Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 98 Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, has numerous tracks on the 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) schedule that he excels at – Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, the site of Saturday night’s Pocono Mountains 150 has not been one of them. Sauter’s Average Finish across four career starts at the “Tricky Triangle” is 16.0 and he ranks 19th overall with an Average Running Position (ARP) of 18.224 according to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics.
The Necedah, Wisc. driver hopes to replicate his improvement in last week’s Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio in this week’s event at Pocono and regain the points lead as the series hits the halfway point. In the inaugural dirt event, Sauter posted an ARP of 16.230 and ended the day with a disappointing 29th-place finish after his involvement in an accident on lap 120. He showed tremendous improvement the second time around, posting an ARP of 8.493 en route to an eighth-place finish at the famed half-mile clay oval. His finish at Eldora was right in line with his Average Finish of 8.49 across the first 10 races on the 2014 schedule.
Sounding Off – Johnny Sauter:
“Pocono consistently hasn’t been a good track for me. Last year we were running in the top-10 and got wrecked, in 2012 we broke a driveshaft on the parade lap and spent 25 laps behind the wall, so that race was over before it started. The year before that, I crashed the primary truck in qualifying, started last in the backup truck and finished fourth, so that worked out well for us and it proved we know what we need to do to get around the place. But honestly in 2010, I don’t even remember what happened, except we finished around where we started. So, unlike a lot the places we go, Pocono’s just been one of those deals for me.”
Sauter’s Pocono Stats:
• Four starts
• Completed 190 of 212 laps attempted (89.6%)
• O laps led
• One top-five finish
• One top-10 finish
• Average Start: 13.5
• Average Finish: 16.0
• Best start: 12th (2010)
• Best finish: 4th (2011)
• According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranks:
º 6th in Laps in the Top-15 (97)
º 18th in Driver Rating (70.5)
º 19th in Average Running Position (18.224)
NCWTS Results at Pocono:
| Date | Start | Finish | Laps | Status | Led |
| 7/13/2010 | 12 | 14 | 55/55 | Running | 0 |
| 8/7/2011 | 16 | 4 | 53/53 | Running | 0 |
| 8/4/2012 | 13 | 27 | 28/50 | Running | 0 |
| 8/3/2013 | 13 | 19 | 54/54 | Running | 0 |
Johnny Sauter 2014:
• After an eighth-place finish at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, OH, holds serve on the third position in the 2014 NCWTS driver point standings, 10 markers behind series point leader Ryan Blaney
• Recorded a season-best third-place finish twice at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Dover (Del.) International Speedway
• Recorded a season-best third-place start at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City
• In 10 starts in 2014, Sauter has four top-five and eight top-10 finishes
• Has led 64 laps
• Has completed 95.0% of laps attempted (1600 of 1684)
• According to NASCAR’s Loop Data Statistics, Sauter ranks:
º Third in Average Running Position (8.49)
º Third in Laps in the Top-15 (1472)
º Fifth in Driver Rating (95.0)
º Eighth in Fastest Laps Run (46)
º Eighth in Laps Led (64)
Sauter’s Career Truck Series Stats:
• 140 starts since 2003
• Nine wins
• 52 top-five finishes
• 78 top-10 finishes
• Five poles
• 21,352 laps completed
• 1069 laps led
• Average start: 10.7
• Average finish: 11.0
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.