Wisconsin racers Ty Majeski, Derek Kraus, others pick favorite tracks
A handful of Wisconsin racers were asked about their favorite tracks and those they’d like to race. Here are their answers.
- NASCAR Cup Series drivers Erik Jones and Carson Hocevar will race in the Gandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway.
- The Gandrud 250 is one of Wisconsin’s most prestigious super late model races.
- Ty Majeski, the reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, has won the event five of the past six years.
In a season without a NASCAR national race of any type in Wisconsin, two Michigan-born Cup Series drivers have found an excuse to race in the Badger state.
Days after three-time Cup race winner Erik Jones threw his hat in the ring for the $15,000-to-win Aug. 5 Gandrud Auto Group 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway, Carson Hocevar added his name to the entry list, the ASA Midwest Tour announced July 31.
Both drivers have competed previously at the rugged, D-shaped half-mile in the 250, one of the state’s most prestigious and lucrative super late model events, and also its longest.
Hocevar, 22, has run at Kaukauna twice previously, with a best finish of eighth in the 2020 Gandrud 250. After blowing the engine in his own car July 26 at the Redbud 400 in Anderson, Indiana, he will drive at WIR for longtime owner/crew chief Richie Wauters. Hocevar is midway through his second season in the Cup Series with two runner-up finishes to his credit..
Jones, 29, has made one start at Kaukauna, finishing 22nd in 2022, and has three other Midwest Tour starts to his credit, all at the Milwaukee Mile and including a 2014 victory. He will race his own car. Jones is the only driver to have been rookie of the year in all three of NASCAR’s national divisions, is the 2015 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and has won the Southern 500 twice.
With the departure of the Xfinity Series from Road America in Elkhart Lake after 2023 and the Craftsman Truck Series after ’24, this is the first season since 1992 – before Jones and Hocevar were born – that Wisconsin has not had a race for any NASCAR national series.
No visiting NASCAR Cup Series driver has won the Gandrud 250 since Kyle Busch in 2007.
Ty Majeski, a Seymour native, Neenah resident and the reigning NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion has won the event five of the past six years. Other likely contenders include 2023 runner-up Andrew Morrissey, two-time defending Midwest Tour champ Gabe Sommers, series points leader Casey Johnson, 2021 winner Paul Shafer Jr., and Luke Fenhaus, Majeski’s part-time truck teammate.
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