Camping World Trucks - Sauter Race Report - Texas

FORT WORTH, November 5, 2011: Johnny Sauter, driver of the No. 13 Safe Auto/Curb Records Chevy Silverado, fought loose conditions and track grip issues all evening under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway to finish in the seventh position. The finish, along with leading 15 laps during the Winstar World Casinos 350k, helped Sauter move to the second position in overall driver championship points going into Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks.

Sauter, who started in the 12th position on the grid after having a strong set of practice sessions, quickly moved positions to settle into eighth place by lap six. Communicating loose conditions from early on, the situation progressed over the bumps throughout the race - while Sauter also encountered trouble with grip on the track in the cool temperatures. Despite multiple trackbar adjustments during routine and yellow-flag pit stops; along with on-track strategy to tighten up the truck, the 13 continued to loosen throughout the night.

"We had something for them when we had track position, but I was getting killed there on the straightaway," said Sauter. "We fought speed issues and it was just free off all night. By the end of the night, she was just rolling over. It was pretty bad there over the bumps, and the fastest guys would pick us off in three and four and we lost our track position."

Running as high as first mid-race, Sauter heavily ran in the top five all night. At the end of the race, when other teams fell victim to gas shortages, team 13 was able to capitalize on the track position for the seventh-place finish. "Obviously we wanted something better tonight, especially after running so well back in the Spring here until the penalty," Sauter continued. "We're not out of this, I've said it all weekend. We're going to regroup on chassis selection next week for Homestead and give it everything we've got. We have so much hometown support - I've got to thank everyone in Sandusky and all the kids who recently made us posters to cheer us on in the shop. That's awesome and makes the guys feel like they're doing it for something bigger than themselves. I hope we can pull off an upset!"