Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace Toyota Tundra, closed out the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) season with a 10th-place finish at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (HMS). The result marked Sauter’s 16th top-10 finish of the season.
Sauter began his night from the 17th position, after advancing to round two of qualifying on Friday afternoon. The Necedah, WI native immediately moved forward and worked his way inside the top-15 in the first 10 laps. Despite his Toyota Tundra beginning the race “way too loose on corner entry,” Sauter made progress toward the front by the races first round of pit stops. Under a lap 25 caution, the ThorSport Racing driver came to pit road for a scheduled stop, but over-shot his pit box before crew chief Jeff Hensley was able to put on four Goodyear tires, Sunoco fuel, and make a track bar adjustment.
After losing valuable track position, the driver of the No. 98 Toyota Tundra restarted 18th on lap 28, and began his methodical journey through the field. A caution on lap 40 allowed the team to pit from the 17th position, and get off sequence with a majority of the field. Still battling a free condition, Hensley opted for four fresh tires, fuel, a trackbar and spring rubber adjustment. The adjustments and tire advantage gave Sauter the edge on the competition to steadily work his way up and race for a top-10 position by the races halfway mark.
A debris caution on lap 71 gave the Wisconsinite another opportunity to pit for four tires, fuel, an air pressure and wedge adjustment to rectify his persistent loose condition. On the ensuing run, Sauter broke into the top 10 and reported that his Toyota Tundra was “free-in, and snug-off” the corner. A caution on lap 100 allowed Sauter to make his final stop of the night for tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment. The Nextant Aerospace driver would restart from the eighth position on lap 103 after quick work on pit road. The season finale ended with a 20-lap green-flag run in which Sauter maintained his position, crossing the stripe 10th behind race-winner Darrell Wallace Jr. The top-10 result was the ThorSport Racing driver’s fifth top-10 in eight starts at the 1.5-mile oval.
Notes:
• In eight starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnny Sauter has one win (2011), two top-five and five top-10 finishes
• In 2014, Sauter scored one win, eight top-five, and 16 top-10 finishes
• The ThorSport Racing driver finished fourth in the NCWTS driver point standings, 60 points behind teammate Matt Crafton
• Darrell Wallace, Jr. won the 19th annual NCWTS 200 followed by Kyle Larson (second), Timothy Peters (third), Kyle Busch (fourth), and Ryan Blaney (fifth)
• Wallace’s win was the 18th of the season for Tundra drivers in NCWTS competition – marking the 129th win for Tundra drivers since Toyota joined the series in 2004 and tying Chevrolet (2010) for the all-time series record of wins in a single season
Practice: 4th, 32.571 seconds (165.792 mph)
2nd Practice: 15th, 32.959 seconds (163.840 mph)
Qualifying: 10th, 32.567 seconds (165.812 mph)
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.