Hailie Deegan, the first woman to lead the championship standings of a series at the regional or national levels of NASCAR, will look to extend her points lead in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West this week when the series visits Tucson Speedway for a doubleheader event on Saturday.
The 17-year-old NASCAR Next driver from Temecula, California knows that strong finishes in each of the Port of Tucson Twin 100s at the 3/8-mile Arizona track could help her build an early-season lead in the chase for the championship.
Deegan, in her second season in the series, drives the No. 19 Monster Energy / NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota Camry for Bill McAnally Racing. In the first two races this year, she scored a win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track and registered a fifth-place finish at Southern California’s Irwindale Speedway.
In last year’s series visit to Tucson Speedway, she came away with eighth-place finishes in both 100-lap races.
While Deegan currently leads the points, her BMR teammates – Derek Kraus in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry and Brittney Zamora in the No. 99 ENEOS / NAPA Filters Toyota Camry – look to capitalize on the twin races to gain ground and move up in the standings.
Kraus, also a 17-year-old NASCAR Next driver, hails from Stratford, Wisconsin. He is tied for third in the standings, just three points out of first. In his third full season competing in the K&N West, he finished third at Irwindale and sixth at Las Vegas.
In last year’s doubleheader at Tucson, Kraus was on the pole for both races and came away with finishes of fourth and 11th. He finished sixth there as a rookie in 2017.
Zamora – a series rookie from Kennewick, Washington who just turned 20 – is tied for seventh in points. She finished eighth at Irwindale and 11th at Las Vegas and will be making her first series start at Tucson.
BMR currently leads the championship chase in the East and West divisions of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. While Deegan leads the K&N West, Kraus is first in points for the K&N East. He’s won two of the first four K&N East races this season, including the second race of a doubleheader at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway on Sunday.
In addition to racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, Kraus is competing in four races with BMR this year in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He matched his career-best truck series finish with an eighth-place finish at Dover International Speedway on Friday, in what was the second of those four races.
NAPA and ENEOS will be well represented at Tucson, with plenty activities and sponsor activation centered on the big doubleheader event. BMR will host a large group of NAPA guests from Phoenix and Tucson over the weekend. Guests from ENEOS, part of a special sales drive, will also be in attendance at the event.
BMR’s 2-seater No. 16 NAPA Toyota will be in action on Friday night, providing guests a lap around the Tucson track. Guests will be treated to a VIP Hospitality on Saturday, leading up to the races. Guests will also get the opportunity to get go behind the scenes with a special VIP pit tour.
The Tucson doubleheader, which marks the third and fourth races of a 14-event series schedule, will air live on FansChoice.TV – the streaming digital platform that’s airing the entire NASCAR regional series schedule live this year. In addition, the twin races are each slated to be televised on NBCSN on May 22 at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. PT, respectively.
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