Johnny Sauter returns to ORP for Friday's AAA Insurance 200 presented by JD Byrider looking to capture the victory to which he was oh-so-close in his only previous Truck Series start at the track.
Sauter is no stranger to success at ORP, as he won a Pole Award and owns a pair of top-5 finishes in 5 Nationwide Series starts here.
His Truck Series start at ORP in '04, however, was the stuff of dreams, minus the storybook ending.
"'I built the truck for that race in my garage, with a couple of buddies," recalled Sauter.
"There was no pressure. We built it on a whim, and took it to the race with no
expectations."
Sauter qualified 6th for the race, and had some kind of fun for much of the evening, leading 139 laps of the race before caution erased a dominant lead. He was a mark without fresh tires, got tangled on a restart, and finished 2nd. "We had a blast, but it was tough to dominate the race like that and not win it," he said.
Fast-forward to 2009, and Sauter enters the race at ORP confident (four top-10 finishes in the season's first half) and comfortable with his surroundings at the short-track.
"ORP is action-packed, a unique track that is lots of fun to drive, so long as your truck or car handles
well," he said. "ORP has that awesome short-track atmosphere, with big-track characteristics. I've always felt at home at this track, and have been fortunate to run well here. You don't necessarily have to have the best truck to win here. You can pick people off in traffic. There's just lots of action, and it's a blast for the drivers. You can race in the middle or up-top here. It's always exciting to race at ORP, and hopefully we can take our No. 13 Fun Sand/Rodney Atkins-Curb Records Chevy to Victory Lane on Friday."
