Johnny Sauter celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images
With a finish that was the diametric opposite of his last run at Martinsville Speedway, Johnny Sauter punched his ticket to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship race with a victory in Saturday’s Texas Roadhouse 200 at the .526-mile short track.
After a restart with 18 laps left, Sauter, who finished last at Martinsville in April, held off pole winner Chase Elliott, beating the Dawsonville, Georgia driver to the finish line by .316 seconds.
On lap 176, Sauter took the lead from John Hunter Nemechek, who had gained track position with an earlier two-tire stop under caution. Sauter held the top spot the rest of the way, through a stretch that included the fifth caution of the race for an accident that put Ben Kennedy’s title hopes in peril.
But Sauter knows he’ll be racing for the championship on Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he scored the fourth of his 12 career victories in 2011.
“The key deal is liking a race track, and I can’t think of a better race track to decide a championship than Homestead,” Sauter said. “It’s a very racy place – you can run all over the race track. I feel like we are peaking at the right time. I feel like we’ve kind of saved some of our best bullets, so to speak, for the end, and we can go and really work hard on our Homestead piece for these next couple weeks.
“But I’m a racer – I think we all are – and we’re not just going to hang out these next two weeks. Texas has been a race track that we’ve had some success at in the past. We sat on the pole there earlier this year and had a shot to win the race… We want to win races, but we’re in a luxurious spot, I guess you’d call it. I want to win a championship. I’ve been doing this a long time, and have won races, but a championship is something that’s eluded me.”
Sauter’s No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet surged ahead on the lap 183 restart. On the same circuit, Elliott passed Nemechek for the runner-up spot and took off in pursuit of Sauter. Unable to execute a clean pass of the leader, Elliott settled for second place in his first NCWTS start since Nov. 8, 2013 at Phoenix.
“I got loose off of turn 2 coming to the checkered (flag), and that was probably my opportunity to get him,” said Elliott, who will start fifth in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. “But you’ve got to be careful. Those guys are racing for a championship, and some days it’s just not worth making a mistake or wrecking a guy or whatever.
“Obviously, I wish we could have got him, but I feel like I learned a lot today, and that’s the most important thing for (Sunday).”
Kennedy left the track wishing Ben Rhodes had used the same restraint Elliott observed in Saturday’s race. On lap 176, Rhodes punted Kennedy’s No. 33 Chevrolet in the middle of turn 2 and sent it spinning. In the aftermath of the wreck, John Wes Townley collided with Kennedy’s Silverado, doing further damage.
Kennedy stayed on the lead lap but settled for 18th place, worst among the six Chase drivers and one spot ahead of two-time champion Matt Crafton, whose afternoon went south with a broken left rear brake caliper.
After the race, Kennedy and Rhodes engaged in a heated exchange on pit road with NASCAR officials between them.
“He just wrecked us,” Kennedy told reporters. “He tried to wreck us earlier and failed. On to the next.”
Rhodes took responsibility for the crash.
“I owe him an apology for sure,” Rhodes said. “I know he’s in the Chase. I thought I could nudge him cleanly but got into him a second time and spun him around.”
Nemechek came home third in front of Chase drivers Christopher Bell and Timothy Peters, who ran fourth and fifth, respectively. William Byron finished eighth to gain the fourth spot in the Chase standings, nine points ahead of Crafton and 10 ahead of Kennedy.
The series moves to Texas and Phoenix in the following two weeks for the completion of the Round of 6.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
Texas Roadhouse 200 – October 29, 2016
1. (5) Johnny Sauter (C), Chevrolet, 200.
2. (1) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 200.
3. (12) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (6) Christopher Bell # (C), Toyota, 200.
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6. (2) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 200.
7. (3) Cole Custer #, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (7) William Byron # (C), Toyota, 200.
9. (13) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 200.
10. (15) Austin Hill, Ford, 200.
11. (8) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 200.
12. (21) Cole Whitt(i), Ford, 200.
13. (4) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 200.
14. (23) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 200.
15. (10) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (9) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 200.
17. (11) Matt Crafton (C), Toyota, 200.
18. (18) Ben Kennedy (C), Chevrolet, 200.
19. (14) Ben Rhodes #, Toyota, 200.
20. (27) Austin Theriault, Chevrolet, 200.
21. (20) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 200.
22. (16) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 199.
23. (26) D.J. Kennington(i), Chevrolet, 199.
24. (24) Rico Abreu #, Toyota, 198.
25. (25) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 197.
26. (28) Justin Fontaine, Toyota, 195.
27. (32) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 192.
28. (30) Joshua Reeves, Chevrolet, 191.
29. (17) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 179.
30. (29) Kevin Donahue, Chevrolet, Engine, 115.
31. (22) Kyle Donahue, Chevrolet, Accident, 48.
32. (31) Josh White, Chevrolet, Accident, 45.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 73.839 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 25 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.316 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 33 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Elliott(i) 1-10; C. Custer # 11-27; J. Sauter (C) 28-52; C. Elliott(i) 53-151; D. Hemric 152-157; J. Nemechek 158-175; J. Sauter (C) 176-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Elliott(i) 2 times for 109 laps; J. Sauter (C) 2 times for 50 laps; J. Nemechek 1 time for 18 laps; C. Custer # 1 time for 17 laps; D. Hemric 1 time for 6 laps.
Top 10 in Points: J. Sauter (C) – 3,036; C. Bell # (C) – 3,029; T. Peters (C) – 3,028; W. Byron # (C) – 3,025; M. Crafton (C) – 3,016; B. Kennedy (C) – 3,015; D. Hemric – 2,084; J. Nemechek – 2,069; C. Custer # – 432; T. Reddick – 428.
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