Johnny Sauter enters the Pocono Mountains 125 looking to continue doing exactly what he and the ThorSport Racing team have been doing throughout the first half of the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - running up front and contending for victories.
Sauter is as intense and competitive as it gets behind the wheel so despite three consecutive top-five finishes at Iowa, Gateway, and ORP, he is hungry to win, and nothing but a victory will leave him satisfied.
Is it possible for someone who doesn't compete to fully understand your competitive nature and your desire to win every time out?
"I have always been very motivated to win, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it happen. If we don't run well because we just didn't get the truck the way it should be, I still put all that weight on my own shoulders. And if we have a day and we're horrible and we end up 30th it's my name that's listed there. We all want to win on this team and we're all working our hardest to make it happen. I am as proud of my team as anyone can be. They work hard and build me awesome trucks. We're working on some things to make us even better. We know we need to be a little better on pit road and the guys are stepping up their practice and training programs. We're giving it all we can to win some more races before the season is over, and if we can do that we should be right there at the end of the season for the championship too."
Since it is just a short sprint race, what type of race do you think we will see at Pocono?
"Pocono is very demanding on every aspect of the team. You need a great handling truck, you need your aero package to be as good as it can be and you need a lot of horsepower. I am really confident in the team to get the package we need and I think I can get the job done from inside the truck. It's a short race so you don't have a lot of time to be patient or wait; you're going to need to get to the front as fast as you can. Even though things can get spread out a little at a place like Pocono I think the short race will have everyone racing really hard and you'll see some action that you might not see in a Cup race."
Although you have only been with ThorSport Racing on a full-time basis for a season and a half what does racing for a team with 500 starts in the Truck Series mean to you?
"It's awesome to see any team hit a milestone like that. I know Duke and Rhonda Thorson are as committed to this as they have ever been, and you can see it with the results we have on the track. This team has developed into a winner and a championship contender. As proud as I am for them to hit 500 starts, I am even more proud to know we're up front winning races and giving them a chance to race for a championship."
