Johnny Sauter passed fellow truck racer Matt Crafton with only two revolutions remaining. After the pass at the start/finish line, Sauter held on to win the Striping Technology 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. The victory was the momentous racer’s second in a row in inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase.
“This is amazing,” said Sauter. “Matt was content to keep running the bottom, and I made a couple of runs on that restart on Lap 130 of 147. It all came after the third and final caution.”
“They got me great track position on the pit stop. I just kept bottoming the splitter out on the short run. I could just not fire off. Matt also just kept running the bottom, and I was like, ‘I’m going to the top.’ And I was pretty successful on the top down in Turns 3 and 4 all night long, just big momentum.”
To add insult to injury, Johnny Sauter kept Matt Crafton from a chance to clinch a spot in the Championship finale in Miami. Nevertheless, Crafton kept his pedal to the metal and outraced Daniel Hemric to the finish line.
As a result, he secured the runner-up spot, just under a second behind the race winner. Also, the two-time series champion, overcame a scrape against the outside wall and a suspect battery to run second.
“We were just off all night,” Crafton said. “I got drove into the fence off Turn 2, and the right-rear tail is moved over quite a bit. We also got really free up off the corner. I was trying to manage, and with about four laps to go I just got really free. I was like, ‘Oh, boy.’ Was hoping that Johnny and the #19 Hemric raced each other a lot longer than they did.”
The Striping Technology 350’s Pole-sitter Spencer Gallagher, led a race-high 88 circuits. To his dismay, he lost six positions on pit road before the final restart. Unfortunately, it was a slow tire change on the right rear of his #23 Chevrolet that caused the mishap. Gallagher would finish out his afternoon in the seventh position.
Kyle Busch Motorsport’s William Byron couldn’t repeat his performance from the spring race earlier this year. Although, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate did hang around the top ten for most of the day. Byron crossed the finish line in his #9 Liberty Toyota in sixth place. He now sits second in the Chase points behind leader Johnny Sauter.
William Byron’s teammate Christopher Bell, took the checkered flag in 11th. In part, because he had traded paint with the Toyota of Cameron Hayley. Bell sits third in the Camping World Truck Series points Chase. To make things even more interesting, the gap between the second and fifth place Chase competitors is only five points.
The final two Chase drivers, Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters, finished 13th and 14th in the Striping Technology 350. Currently, both speedsters are below the Chase cut line. Peters also sits fifth in the standings, just one point behind Matt Crafton in fourth.
Ben Kennedy rests in the sixth spot, 13 points behind heading to Phoenix. After the race in Phoenix, the Chase field will be dwindled down to the last four drivers that remain. After the Chase smoke clears, the four remaining racers will lay it all on the line at Miami-Homestead Raceway, to battle it out for the Camping World Truck Series title.
Results for the Striping Technology 350 from Texas Motor Speedway:
1. (16) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 147.
2. (7) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 147.
3. (2) Daniel Hemric, Ford, 147.
4. (5) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 147.
5. (10) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 147.
6. (3) William Byron, Toyota, 147.
7. (1) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 147.
8. (22) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 147.
9. (12) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 147.
10. (17) Cameron Hayley, Toyota, 147.
11. (9) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 147.
12. (15) Rico Abreu, Toyota, 147.
13. (14) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 147.
14. (6) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 147.
15. (8) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 147.
16. (21) Shane Lee, Chevrolet, 147.
17. (4) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 147.
18. (19) John H Nemechek, Chevrolet, 146.
19. (20) Austin Hill, Ford, 145.
20. (13) Jesse Little, Toyota, 145.
21. (18) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 144.
22. (30) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 144.
23. (24) Casey Smith, Chevrolet, 144.
24. (25) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, Vibration, 143.
25. (27) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 143.
26. (23) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 143.
27. (29) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 142.
28. (11) Cody Coughlin, Chevrolet, 141.
29. (28) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 140.
30. (32) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 138.
31. (26) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
32. (31) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Engine, 22.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 148.291 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 29 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.836 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 12 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 4 drivers.
