Derek Kraus will drive the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series return to the Milwaukee Mile Speedway, Spire announced on Saturday (Aug. 5).
The Wisconsin native will have crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion on top of the pit box for the race. Manion was recently assigned to be Ty Dillon‘s crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I’m looking forward to working with Spire Motorsports and having Bono as my crew chief,” Kraus said in a team release. “I know that he is smart with the short, flat tracks, so I have a lot of confidence going into the race. It will also be cool to be racing in my home state, in front of many hometown fans. It should be a good race and I’m looking forward to it.”
This will be Kraus’ second start of the 2023 season in Trucks. He drove at Daytona International Speedway with Young’s Motorsports in the No. 20, finishing 18th. From 2020-22, Kraus drove full time in Trucks for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado, with a best career finish of second at Darlington Raceway in 2020.
“Derek Kraus has an impressive pedigree and we’re excited to put him in the seat at the Milwaukee Mile,” Manion said in a team release. “The tradition of racing in Milwaukee is very well documented and some of the very best drivers from the Midwest have won races there. It’s an exciting opportunity for Spire Motorsports to be able to race with someone who has a direct tie to the state of Wisconsin. We’ll have a fast gener8tor Skills Accelerator Chevrolet Silverado ready for Derek and we’re going there with one goal in mind – to bring home the trophy.”
Kraus has also made four starts for Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, with his most recent coming at Dover Motor Speedway in April. More recently, Kraus practiced and qualified AJ Allmendinger‘s NASCAR Cup Series car while Allmendinger was racing at Road America in Xfinity.
Kraus’s sponsor for the race will be gener8tor Skills Accelerator who have sponsored the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang driven primarily by Todd Gilliland in the NASCAR Cup Series.
See Kraus in the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for The Clean Harbors 175 at Milwaukee on Sunday, Aug. 27, at 4 p.m. ET. The broadcast will be provided by FOX Sports 1.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime