Late
pass gives Sauter win in Texas truck race
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[November 05, 2016]
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Distributed by The Sports Xchange
FORT WORTH, Texas -- You might say
Johnny Sauter is on a roll.
Then again, that might be an understatement.
Passing Matt Crafton near the start/finish line with two laps left
in Friday night's Striping Technology 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, Sauter pulled away to win his
second straight race in the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series Chase.
In the process, he deprived Crafton of a chance to clinch a spot in
the Championship 4 finale, set for Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami
Speedway. Crafton won a drag race to the stripe against Daniel
Hemric to secure the runner-up spot, .836 seconds behind Sauter.
"This is amazing," said Sauter, who started 16th in his No. 21
Chevrolet and won for the third time this season, the third time at
Texas (having swept the 2012 races) and the 13th time in his career.
"Matt was content to keep running the bottom, and I made a couple of
runs on that restart (on Lap 130 of 147, after the third and final
caution).
"They got me great track position on the pit stop, and I just kept
bottoming the splitter out on the short run, and I could just not
fire off. ... Matt just kept running the bottom, and I was like,
'I'm going to the top.' And I was pretty successful on the top down
in (Turns) 3 and 4 all night long--just big momentum."
About the only low point of Sauter's night was his post-race
burnout--but that was by design.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/05/images/ads/current/maskeauction_sda_022614.png)
"I've got to apologize to the fans for the burnout," Sauter said. "I
know it was lame, but I've got to have this truck for Homestead."
Crafton, a two-time series champion, overcame a scrape against the
outside wall and a suspect battery to run second.
"We were just off all night," Crafton said. "I got drove into the
fence off Turn 2, and the right-rear tail is moved over quite a bit
and we got really free up off the corner. I was trying to manage,
and with about four (laps) to go I just got really free and I was
like, 'Oh, boy.'
"I was hoping that Johnny and the 19 (Hemric) raced each other a lot
longer than they did."
Polesitter Spencer Gallagher, Sauter's teammate at GMS Racing, led a
race-high 88 laps but lost six positions on pit road before the
final restart, thanks to a slow tire change on the right rear of his
No. 23 Chevrolet.
Chase drivers Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters finished 13th and 14th,
respectively, and are currently below the Chase cut line. Peters is
fifth in the standings, one point behind Crafton in fourth. Kennedy
is sixth, 13 points behind Crafton heading to Phoenix, where the
Chase field will be cut from six drivers to the final four next
Friday.
Sauter is the only driver guaranteed to race for the championship at
Homestead. William Byron, who leads the series with six victories,
finished sixth on Friday and held second place in the Chase
standings.
Christopher Bell came home 11th after late contact with the Toyota
of Cameron Hayley and is third in points, but the gap between the
second- and fifth-place Chase drivers is a mere five points.
The only three cautions of the night resulted from the expiration of
the caution clock, which runs in 20-minute increments from the drop
of a green flag. The previous high number for caution clocks in a
single race was two.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race -- Striping Technology 350
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Friday, November 04, 2016
1. (16) Johnny Sauter (C), Chevrolet, 147.
2. (7) Matt Crafton (C), Toyota, 147.
3. (2) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 147.
4. (5) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 147.
5. (10) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 147.
6. (3) William Byron # (C), Toyota, 147.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/110516pics/sports61.jpg)
Camping World Truck Series driver Johnny Sauter (21) and driver
Daniel Hemirc (19) during the Striping Technology 350 at Texas Motor
Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Mar/14/images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
7. (1) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 147.
8. (22) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 147.
9. (12) Cole Custer #, Chevrolet, 147.
10. (17) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 147.
11. (9) Christopher Bell # (C), Toyota, 147.
12. (15) Rico Abreu #, Toyota, 147.
13. (14) Ben Kennedy (C), Chevrolet, 147.
14. (6) Timothy Peters (C), Toyota, 147.
15. (8) Ben Rhodes #, Toyota, 147.
16. (21) Shane Lee, Chevrolet, 147.
17. (4) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 147.
18. (19) John H Nemechek, Chevrolet, 146.
19. (20) Austin Hill, Ford, 145.
20. (13) Jesse Little, Toyota, 145.
21. (18) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 144.
22. (30) Austin Wayne Self #, Toyota, 144.
23. (24) Casey Smith, Chevrolet, 144.
24. (25) Reed Sorenson(i), Chevrolet, Vibration, 143.
25. (27) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 143.
26. (23) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 143.
27. (29) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 142.
28. (11) Cody Coughlin #, Chevrolet, 141.
29. (28) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 140.
30. (32) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 138.
31. (26) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
32. (31) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Engine, 22.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Nov/05/images/ads/current/almh_lda_Ffarm_2015.png)
Average Speed of Race Winner: 148.291 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 29 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.836
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 12 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Gallagher 1-40; D. Hemric 41-75; S. Gallagher 76-83;
D. Hemric 84-86; S. Gallagher 87-126; J. Sauter (C) 127-129; M.
Crafton (C) 130-144; J. Sauter (C) 145-147.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): S. Gallagher 3 times
for 88 laps; D. Hemric 2 times for 38 laps; M. Crafton (C) 1 time
for 15 laps; J. Sauter (C) 2 times for 6 laps.
Top 10 in Points: J. Sauter (C) -- 3,072; W. Byron # (C) -- 3,052;
C. Bell # (C) -- 3,051; M. Crafton (C) -- 3,048; T. Peters (C) --
3,047; B. Kennedy (C) -- 3,035; D. Hemric -- 2,115; J. Nemechek --
2,084; T. Reddick -- 457; C. Custer # -- 456.
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