Johnny Sauter earned the fifth victory of his career at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night driving the No. 13 Hot Honeys Peanuts/Curb Records Toyota Tundra. Taking advantage of a late restart, Sauter was able to power through the field and position himself in second place behind teammate Matt Crafton. On Lap 146 of 167, Sauter passed Crafton for the lead and the win. Texas Motor Speedway is a bit of a sore spot for the No. 13 team. Sauter said he feels vindicated winning after last years black-flag penalty that took away what would have been his first win at the track.
“Every win is special, first of all, I’ve been fortunate enough to win some very cool races in the truck series,” Sauter said. “Your first win is always special, but this one is going to rank right up there with the start that we’ve had. You know last year was tough, that’s definitely the toughest loss I’ve ever had. And to have a dominant truck, have a seven-second lead into the green/white checker and have a lane violation is just not the way you want to go out. But I haven’t forgotten that, I promise you. I think about that all the time and it’s hard not to think about coming back to the race track again because it’s all everybody’s talking about”… “so I was bound and determined not to make that mistake again.”
“I would like to thank Mike Curb, Duke & Rhonda Thorson and Hot Honeys from The Peanut Roaster”, commented Sauter. “Their continued support and the love of the truck series brought us to victory lane today.” Sauter led two times during the race for a total of 41 laps. He finished 2.101 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher and teammate Matt Crafton. He is now 15th in the NCWTS Points Standings.
The NCWTS and ThorSport Racing head to Kentucky Speedway on Thursday, June 28th for the UNOH 225 airing on SPEED at 7:30PM EST.