For the second time this season, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ (NCWTS) scheduled events were postponed due to weather, and the 200-lap UNOH 200 was run under sunny skies Thursday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnny Sauter, who entered the 13th race on the 2014 schedule with a nine-point lead over teammate Matt Crafton, started the event from the seventh position and battled a “free-in, and tight on exit” Nextant Aerospace Toyota Tundra for the majority of the event. Crew chief Jeff Hensley brought the No. 98 machine down pit road twice under caution at laps 52 and 112, respectively, for four tires, including air pressure adjustments, fuel and a track bar adjustment, to aid in the handling. The ThorSport Racing driver spent 100 percent of the 200 laps in the top-15 and crossed the line in the fifth position behind race winner Brad Keseolowski. The Necedah, Wisc. driver remains the NCWTS points leader for the second week in a row, with an eight point lead over second-place Matt Crafton as the series heads to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Onatario, Canada on Sunday, Aug. 31.
Notes:
• Johnny Sauter’s fifth-place finish in the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway was his third top-five finish in “Thunder Valley” in seven career starts
• According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranked sixth in Average Running Position (6.135), and sixth in Driver Rating (103.6) following the UNOH 200
• In 2014, Sauter has one win, seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes
• The ThorSport Racing driver remains the NCWTS point leader, with an eight point lead over teammate Matt Crafton with nine races remaining on the 2014 schedule
• Brad Keselowski won the 17th annual UNOH 200 at BMS
• Darrell Wallace, Jr. (second), Ron Hornaday, Jr. (third), and Matt Crafton (fourth) rounded out the remaining top-five finishers
• Up next for the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team is the NCWTS 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014
Quote – Johnny Sauter:
“My Nextant Aerospace Curb Records Toyota was just way too free on the bottom. I’m typically a bottom feeder, I guess you want to call it. I was just committed to the bottom. I tried running the top and Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) would give me lap times and I was two-tenths slower when I tried running the top. We just had to keep running the bottom. We were decent on the long run, we were just way too free. We made an adjustment yesterday anticipating running at night and freed it up with a spring. That’s obviously something you can’t change – we really wish we had an opportunity to fix that. Everything we did to try to tighten me up, because I kept telling him I was tight in and it made me tight on exit. We eventually, on that last pit stop, put it all back. We thought the track would take more rubber. I know it got black, but it didn’t take rubber like I remember it doing. A wise man told me, if you can’t win Bristol, you need to finish and that’s what we did today.”
Practice: 9th, 15.54 seconds (123.451mph)
Qualifying: 7th, 15.528 seconds (123.570mph)
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.