Johnny Sauter celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway Friday night. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/NASCAR via Getty Images
Johnny Sauter was bound and determined not to let history repeat itself in the season-opening race for the Camping World Truck Series.
It was just one year ago in this race that Sauter found himself leading the race in a green-white-checkered shootout just a hundred feet from the white flag when he got turned into the wall by eventual winner John King.
This year, it was Sauter going to victory lane as a wreck broke out behind him on the last lap, allowing him to keep Kyle Busch at bay and secure his first career Daytona victory in Friday night’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
Busch was second, followed by Ron Hornaday, Jr., Justin Lofton and Jeb Burton.
The victory was the seventh career Truck Series win for Sauter and the 100th victory for Toyota since entering the truck series in 2004.
“I can’t believe I’m in victory lane at Daytona,” said Sauter, who started in the rear of the 36-truck field. “We came so close a year ago and that was a tough one to swallow.
“I’m not going to lie, I was happy to see that caution come out at the end. Just a wild race. Speedway racing is just crazy. I’m just ecstatic to be in victory lane. My dad was here in 1978, the year I was born. Happy to have a Sauter back in victory lane at Daytona. This is cool for me personally.”
Friday night’s truck race was quite a departure from the single-file racing that dominated Thursday’s Budweiser Duel qualifying races for the Daytona 500, with plenty of three-wide and even four-wide pack racing from the start.
Lap 55 saw the first multi-car wreck of the weekend as Brendan Gaughan tried to thread the needle between the trucks of German Quiroga and Brennan Newberry and instead turned them both right into him, touching off a crash that collected a total of 13 trucks.
Sauter, running in 15th directly behind Gaughan, just barely got through the wreck unscathed, and joined the leaders on pit road, coming out fifth.
Back under green, Sauter pulled out on the high side and tucked in behind Lofton to race past Ty Dillon before cutting down low to take the lead, but his view from the front was short lived, as he got freight-trained by a pack of trucks led by Dillon, Busch and Hornaday just as Jason White pounded the wall to bring out the caution flag.
With 17 laps to go, Sauter blasted to back the head of the field with a push from teammate and two-time Daytona winner Todd Bodine, pulling up from his fifth place position in front of Bodine and the two powered their way past Busch to take the lead.
As Sauter and Bodine pulled out in front, another team mounted a challenge as the three-truck Turner Scott Motorsports stable of Ryan Truex, James Buescher and Miguel Paludo hooked up and powered their way to the front on the outside until Truex cut down a tire with nine laps to go, triggering a five-truck wreck that brought out the yellow flag.
Restarting with five laps to go, Sauter got away clean but Bodine struggled to get going on the outside, eventually falling all the way out of the top 20 as Busch tucked in behind Sauter, followed by Hornaday, Lofton and Burton.
Over the final laps, Busch stayed patiently behind the leader, as everyone expected him to make his move on the final laps, but moments after the leaders took the white flag, the truck of Jeff Agnew got turned off the bumper of Buescher, bringing out the sixth and final yellow flag, effectively ending the race.
Busch’s runner-up finish was his third in five starts in the truck series at Daytona – the only series where he doesn’t have a Daytona victory.
“We’d have a really good day if it was a 100 lap race, but it was only 99 today,” said Busch. “Man, I hate how that happens. You get crashed here taking the white flag and you can’t get a chance to bring it back. Wish we could pull off a win here in a Truck race. It’s the only one I’m missing. I’ve got ARCA, Nationwide and Cup at Daytona — have yet to get a Truck win, so try again next time.”
Dillon, Paludo, Ryan Blaney, Matt Crafton and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top ten finishers.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
NextEra Energy Resources 250 – Feb. 22, 2013
1. (25) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 100, $73310.
2. (6) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 100, $46900.
3. (4) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 100, $33920.
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5. (7) Jeb Burton #, Chevrolet, 100, $24835.
6. (5) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 100, $18610.
7. (8) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 100, $17610.
8. (11) Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 100, $16610.
9. (17) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 100, $15610.
10. (31) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 100, $15885.
11. (26) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 100, $14510.
12. (14) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Toyota, 100, $12085.
13. (3) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 100, $15235.
14. (16) Ross Chastain, Ford, 100, $14110.
15. (33) Chris Cockrum, Toyota, 100, $14785.
16. (24) Tim George Jr., Ford, 100, $13810.
17. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 100, $13705.
18. (21) John King, Chevrolet, 100, $11335.
19. (13) Dakoda Armstrong, Chevrolet, 100, $13485.
20. (36) Dusty Davis, Chevrolet, 100, $11760.
21. (28) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 100, $13285.
22. (10) Joey Coulter, Toyota, 100, $13185.
23. (30) Jeff Agnew, Chevrolet, Accident, 99, $13060.
24. (12) Max Gresham, Chevrolet, Accident, 99, $11685.
25. (20) German Quiroga #, Toyota, 97, $11735.
26. (19) Clay Greenfield, RAM, 95, $10485.
27. (23) Timothy Peters, Toyota, Accident, 92, $10335.
28. (9) Ryan Truex #, Chevrolet, Accident, 91, $10235.
29. (15) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 74, $10135.
30. (29) Jason White(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 61, $10535.
31. (34) David Starr, Toyota, Suspension, 58, $9985.
32. (27) Bryan Silas, Ford, Accident, 54, $9935.
33. (1) Brennan Newberry #, Chevrolet, Accident, 54, $12185.
34. (22) Chris Fontaine, Toyota, Accident, 53, $9830.
35. (35) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, Engine, 37, $9780.
36. (18) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, Engine, 25, $9692.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 141.598 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 45 Mins, 56 Secs. Margin of Victory: Caution.
Caution Flags: 6 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; J. Lofton 1-6; T. Dillon 7-17; J. Buescher 18; T. Dillon 19-60; J. Sauter 61; T. Dillon 62-64; T. Bodine 65-68; K. Busch(i) 69; T. Bodine 70-73; K. Busch(i) 74-84; J. Sauter 85-100.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): T. Dillon 3 times for 56 laps; J. Sauter 2 times for 17 laps; K. Busch(i) 2 times for 12 laps; T. Bodine 2 times for 8 laps; J. Lofton 1 time for 6 laps; J. Buescher 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: J. Sauter – 47; R. Hornaday Jr. – 41; J. Lofton – 41; T. Dillon – 40; J. Burton # – 39; M. Paludo – 37; R. Blaney # – 36; M. Crafton – 35; R. Sieg – 34; T. Bodine – 34.
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