Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/CURB Records Toyota Tundra, continued his rock solid record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on Saturday, finishing fourth in the 17th annual UNOH 175. The top-five result marked the ThorSport Racing driver’s track-best finish in four starts at the 1.058-mile oval.
Starting 18th, Sauter worked his way into the top-10 by lap 40 complaining of a “free on entry, tight on exit” Tundra. Crew chief Jeff Hensley brought the ThorSport Racing driver to pit road under green at lap 61 and under the race’s first caution at lap 102 for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments to aid in the handling. Maintaining a position inside the top-10, Sauter continued to complain of being, “too tight on entry, and plowing like a dump truck.” Hensley brought the No. 98 machine to pit road for their final stop under the race’s second caution flag at lap 147 for four tires, fuel and another round of adjustments.
Following the restart at lap 152, the ThorSport Racing driver confirmed that his Tundra was, “handling better. It turns good, just a little loose,” while his spotter, Tab Boyd, confirmed he was the fastest truck on the race track. In the final 23 laps, Sauter endured three restarts at laps 159, 164 and 171, respectively, to cross the stripe in the fourth position behind race winner Cole Custer.
Notes:
• Johnny Sauter finished a track-best fourth in the 17th annual UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
• The solid finish marked Sauter’s third top-five in four starts at the 1.058-mile oval
• The ThorSport Racing driver remains second in the 2014 NCWTS driver point standings, seven markers behind leader Matt Crafton
• In 2014, Sauter has amassed one win, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes
• Cole Custer won the 17th-annual UNOH 175 at NHMS followed by Darrell Wallace, Jr. (second), Crafton (third), Johnny Sauter (fourth), and John H. Nemechek rounded out the top-five finishers
• Up next for the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team is the Rhino Linings 350 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 27
Quote – Johnny Sauter:
“We battled hard for this top-five finish here today; this truck was a handful. We fought tight at the beginning of the race, and made some really good adjustments throughout the course of the race. We could really run some good lap times on the long run stuff, but couldn’t fire off like I needed to. All-in-all, a good day for this No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/CURB Records Toyota Tundra team.”
Practice: 7th; 29.24 seconds/130.26mph
2nd Practice: 15th; 29.50 seconds/129.08mph
Final Practice: 14th; 19.18 seconds/130.48mph
Qualifying: 18th; 29.47 seconds/129.22mph
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.
