Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Tundra
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kansas Speedway – Toyota Tundra 250
Race No. 4 of 23
Stats:
Started: 7th
Finished: 3rd
Laps: 167/167
Status: Running
Driver Points: 4th (-22)
Owner Points: 5th
SAUTER “COASTS” TO THIRD-PLACE FINISH IN KANSAS
Kansas City, KS (May 9, 2015) – Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS was a race won on fuel mileage. Johnny Sauter and his ThorSport Racing team took the gamble to stay out in the final laps of the 167-lap event, but came up short, crossing the stripe in the third position behind race winner and teammate, Matt Crafton. Sauter’s top-five result marked the Wisconsin native’s fourth top-five finish in seven starts at the Midwestern track.
Starting seventh, Sauter battled a “loose” Toyota Tundra throughout Friday night’s NCWTS event. Crew chief Doug George brought the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Tundra to pit road three times under caution at laps 42, 67 and 111, respectively. Running as high as second, Sauter maintained a position inside the top-five over the final 50 laps.
As the laps started winding down in the Toyota Tundra 250, fuel mileage became the hot topic up and down pit road. George encouraged Sauter to start saving fuel following the last stop, but the No. 98 machine started experiencing motor issues with less than five laps remaining in the event. In an effort to save the motor and fuel, George encouraged Sauter to back-off and coast on the final lap. The No. 98 Nextant Aerospace Toyota Tundra would cross the stripe in the third position behind race winner, Matt Crafton.
Sauter’s third-place finish marks his fourth top-five finish at Kansas, and his best finish of the 2015 season.
Quote:
“We certainly didn’t have the best Toyota Tundra tonight but we were able to hang on and steal a good finish out of it. I told the boys with about five laps to go that we weren’t running out of fuel, but something didn’t feel right. When those guys started running out of fuel I just backed off and was able to cruise to the line and get a top-finish out of it.”
Notes:
- Johnny Sauter finished third in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway, his fourth top-five finish at the 1.5-mile track
- Sauter ran as high as second, and as low as 11th, but maintained an Average Running Position of 5.77
- In 2015, Sauter has two top-five and four top-10 finishes
- The ThorSport Racing driver remains fourth in the 2015 NCWTS driver point standings after four races
- Sauter’s ThorSport Racing teammate, Matt Crafton, won the 15th annual event and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, Cameron Hayley finished 5th. This is the first time in ThorSport Racing’s history that all three trucks finished inside the top-five
- In 156 career starts, Sauter has 10 wins, 58 top-five and 90 top-10 finishes
- Up next: NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Friday, May 15
About Nextant Aerospace
Nextant’s pioneering process for remanufacturing business jets is now recognized as an established technical and commercial success worldwide with significant sales in every major operator category and class-leading levels of comfort, performance, and reliability at a purchase price half that of comparable aircraft. The revolutionary 400XTi light jet features Williams FJ44-3AP engines and the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21(tm) integrated flight deck. The same winning combination is expected to repeat this success with the Nextant G90XT turboprop powered by next-generation GE H75-100 engines and an enhanced Garmin G1000 integrated flight deck. Founded in 2007, Nextant is a Directional Aviation company based in Cleveland, Ohio.
About ThorSport Racing
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. ThorSport, which has competed in the NCWTS since 1996, will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by two-time NCWTS drivers’ champion Matt Crafton, the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff/Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter, and the No. 13 Cabinets by Hayley Toyota Tundra driven by Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender, Cameron Hayley in 2015.
