Photo by Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images
Johnny Sauter’s GMS Racing teammate Spencer Gallagher dominated the race, but it was Sauter celebrating in victory lane at the end of the night at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sauter ran toward the front for most of the race, but only took the lead following the last set of pit stops with less than 20 laps to go. Sauter initially lost the lead on the restart to two-time champion and former teammate Matt Crafton, but chased the No. 88 back down to take the win with two laps to go.
“This is amazing,” Sauter said in victory lane. “I can’t thank the Gallagher family enough for giving me this opportunity. We finally won one Allegiant Travel and Alamo on the truck this week.
“This truck was awesome on a long run. I knew when we qualified 16th I was like, ‘It’s not a big deal’, but we had awesome pit stops. The whole deal,” he said.
Gallagher led 88 of 147 laps, and all of his issues during the night came while on pit road. He lost multiple position on each of his three pit stops under caution.
“The roughest one I think was the last one,” Gallagher said after the race. “We just took a hot minute getting that right-rear (tire) off and just lost several spots.”
Although Gallagher finished seventh after dominating, he knows his teammate is putting together a championship performance.
“How about three in a row for GMS?” he said. “I don’t think anybody else is going to win a race this year. There’s a championship run coming out of this organization, and I can’t want to see it come.”
Crafton salvaged a second-place finish after suffering some damage earlier in the race, and having battery issues in the middle of the event.
Daniel Hemric, who led 38 laps, finished third followed by Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez quietly closing out the top-five.
William Byron finished sixth followed by Gallagher, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer and Cameron Hayley.
Christopher Bell finished 11th after making contact with Hayley twice in the closing stages of the race. Both drivers exchanged words when they got out of their trucks, but the two remained civil.
Chasers Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters each struggled throughout the night and would finish 13th and 14th.
With Sauter taking another win in the second round of the Chase, he leaves three open spots for drivers to take as the field heads to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend. Crafton, Byron and Bell currently find themselves holding onto the final spots in the championship race.
