After struggling with handling issues throughout the early and middle stages of the EnjoyIllinois.com 225, Johnny Sauter took advantage of a two-tire stop under a late caution flag and held track position to bring the No. 13 In Country Television/Curb Records Chevrolet home in the fourth position, his eighth top-five result of the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
"I thought we had a really good truck all night long but track position was important," Sauter said. "The two tires on that last stop was a great move. It got us up to the front instead of back in the pack and in all that dirty air. I thought we had a chance to finish third and I think we would have if we didn't have that last caution flag. We got pinched down on the inside on the start and I spun the tires and lost a spot to (Ron) Hornaday."
Sauter was happy with the effort the ThorSport Racing team gave throughout the weekend. Throughout practice Sauter couldn't keep throttle to the floor over the bumps, particularly in turns three and four. Crew chief Joe Shear fine tuned the setup for the race, smoothing the ride over the bumps, but giving Sauter a tight truck in the early going. After an adjustment to loosen it up, Sauter was able to steadily work his way towards the front over the second half of the 150-lap race.
"I'm super proud of the work and effort my guys put in," Sauter said. "We have a great package on the mile and a half tracks, but we need to work on it just a little bit. Kyle (Busch, race winner) was lights out all night long so we need to work on our stuff a little bit to get up there with him. I have a lot of confidence in Joe and the guys and we have some good tracks coming up. Joe made a great call to take two tires on that last stop and it paid off with a good finish. It's great to rack up these top-fives but we want to get another win or two before the year is over."
Sauter jumps back to third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship standings, leap-frogging past Timothy Peters who was sidelined just short of the finish Friday night due to engine failure. Sauter now sits 303 points behind leader and Chicagoland runner-up Todd Bodine and just 67 points behind Aric Almirola in second.
Next up for Sauter and the No. 13 Curb Records Chevrolet is the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway on Friday September 3; the race will be televised live on SPEED starting at 6:30 P.M. Eastern. It can also be heard live on select affiliates of the MRN Radio network and on Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128 (XM 104).
