTS, Baxter has notched a top-five, six top-tens, and earned an average finish of 9.3.
Tanner Gray enters Kansas Speedway for his 19th start of the 2022 season and the 67th NCWTS start of his career.
In the series’ last outing at Richmond Raceway, Gray finished 16th after being trapped a lap down in the race’s final stage.
The 23-year-old will be making his sixth career start at the 1.5-mile oval. In 2020, Gray wheeled the No. 15 to his best finish at the venue, earning a fourth-place finish. In the first Kansas outing this season, Gray put in a ninth-place qualifying effort before handing issues rendered him to an 18th-place finish.
Crew Chief Mike Hillman Jr. has accumulated five top-fives, 10 top-tens, and one victory at Kansas Speedway. Gray and Hillman Jr. enter Kansas as their first contest together at a mile-and-a-half track layout, where the veteran shot-caller has a history of sustained success.
Ryan Preece straps into the No. 17 for his 8th NCWTS appearance of the season.
The Berlin, CT native has been exceptional in nine career NCWTS starts, netting two victories at Nashville Superspeedway and averaging a fifth-place finish across his 2022 appearances.
In Preece’s last NCWTS outing, he followed up his Nashville victory by earning a runner-up finish at Pocono Raceway, leading six of the race’s 150 laps.
The 31-year-old will make his NCWTS debut at Kansas Speedway but is certainly not a newcomer to the half-mile oval. In eight career appearances between NASCAR’s top-two series, Preece’s best finish of seventh came in a 2018 Xfinity series start with Joe Gibbs Racing.
