Johnny Sauter Wins Truck Championship in the Ford 200

Homestead, FL - RIS - Johnny Sauter completed his quest for a championship in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series that started at Martinsville and ended tonight  at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Sauter won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, but didn't win again until he mastered the "paper clip" in southern Virgina.  That performance strengthened his hopes in what would be his first truck championship.

Sauter's previous best finish in the series came in 2011.  He was second to Austimn Dillon that year.  The 38-year old took that Martinsville win and took it to the bank, hopeful that it would spur him on to a championship, which it did.Sauter only had to finish higher than Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell, and Timothy Peters to secure the title.  He finished third with Crafton in seventh, Bell in eighth, and Peters in ninth.

“Am I surprised? No. I mean, I felt like that's why I made the move – to ultimately to win races and try to win a championship,” Sauter said.

William Byron won the race by 2.175 seconds over Tyler Reddick, who was running his last race for Brad Keselowski Racing.  He will move on to the Xfinity Series next season.

For 118 of the first 134 laps Friday, Matt Crafton, the two-time series champion who was Sauter’s long-time teammate at ThorSport, a more established team he left for his current and champion-winning ride, was out front in the Championship 4 battle that also included Chase finalists Christopher Bell and Tiimothy Peters.

 But even Crafton knew Sauter was coming for him, especially when Crafton’s No. 88 truck did not respond well on the track after the final pit stop.

 “I kind of figured it was a matter of time,” Crafton said. “We were just really bad on that last run for whatever reason. We just went the wrong way for whatever reason.”

Unofficial Race Results: 21st Annual Ford EcoBoost 200, Homestead-Miami Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Trk, Lap, Pts, BPts, Status, TLd, LLd
1)        1, William Byron #, No. 9 Liberty University Toyota, 134, 36, 4, Running, 6, 31
2)        7, Tyler Reddick, No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford, 134, 32, 1, Running, 2, 16
3)        19, Johnny Sauter (C), No. 21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet, 134, 30, , Running, ,
4)        3, Kyle Larson(i), No. 24 DC Solar Chevrolet, 134, 0, , Running, 4, 76
5)        18, Daniel Hemric, No. 19 DrawTite Ford, 134, 28, , Running, ,
6)        17, Daniel Suarez(i), No. 51 ARRIS Toyota, 134, 0, , Running, ,
7)        4, Matt Crafton (C), No. 88 Black Label Bacon/Menards Toyota, 134, 26, , Running, 3, 10
8)        8, Christopher Bell (C) #, No. 4 JBL Toyota, 134, 25, , Running, ,
9)        13, Timothy Peters (C), No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota, 134, 24, , Running, ,
10)      2, Cole Custer #, No. 00 Haas Automation Chevrolet, 134, 23, , Running, ,
11)      6, John H Nemechek, No. 8 Fire Alarm Services Inc Chevrolet, 134, 22, , Running, ,
12)      22, Matt Tifft #, No. 11 Brain Gear/Surface Sunscreen Toyota, 134, 21, , Running, ,
13)      20, Rico Abreu #, No. 98 Safelite Auto Glass/Curb Records Toyota, 134, 20, , Running, ,
14)      14, Ben Kennedy, No. 33 Jacob Chevrolet, 134, 19, , Running, ,
15)      10, Noah Gragson, No. 18 SpeedVegas/Alert ID Toyota, 134, 18, , Running, ,
16)      16, Cameron Hayley, No. 13 Mattei Air Compressors Toyota, 134, 17, , Running, ,
17)      24, Austin Hill, No. 20 Lone Survivor Foundation Ford, 134, 16, , Running, ,
18)      12, Jesse Little, No. 97 Carolina Nut Co Toyota, 134, 15, , Running, ,
19)      9, Brady Boswell, No. 05 Boswell Electrical Supply/Bias Corporation Chevrolet, 134, 14, , Running, ,
20)      11, Ben Rhodes #, No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota, 134, 13, , Running, ,
21)      5, Spencer Gallagher, No. 23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet, 134, 12, , Running, ,
22)      21, Scott Lagasse Jr(i), No. 02 Alert Tonight FL/Florida Lottery Chevrolet, 134, 0, , Running, ,
23)      23, Grant Enfinger #, No. 92 BTS Tire/Goodyear Commercial Tire/Gerald's Ford, 134, 10, , Running, ,
24)      30, Jordan Anderson, No. 66 Columbia SC - Famously Hot Chevrolet, 134, 9, , Running, ,
25)      27, Austin Wayne Self #, No. 22 American Victory Toyota, 133, 8, , Running, ,
26)      29, Alon Day, No. 71 FLwaterfront.com Chevrolet, 131, 7, , Running, ,
27)      32, Travis Kvapil, No. 1 CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet, 131, 6, , Running, ,
28)      28, Reed Sorenson(i), No. 49  Chevrolet, 130, 0, , Running, 1, 1
29)      25, Stewart Friesen, No. 16 Halmar International Chevrolet, 128, 4, , Running, ,
30)      31, Spencer Boyd, No. 50 GruntStyle.com Chevrolet, 128, 3, , Running, ,
31)      26, Patrick Staropoli, No. 07 Auto Nation Cure Bowl Chevrolet, 125, 2, , Running, ,
32)      15, Ryan Truex, No. 81 Chiba Toyopet Toyota, 49, 1, , Engine, ,

# = Rookie, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led.
Average Speed: 129.747 MPH
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 32 Mins, 57 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 2.175 Seconds
Lead Changes: 15 among 5 drivers
Cautions: 4 for 18 laps 

 

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 8, Posted 11:36 PM, 11.18.2016