07-17-2007 | TruckSeries.com Report

Over the last seven races Tim Sauter has steadily improved and had stronger runs each week. The team has been knocking on the door of a top-10 finish the last two races and prospects looked good again this week for the NCTS race at Kentucky Speedway. Unfortunately, mechanical issues hampered Sauter's run and the team had to settle for a 26th place finish behind Mike Skinner who won his fourth race of the year.

The troubles began in the first practice session on Friday when the engine expired in Sauter's Lester Buildings/ASI Limited Silverado. The Green Light team was forced to replace the engine thus loosing valuable practice time and relegating Tim to start at the back of the 36-truck field.

"The engine blew right in the middle of the corner, followed by a whole bunch of oil," Sauter said as he assisted his team with repair. "A rod came out of the bottom of the engine. It's bad luck, but we're fortunate it happened when it did and we could get it fixed."

After the green flag flew on Saturday evening, Sauter steadily moved forward and was in 28th place when the first caution flew on lap 13. Tim brought the #07 Chevy to pit-road for some quick adjustments. During the next green flag run, Tim was able to hold his position, but his racetruck developed a high-speed miss in the motor making it difficult for Sauter to pass trucks on the straightaway. When the caution flew again on lap 52, Skinners fast pace had put all but the top-19 trucks a lap down. Following the restart on lap 59, Tim was the fifth truck one lap down, after a series of quick cautions and a couple of passes on the track, Tim had moved into the "Lucky-dog" position.

Sauter's bid to get back onto the lead lap would end at lap 65 as he was forced to bring the Lester Buildings/ASI Limited #07 to pit road to address the motor issue. The crew quickly went to work to replace the carburetor but the repairs put Sauter 6 laps down to the leaders in 28th place. Sauter moved up to 26th in the final order when the checkered flag flew after 200 laps.

"It's frustrating that we couldn't get up there and race because the truck handled pretty good," Sauter explained. "That was the best I could get into the corners on a speedway all year."

"It's a tough deal when things happen out of your control," said Lester Buildings Vice President Larry Lembrich. "After they replaced the motor in practice, I really thought that we had a chance at a top-15 for our partners from ASI Limited."

Despite the disappointing finish, Sauter still stands 18th in NCTS point standings. "We need to just shake this one off and get ready to go to Indy." Sauter explained. "I think the Lester Buildings team will make a big rebound in two weeks at ORP, we have a great racetruck to take there and it's one of my favorite tracks."

ASI Limited would like to thank its strategic partners, Akzo Nobel; Spectrum Metal Finishing and Aluminum Shapes for their participation in this exciting racing program. ASI LIMITED was able to tour several key-people at the track this weekend for an inside look into NASCAR racing.