It’s impossible for Johnny Sauter to think of Dover International Speedway’s “Monster Mile” in a pedestrian way.
The site of Friday’s 15th annual NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 200 is just too fast, too steep and too daunting to take a step at a time.
But that’s exactly what Thorsport Racing’s driver of its No. 98 Nextant Aerospace / Curb Records Toyota Tundra needs to do.
“Well, we’re in a position where we need to get some Nextant / Curb Tundras built-up to come back from tearing one of them up at Martinsville and completely ruining one at Kansas,” Sauter said. “Not a very pleasant way to race but Dennis (Connor, crew chief) and the guys know what they’re doing.”
Sauter has a pretty big incentive for getting through Dover, where he comes into the weekend fourth in the standings but within reach of his ThorSport Racing teammate, Matt Crafton, who’s leading.
Sauter was 10th after making only two runs in 13 minutes of Thursday practice, before it was rained-out. Sauter ran 30 laps in Friday’s Happy Hour practice and was eighth-best.
With only 35 trucks on the property, NASCAR amended Friday’s schedule by cancelling Keystone Light Pole Qualifying and setting the starting lineup per the rulebook, which put Sauter in the sixth position.
Qualifying was replaced by a final one-hour practice session that will be televised on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Friday’s 200-lap, 200-mile main event will be telecast live on FOX Sports 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET, preceded by The Setup pre-race show at 5. The live broadcast on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio begins with pre-race coverage at 5.
Live timing & scoring for the weekend’s events will be at www.nascar.com.
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.