Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, set out seeking a Talladega repeat in Saturday afternoon’s ninth annual fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. As the defending race winner, the ThorSport Racing driver was optimistic to make up a 19 point deficit on teammate and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point leader, Matt Crafton, in an effort to claim his first series title. Unfortunately, debris from an earlier accident punctured a hole in the radiator and drained Sauter of a solid finish.
Starting a career-best fourth at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, Sauter maintained his position inside the top-five, running the top line in the opening laps, before being shuffled back to 14th in the running order by lap four. As the Necedah, Wisc. native started making his way back through the field, the “Big One” took out five trucks with Sauter barely escaping the melee. Crew chief Jeff Hensley brought the No. 98 Tundra to pit road under caution at lap 13 for fuel only and when racing resumed on lap 18, Sauter was scored seventh.
Running sixth on lap 24, the No. 98 Tundra slowed on the backstretch and Sauter was forced to bring his Tundra to pit road and eventually the garage for a punctured radiator. The ThorSport Racing driver would be credited with a 31st-place finish, 70 laps down to race winner, Timothy Peters.
Notes:
• Johnny Sauter started a career-best fourth in the fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeedway
• The ThorSport Racing driver was credited with a 31st-place finish when a bolt went through the radiator on lap 24 of 94. The result marked Sauters worst finish of 2014
• The 31st-place finish leaves the No. 98 Toyota Tundra 4th in the championship point standings, 36 markers behind teammate and leader, Matt Crafton
• In 2014, Sauter has amassed one win, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes
• Timothy Peters won the ninth annual NCWTS race at Talladega Superspeedway followed by Tayler Malsam (second), Spencer Gallagher (third), Tyler Reddick (fourth), and Ryan Blaney who rounded out the top-five finishers
• The NCWTS will head to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the Kroger 200 on Saturday, October 25.
Quote – Johnny Sauter:
“We evidently ran over a bolt and it went through the radiator and must have pushed the water out so fast that I didn’t have any idea. The water temperature never showed anything. We’re out of the race — the motor is blown up and it’s really unfortunate. I hate it for everybody. We’ll lick our wounds and go to the next one.”
Practice: 17th; 51.37 seconds/186.409mph
Qualifying: 4th; 51.407 seconds/186.278mph
ABOUT NEXTANT AEROSPACE:
Nextant Aerospace is recognized as the first company in the world to introduce aircraft remanufacturing to the business jet market. The Nextant 400XTi is a completely-rebuilt Beechjet 400A/XP with Williams FJ44-3AP engines and the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21™ integrated avionics suite. The new aircraft also has major aerodynamic enhancements and an improved engine mounting configuration with redesigned nacelles and pylons. The 400XTi is delivered with a two-year full-aircraft warranty and after-sales support provided by a global network of owned and authorized service centers. Founded in 2007, Nextant is based in Cleveland, Ohio. Nextant is a Directional Aviation Capital company. For more information, please visit, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @NextantAero or join us on LinkedIn.
ABOUT CURB RECORDS:
Curb Records is one of the world’s leading independent music companies. Owned and operated by Mike Curb since 1962, Curb Records has achieved 375 Billboard number one records, nearly 1,200 Billboard Top Ten records and charted just under 4,000 Billboard records. Today’s roster includes some of the top names in Country, Christian and Pop/Rock music. Curb Records was honored as Billboard Magazine’s 2001 Country Music Label of the Year and Radio & Records Magazine’s 2005 Overall Gold Label of the Year. For more information visit www.curb.com.
ABOUT THORSPORT RACING:
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. ThorSport, which has run in the Truck Series since 1996, in 2014 will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by 2013 drivers’ champion Matt Crafton, the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff/Carolina Nut Co./Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter and the No. 13 Carolina Nut Co. Toyota Tundra driven by Jeb Burton in the Truck Series and the No. 13 Toyota Camry in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.