Johnny Sauter on Fan4Racing Radio, Monday, February 19, 2018, at 8:40 pm ET. Photo – Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images
Johnny Sauter is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR & Race Talk, Monday, February 19, 2018, at 8:40 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @Sal_Sigala with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
The last time Johnny Sauter won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway in 2016, he and his No. 21 GMS Racing team went on to win their first championship title together. Now after finishing second in last year’s championship bid, Sauter has once again won the season-opener at Daytona and for his fellow Truck Series competitors, that means the veteran is still the one to beat on the way to Homestead-Miami Speedway and this year’s title.
“Once you have a championship you have that taste and it’s a taste you want to keep,” says Sauter. “I’m pretty pumped and feel good about our team. It’s the exact same group we had last year; they are the greatest group of guys I’ve ever been around and I think this year we’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing. I’d be disappointed if we aren’t running for another championship in Miami.”
On Friday night, Sauter started second and finished first taking the lead in the driver standings right out of the gate. He completed Stage One in second-place after briefly leading seven laps. The 21 team then pitted under caution for fuel only, lining up second to start Stage Two.
On the Stage Two restart on lap 26, Sauter took the lead on lap 27, holding the top spot until lap 42 when the second stage ended. This time under caution, Sauter once again brought his No. 21 truck to pit road for four tires and fuel, while several other teams took fuel only. Sauter returned to the track in eighth place.
Sauter made his way back to the front, running in the top-five with a series of cautions taking place. He again took the lead for the fourth time on lap 59, quickly followed by the fifth caution of the night. Sauter pitted for fuel only and returned to the track in ninth-place. Working with his teammate Justin Haley, Sauter raced back into the top-three with just over 20 laps to go. Moving into the front of the pack for the last time, with eight laps remaining, Sauter went on to earn his third victory at Daytona.
That victory gives Sauter the series lead for wins at Daytona as GMS scores their third consecutive victory at the track. (2016-Sauter, 2017-Kaz Grala, 2018-Sauter). GMS Racing is now tied with Robby Hamilton Racing, (2001, 2002, 2005) for the series-most wins at Daytona.
Leading up to the race, Sauter felt calm and confident in his GMS Racing team.
“What a truck tonight that Allegiant Chevrolet was. We qualified well and tried to keep track position all night,” Sauter said after winning. “We came from tenth a few different times to get to the front. I just felt so calm today; I had all the faith in my truck and my team. We were just so fast.”
Taking advantage of every opportunity to gain on his competitors, Sauter is also happy to work with his GMS teammates including Justin Haley, who finished second, Dalton Sargeant and Cody Coughlin.
“After playing around in the draft in practice, I felt like if you let anyone get more than a truck length back they could get a surge to you. I think Haley did a great job not helping the 20 truck get too much. I felt like if the 20 did peak out the 4 was in the perfect position to fill that spot and he did, so having a teammate right there at the end was definitely beneficial. Justin did a great job especially there at the end. I couldn’t be more proud of him. I felt like as an organization we executed perfectly tonight with our teammates, Dalton Sergeant and Cody Coughlin. That’s fun when you can do that, execute like that and ultimately end up first and second.”
Next up in Sauter’s 2018 championship campaign is the Camping World Truck Series’ Active Pest Control 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Saturday, February 24th at 4:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 1.