The Lucas Oil 225 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. is not only the site of race No. 15 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval is also the site of Johnny Sauter’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series win in 2002. In fact, Sauter is one of only two drivers entered in Friday night’s 150-lap event that has a win in the “Windy City.” With a seven point lead on second-place Matt Crafton in the NCWTS championship point battle, can the ThorSport Racing driver find his way back to victory lane Friday night and increase his point lead with only eight races remaining on the 2014 schedule? You will have to tune-in to FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET to find out!
Sauter’s Chicagoland Speedway Schedule & Results:
| Date | Series | Start | Finish | Laps | Status | Led |
| 7/13/2002 | Nationwide | 20 | 1 | 200/200 | Running | 48 |
| 8/28/2009 | Trucks | 11 | 5 | 150/150 | Running | 0 |
| 8/27/2010 | Trucks | 5 | 4 | 154/154 | Running | 0 |
| 9/16/2011 | Trucks | 13 | 6 | 150/150 | Running | 2 |
| 7/21/2012 | Trucks | 15 | 22 | 149/150 | Running | 0 |
| 9/13/2013 | Trucks | 14 | 10 | 150/150 | Running | 0 |
Sounding off – Johnny Sauter:
“Chicago is a tough place to get ahold of. The track really makes you work to find the fast way around, but depending on the temperature it has a way of developing multiple grooves. Your job as a driver is to work with your crew chief to find the best setup to make the truck work like it needs to on the long run. Things have been touch and go for us there in the trucks, but we’ve been quick there in the past and our stuff is usually pretty good on the intermediate tracks. I’ve liked the track from the first time I got on it and I won my first Nationwide Series race there in 2002, so I’m looking forward to getting back there this weekend.”
Sauter’s Windy City Stats:
• Five starts
• Two top-five finishes
• One of three drivers to have four top-10 finishes
• 753 of 754 laps completed (99.9%)
• Two laps led
• Best start: Fifth (2010)
• Best finish: Fourth (2011)
• Average start: 11.6
• Average finish: 9.4
• Sauter is one of seven drivers to compete in all five NCWTS race run at Chicagoland Speedway
• The ThorSport Racing driver is one of only three drivers entered in Friday night’s event to have four top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile D-shaped Tri-oval
Johnny Sauter 2014:
• After an eighth-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, Sauter remains first in the 2014 NCWTS driver point standings, seven points ahead of ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton
• Was victorious for the first time in 2014 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (8/15/14)
• Recorded a season-best third-place start at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (5/9/14)
• In 14 starts in 2014, Sauter has one win, seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes
• Has led 89 laps in the 2014 season thus far
• Has completed 2028 of 2112 laps attempted (96.0%)
• 2014 marks Sauters sixth full-time season in the NCWTS. In five previous seasons, the ThorSport Racing driver has never entered the last eight races on the NCWTS schedule with the point lead
• According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranks
º Third in Laps in the Top 15 (611)
º 10th in Average Running Position (10.707)
º 10th in Driver Rating (90.0)
Sauter’s Career Truck Series Stats:
• 144 starts since 2003
• 10 wins
• 55 top-five finishes
• 82 top-10 finishes
• Five poles
• 21,780 laps completed
• 1094 laps led
• Average start: 10.6
• Average finish: 10.8
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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.
