Photo Credit: Ronald Costigan
Johnny Sauter looked to be headed to his second victory of the season, though contact on the last lap resulted in a wrecked truck instead.
On the final restart to kick off NASCAR’s first overtime attempt at Kansas Speedway, Sauter dove underneath William Byron while Daniel Hemric jumped to the outside of Christopher Bell to make it four-wide for the lead. Sauter got the advantage through turns one and two, and led the field down the backstretch with Ben Rhodes and Byron in hot pursuit. Sauter led the field to the white flag lap, and back around the track.
Going into turn three, Rhodes was able to close the gap between himself and Sauter, going for the dive underneath the No. 21 Chevrolet when contact ensued, resulting in Sauter making contact with the outside wall and handing the win to Byron.
“Just got ran over by a bozo, I guess,” Sauter commented post-race. “I don’t know if the kid is brain dead or he can’t see.”
It marked a huge disappointment for the Daytona winner whom had to start at the rear of the field after making “unapproved adjustments following qualifying” to fix some brake hoses that fell off during his qualifying run.
“Our truck was really good,” he said. “We had to start at the back and made our way to the front. We had to come back from the back again just how the pit stops worked out.
“It was fun to drive, but it’s unfortunate that you can’t race like you want to.”
