Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, enters the ninth annual fred’s 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway looking for a repeat finish. The defending race winner trails teammate and current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point leader, Matt Crafton by 19 points with five races remaining on the 2014 schedule.
In four Talladega starts, Sauter has one win and three top-three finishes. In fact, the ThorSport Racing driver leads all drivers entered in Saturday’s 94-lap race with the most top-five finishes (3), and the best average finish (7.0). With nothing to lose and everything to gain, a Talladega repeat could be the first step in achieving his ultimate goal – his career first NCWTS championship title.
Sounding off – Johnny Sauter:
“Talladega to me is the big question mark. The last couple years Talladega has been really good to us – we’ve finished first and second there. That doesn’t mean anything though, it’s still plate racing and anything can happen. All it takes is one mistake by any one person, at any time. You go into Talladega with kind of a ‘whatever” attitude – it can either be good, or it can be bad, it’s a 50/50 swing.”
“I like restrictor-plate racing, I feel like we’ve run well at them the last couple years, but I don’t put a whole lot of faith that we’ll come out of it in one piece. I just don’t really worry about it. I’m going to put my truck where I think it needs to be. If it works out, great, if not, oh well. That’s just the attitude you have to have.”
Sauter’S Talladega Stats:
• Five NCWTS starts between 2009 and 2013 including one win and three top-five finishes
• According to NASCAR’S Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranks:
º Fourth in Green Flag Passes (738)
º Fourth in Laps in Top 15 (277)
º Seventh in Driver Rating (86.3)
º Seventh in Fastest Laps Run (8)
º 10th in Laps Led (8)
º 12th in Average Running Position (14.89)
• Six NASCAR Nationwide Series starts including 12 laps led, and one top-10 finish (2006)
• Two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts
Sauter’S Talladega Superspeedway Schedule & Results:
| Series | Races | wins | Top-5 | Top-10 | Pole | Laps | Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| NCWTS | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 475/475 | 8 | 19.6 | 7.0 |
| NNS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 344/705 | 12 | 12.3 | 30.2 |
| NSCS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 841/962 | 2 | 34.2 | 22.6 |
Sauter’S Talladega Superspeedway NCWTS Performance Profile:
| Date | Start | Finish | Laps | Status | Led |
| 2009 | 17 | 14 | 98/98 | Running | 0 |
| 2010 | 8 | 3 | 95/95 | Running | 0 |
| 2011 | 20 | 15 | 94/94 | Running | 0 |
| 2012 | 29 | 2 | 94/94 | Running | 3 |
| 2013 | 24 | 1 | 94/94 | Running | 5 |
Johnny Sauter 2014:
• After a 14th-place finish at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, Sauter remains second in the 2014 NCWTS driver point standings, 19 markers behind teammate and leader Matt Crafton
• Was victorious for the first time in 2014 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (8/15/14)
• Recorded a season-best first-place start at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet when qualifying was cancelled due to weather and the field was set based on the 2014 NCWTS rule book (9/12/14)
• In 17 starts in 2014, Sauter has one win, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes
• Has led 113 laps
• Has completed 2497 of 2583 laps attempted (96.7%)
• Average start: 8.7
• Average finish: 7.7
• According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranks
º Third in Laps in Top 15 (2335)
º Fourth in Average Running Position (8.21)
º Fourth in Driver Rating (96.0)
º Eighth in Laps Led (113)
• Sixth full-time season in the NCWTS
Sauter’s Career Truck Series Stats:
• 147 starts since 2003
• 10 wins
• 56 top-five finishes
• 83 top-10 finishes
• Five poles
• 22,249 laps completed
• 1118 laps led
• Average start: 10.7
• Average finish: 10.8
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.