NASCAR NCTS (TEXAS) - Finally, a Top-10 for Tim Sauter

Finally, a Top-10 for Tim Sauter
Green Light Racing team scores best finish of year in Texas

November 2nd, Texas Motor Speedway. When the smoke cleared at the end  
of Saturday’s Chevy Silverado 350k, Tim Sauter finally scored a  
top-10 finish. It took 23 races to make it happen, but the Green  
Light team  achieved one of its pre-season goals of top-10 finishes.  
For the second time in three races the last ten laps of the NASCAR  
Craftsman Truck Series race was plagued by two large accidents.  
Differing from Martinsville where Sauter was in the midst of the  
melee, Friday Sauter received only minor contact and scooted through  
the spinning trucks in tenth place at the checkers behind fellow  
Wisconsinite Ted Musgrave.

The trucks qualified for the race on Thursday night, however a poor  
qualifying draw and a loose truck led to a 31st place start after  
practicing near the top-15. “We were just way too loose on Thursday  
night in qualifying, I had to check-up and that cost us a couple  
tenths. Our Lester Buildings/ASILimited Silverado was a lot better in  
race trim.”

The race started with a quick yellow on lap three that involved  
fellow rookie contender Joey Clanton, Sauter ducked to pit lane for a  
quick adjustment and restarted 32nd. Tim soon began passing trucks  
and moved up ten places by lap 40. Crew Chief Doug Howe left Sauter  
on the track to lead a lap and earn 5 bonus points, pitting one lap  
behind the rest of the lead lap trucks. Tim restarted 24th and began  
working his way towards the front of the field moving into the top-20  
when the third caution flew on lap 70. A good stop by the Green Light  
team moved Sauter up to 15th on the lap 73 restart, the top four  
trucks staying on the track.

Tim held his own in the top-15, gaining several positions to 13th on  
lap 105 when the trucks that did not pit on lap 70 began making green  
flag stops. As pit stops began to cycle, Tim moved into the top-10,  
running as high as 6th before having to pit himself on lap 125 for  
fuel and tires. After all the green flag stops had been completed,  
Sauter was the first truck one lap down in 13th place when the  
caution flew for Travis Kvapil’s blown tire on lap 141.

A huge six-truck pile-up started when point leads Ron Hornaday and  
Mike Skinner spun following the restart and caused a lengthy red flag  
to clean the track. It happened directly in front of Sauter, who was  
forced to the pit lane to check his tires after running through  
debris on the track. The stop dropped Tim back to 14th place. As the  
race went back to green with only three laps remaining, another multi- 
truck pile-up occurred at the front of the pack when Jack Sprague got  
into the back of Chad McCumbee. For one of the only times this year,  
racing luck favored the #07 and Sauter made it through the smoke and  
spinning trucks without incident, leaving him in 10th place in the  
final rundown, the first top-10 of the season for the Lester  
Buildings-sponsored team.

"We had a much better racetruck tonight than last week at Atlanta, We  
were a little free, but it got better as the night went on," Sauter  
said. “With the season is coming to a close I would love nothing more  
than to have a couple more strong runs for Lester Buildings. I’d like  
to thank ASILimited for their support this year.”

Sauter earned his fifth Raybestos Rookie of the Race award of the  
year, tying him with Clanton for the most top finishes by a rookie in  
the series and remains second in the 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the  
Year standings. Tim is 16th in the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series  
point standings, only 57 points out of 15th place.

The Green Light Racing team will head to the Casino Arizona 150 at  
Phoenix International Raceway on November 9th. Sauter has three  
previous starts at the mile-long track, all in the Busch Series.

With manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, Illinois and Virginia,  
Lester Buildings is one of the largest manufacturers of engineered  
post-frame structures in the United States.  The company provides  
building solutions for a broad range of needs – from simple farm and  
ranch buildings, hobby shops and equestrian buildings to many types  
of commercial structures.  Over 140,000 Lester buildings have been  
erected throughout the U.S. from the eastern seaboard to the Rocky  
Mountains. To learn more about Lester Buildings, visit  
lesterbuildings.com.