Tag: Johnny Sauter

Four Takeaways from the NASCAR Ganders Outdoors Truck Series race at Iowa
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series returned to Iowa Speedway this weekend for their 10th race of the 2019 season.

It was quite a newsworthy race with original winner Ross Chastain being disqualified and Brett Moffitt being declared the new winner, along with Johnny Sauter being parked by NASCAR officials for an incident with Austin Hill under caution. The Truck Series race was quite possibly one of the most talked about events in recent NASCAR memory this season.

It was the first time in nearly 25 years that a race win has been taken away. What’s more amazing is that Moffitt became the first winner to not lead a single lap in 66 years.

On the other hand, we had a young, up and coming phenomenon who is making a name for himself in the ARCA Menards Series and is considered a future NASCAR Cup Series star in the years to come.

So what else happened in the event? Here’s a look at this week’s four takeaways.
1. Chandler Smith Impressive In Rookie Debut – You’ve probably already heard a lot about Smith from this past weekend, but seriously, this kid is impressive and is the next real deal. Sure, qualifying was rained out which gave him the advantage of the pole position but he remained strong throughout the race. Smith led the first 55 laps of the event before a late stage caution forced him to come down pit road to fix his radio issues. Despite those radio issues, he continued to work his way back into the top-10 to finish fourth in Stage 2. However, another unfortunate circumstance took place at the end of the stage, as Smith was caught speeding on pit road which sent him to the back of the field. The highest position Smith was able to obtain after that was fifth, but he eventually had to settle for an eighth-place finish. Not bad for your first time out in a Truck Series start. Expect more big things to come from Smith in the future. He’s also setting the ARCA world on fire earning four career wins, 11 top fives and 14 top-10 finishes, along with seven poles over a span of 14 races. It’s quite impressive for a driver who is only 16-years-old.
2. ThorSport Racing Continues Strong Championship Run – Despite Sauter being parked and finishing 28th, ThorSport Racing continued their run toward a championship this season. Both drivers Ben Rhodes and Matt Crafton each won a stage respectively. Crafton won the first stage and Rhodes the second. Grant Enfinger was up there as well finishing second in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2 after post-race inspection. Before Sauter was parked, he was up there as well, finishing third in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. ThorSport has three of their four drivers in the top five point standings. Enfinger leads over Crafton by 47 points, with Rhodes in fifth. Sauter now sits on the cut off line in eighth, 103 points behind. He will be suspended for Gateway, but will still remain playoff eligible, despite the suspension. Now, Enfinger, Crafton and Rhodes all just need a win to help their chances even more.
3. Johnny Sauter Suspended – Well, we’ve all been waiting for it and Sauter has been suspended for the upcoming race at Gateway this weekend but at what cost? I’ve always learned, while one is at fault for their actions, the other is too. I think it would have only been right for both drivers to be suspended this weekend to learn from their actions. Oh by the way, if you’re near Dells Raceway Park Saturday night, Sauter will be there as well, as he tweeted below.
Change of plans…Dells Raceway Park Saturday night Dick Trickle 99! Ya know a Real Racer #DickTrickle #SupportYourLocalShortTrack pic.twitter.com/SIxEDeUIbv— Johnny Sauter (@JohnnySauter) June 18, 2019

4. Stewart Friesen Gets Top Five Finish – Lost in all the controversy following Sunday’s race is Friesen and his No. 52 Halmar Racing team, who earned another top-five finish this season. Friesen and his team finished 10th, and sixth in both stages respectively. It was his six top-10 finish of the season and he currently sits third in the point standings, 49 points behind Grant Enfinger.
June 18, 2019
Johnny Sauter suspended for one race after incident at Iowa

NASCAR officials announced Tuesday that Johnny Sauter has been suspended for one race due to his actions at Iowa Speedway under caution and cannot compete in this weekend’s upcoming Truck Series race at Gateway.

On Lap 137 during Sunday’s M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway, Sauter was wrecked off Turn 4. Replays showed that it was Austin Hill who wrecked Sauter after they had been battling hard with each other laps prior, which led up to the incident.

After Sauter was wrecked, he chased after Hill and intentionally wrecked him, sending Hill up the track. After Sauter’s actions, he was parked for the rest of the day by NASCAR and finished 27th, while Hill wound up in the 12th position. Apparently, this incident started at the previous race Texas Motor Speedway, a week before.

However, despite the news, Sauter will still remain playoff eligible from his win at Dover and currently sits eighth in the points standings, the last spot to be qualified for the playoffs.

Sauter spoke with Fox Sports 1 reporter Alan Cavanna after the race in a short interview and gave his side of the story.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out, you know?,” Sauter said to Alan Cavanna in his interview. “You know, sometimes you have contact and it’s racing.”

Sauter was also asked if he had spoken to Hill.

“No, what’s there to say?” Sauter added. “I’d love too, yeah it would be great, but it’s going to be hard to get to him.”

Hill also commented about the incident. .

“It’s hard racing with that (Johnny Sauter) guy,” Hill said to Alan Cavanna. “We were racing hard, getting in to Turn 1, he got in to me a little bit, I kind of returned the favor. I don’t race like that, so if you’re going to race me like that and take me out, I guess he was mad from Texas last week, I don’t know. I’m not going to put up with it, I mean you seen that today (Sunday). I try to race everyone clean, but when they race you like that, I don’t put up with it.”

When the suspension news was announced Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller explained NASCAR’s decision.

“We look back at the history of everything we’ve done and try to react with the precedents that we’ve set and then obviously tailoring those to the situation that we have at hand,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “In this case, we felt like his actions certainly warranted being sat down for an event, but it felt a little too harsh to take him straight out of the championship, so we think we landed on what we feel is fair and a deterrent.”

“We tend to look at incidents under caution as more of a retaliatory thing,” Miller said. “Obviously, him driving half a track with a smoking truck and winding through a few cars to get to the 16 and then running over him, then bouncing off the wall and running into his door, it was pretty aggressive. It was definitely not anything that could in any way, shape or form be defended as a racing incident.”

While Sauter will sit out this weekend, NASCAR said there will be more discussions with Hill and NASCAR will continue to monitor the two drivers for the rest of the season.

“We did talk about that,” Miller said, “and while we haven’t typically reacted in the form of a penalty to those things, there will certainly be further discussions with the driver of the 16 and he will definitely be placed under a little bit more of a microscope as far as us watching his actions on the race track.”

“Those conversations will take place again before they are placed on the race track again together,” Miller said, “and there will be a pretty good understanding that we don’t want to see any more contact or aggressive behavior out of either one of them — toward each other or other competitors.”

This is the first time a Truck Series driver has been suspended from competition since 2011.

June 18, 2019
Sauter-Hill Dustup at Iowa Should Lead To Suspension for Sauter

NASCAR is once again in another rock-and-a-hard-place scenario where they could possibly be suspending a driver for a reckless retaliatory move during a caution. NASCAR’s punishments have been wildly inconsistent when it comes to situations like these, although one may argue that they handle it on a case-by-case basis.

That said, regardless of case-by-case or situational inconsistencies, Johnny Sauter’s temper could lead to him having to sit out a race or two, not unlike Matt Kenseth following his Martinsville punt of Joey Logano in 2015. Sauter’s retaliation on Austin Hill didn’t knock Hill’s No. 16 out of the race, but it was still at speed under caution, which in itself is a no-no.

One could say Sauter brought this on himself. He was frustrated with slower traffic in Hill and bumped him out of the way, as one does on a smaller track. Hill returned the favor a bit too hard, sending Sauter into the wall. Was the ball in Hill’s court at this point? Yes. Could Sauter have held off until after the race to let Hill have it? If only.

Instead, Sauter made a point to chase Hill down, ram him, put him in the wall, ram him again, and push his truck a distance on the track, under the caution. In this case, Sauter is now the one who made a mistake, and now it is Sauter who must face repercussions. Every action has a consequence, and as unfair as he may think it is, the sanctioning body must act.

For that matter, what he did was wrong and not thought out at all. He acted on impulse, which isn’t something that should be done in a race car. Chasing another driver down just to ram them and try to wreck their vehicle out of anger is an extremely careless action, and is a slap in the face to the team back at the shop, who already have to take care of otherwise unintentional damage. That’s added work that didn’t need to be in the first place, and isn’t it the driver’s job to take care of their equipment?

Sauter is an extremely capable driver who knows how to achieve success behind the wheel. He’s a champion with an amazing record in the sport as is. But that said, he’s also a temperamental driver, and that’s a vulnerability. In that regard, a suspension could be the apt approach the sport could take.

It wasn’t a matter of Kenseth knocking the fire out of Logano, or Carl Edwards putting Brad Keselowski upside down at Atlanta in 2010. But it wasn’t Cole Custer/Austin Dillon at ISM Speedway in 2017, or Clint Bowyer/Ryan Newman at this year’s All-Star race at Charlotte. Sauter chased down Hill on the track during slowed racing conditions and tried to end Hill’s day. That’s something that the Kenseth/Logano precedent should cover with a suspension.

In a perfect world with a perfect approach, Sauter would have waited until the race was over to square up with Hill. Talk a little trash, shove a little bit, etc. Instead Sauter let his pride get the best of him and as a result shot himself and his ThorSport team in the proverbial foot; this is after Sauter snubbed Hill when the latter tried to approach him to discuss their contact from the previous week at Texas.

Regardless, it’s isn’t an enviable position that NASCAR is in. Sauter is one of the biggest names in the truck series, and he brings in his share of the fans. A race without Sauter in the trucks isn’t where NASCAR wants to be, but if it drives home the valid point that issues shouldn’t be settled with a bumper. Hopefully they’ll all learn their lesson when all is said and done.

June 17, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview- Iowa
Continuing their exciting run through the summer stretch and the run to the Playoffs, the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series stays in the Midwest as they head to Iowa Speedway for a rare Saturday night race.

Currently, there are 33 drivers on the preliminary entry list. There were 34 but the No. 32 of Daniel Sasnett for Reaume Racing withdrew from the event.

Iowa Speedway located in Newton, Iowa, is still relatively new to the Truck Series. The series first came to the track in 2009 and has hosted 12 races since then.

The speedway will host the second round of The Triple Truck Challenge. Greg Biffle won last weekend earning himself $50,000. However, despite a valiant effort, Biffle will not be competing this weekend to continue his run toward the money as he missed the entry deadline date. Also, Kyle Busch Motorsports already has four trucks entered and it would be tough to add a fifth truck to the field.

With that said, here are five drivers to keep an eye on in Saturday’s M&M’s 200.
1. Matt Crafton – After having a strong run in last week’s race at Texas, finishing second to Biffle, Crafton looks to carry that momentum forward in hopes of finally snapping his two-year winless streak dating back to Eldora of 2017. Iowa could be the place to do it. The No. 88 driver has 12 starts at the Newton facility earning one win in 2011. Other career stats include five top fives and 10 top-10 finishes, 109 laps led, two DNFs and 96.6% laps completed. Up until the 2017 race, Crafton finished inside the top-10 in every race. The last two years, however, he’s had disappointing finishes, crashing out in two consecutive races that left him with finishes of 19th and 26th. Before wrecking out last year, Crafton finished second in Stage 1 and 10th in Stage 2. Keep an eye on the No. 88 ThorSport Racing team as they’ll try to break that winless drought.
2. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has a perfect track record of a 100% success rate, but that’s because he only has one start at the .875 mile racetrack in Iowa. His win came last year in exciting fashion. In a last-ditch effort by now Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson, made a dive bomb move in Turns 3 and 4 in hopes of making a last lap pass on Moffitt. Gragson’s effort failed as he would take the lead for a split second, but he wound up hitting the wall and Moffitt went by him with a margin of victory by .333 seconds. This year, however, has been a bit of a challenge for the 2018 Truck Series champion who drives the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet. He still has no wins but has four top fives and five top-10 finishes with one pole. Iowa could be the place where a winning streak could start up again. After all, it is his hometown racetrack as Moffitt is from Grimes, Iowa, just 48 minutes east of the track.
3. Stewart Friesen – Friesen, driver of the No. 52 for Halmar Racing, is hoping to get the monkey off his back, especially after crashing last week. He has one start which came last year with a ninth-place finish after leading 48 laps. Friesen finished fourth in Stage 1 and won Stage 2. Friesen is looking to finally get that win that has eluded him for so long.
4. Johnny Sauter – When looking at statistics, race fans may be surprised when they see Sauter does not have any wins at Iowa. Like Crafton, he has made every start since the track held its first Truck Series race back in 2009. Over the 12 races at Iowa, Sauter has eight top fives and nine top-10 finishes with 110 laps led and an average finish of 7.2. In the last two races, he has finishes of fifth and second. His best finish with ThorSport racing is second back in 2010, nine years ago. It will be interesting to see if Sauter and the No. 13 team can finally get a win and cross Iowa Speedway off the win checklist.
5. Ross Chastain – Chastain continues his fight to make the Playoffs this week at Iowa. He has five starts with only one top-five finish back in 2013 driving for Brad Keselowski after starting on the pole and leading 116 laps. His other finishes include a finish of 16th in 2012, 11th in the fall race of 2012 and 13th in 2013 before he finished second later in the year and 30th last year. But, Chastain is with Niece Motorsports and has finished inside the top-10 in every Truck Series race this season including a win at Kansas last month. Chastain’s playoff run will be an interesting story to watch throughout the summer.
There are some different names on the entry list this week. Juan Manuel Gonzalez returns to Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing to drive the No. 10. Gonzalez has no Truck starts as he attempted the Martinsville race with the same team but failed to qualify. Raphael Lessard also returns to the series to pilot the No. 17 DGR-Crosley Toyota. C.J. McLaughlin will be in the No. 33 for Reaume Racing and Mason Massey will attempt to make his first NASCAR debut. Chad Finley is back racing for his family-owned team in the No. 42. Future upcoming star Chandler Smith will be making his NASCAR debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports driving the famed No. 51. Tyler Hill returns in the No. 56 for Hill Motorsports. Lou Goss will try to make his first NASCAR attempt in the No. 74 and team owner Josh Reaume will pilot the No. 87 Nemco Motorsports Chevrolet.

With the Truck Series having a span of 12 races at Iowa dating back to 2009, the winner’s list includes Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters, Ryan Blaney, James Buescher, Erik Jones, William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek and Brett Moffit.

Qualifying is important at Iowa with most of the winners coming from the top 10 starting positions. Only two winners have started outside the top 10, Matt Crafton who started 11th in 2011, and Moffitt who started 16th in last year’s race.

Only two drivers have won twice at the track. Timothy Peters did it in 2012 and 2013. Erik Jones is the only driver that has won two consecutive races, in 2014 and 2015.

The race winner has come from the pole four times, in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015.

The Truck Series will hit the track Saturday morning for the first practice at 9:30 a.m. ET. The final practice is set for 11:30 a.m. ET. Qualifying is slated for 5:35 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2.

The M&M’s 200 race is scheduled to start shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. It will consist of three stages that will be broken into 60/120/200 laps to make up the 175-mile race distance.
June 13, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Texas II
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series gets back on track this Friday night in the Lone Star state at Texas Motor Speedway for race number nine of the 2019 season after a couple of weeks off.

Normally, the summer race would be the site of the first of two races of the season with the final race taking place in November and being one in the Playoffs. However, the schedule changed this year by placing the November race in early spring and using the summer race as the final race for the Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway. It will also be the first of many standalone races for the series as well.

The Truck Series will have a unique twist when they get on track Friday night, as the series will introduce the Triple Truck Challenge over the span of the next three races. Should a driver win at Texas Friday night, Iowa or Gateway, Gander Outdoors will award the driver an additional $50,000 bonus for winning any of these events. If the driver wins two out of three, the title sponsor awards $150,000. Win all three and the driver will earn themselves $500,000. That’s extra motivation for any driver to win throughout the upcoming races.

With that said, there are currently 33 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list for the SpeedyCash.com 400.

Here are five drivers to keep an eye on Friday night.
1. Johnny Sauter – It shouldn’t be a surprise that Sauter tops this list and there’s a reason why. He has a stellar track record at the 1.5-mile track and has always run well. Sauter has only finished outside the top-10 in five races there, while every other finish is either a win or a top-10. He has five wins (sweeping the 2012 season, 2016, 2017 and 2018). With those five wins, Sauter has collected 11 top fives and 17 top-10 finishes along with 368 laps led. He also has four poles with the last coming in the November race. His average start is 8.4 with an average finish of 6.1. Sauter has never had a DNF at Texas and has completed 100% of the laps dating back to his first start in 2005. It would be a mistake to bet against the two-time champion. Only something catastrophic or an ill-handling truck would prevent Sauter from having a great finish. Don’t be surprised if you see the Wisconsin native wheel the No. 13 into victory lane on Friday night.
2. Grant Enfinger – Texas could be the site of Enfinger’s first checkered flag of the season. The Thorsport driver has just five starts with a best finish of third coming in his first outing in 2017 with the No. 98 team. Since then, he’s earned three top fives and four top-10 finishes with 16 laps led. In the spring race, Enfinger earned the front row starting position by starting on the pole and wound up fourth after leading eight laps. He won the first stage while finishing seventh in Stage 2. Enfinger only has one finish outside the top-10 that came in the November race last year, finishing 12th. In the summer race last year, he finished fourth after starting eighth and led seven laps. Look for Enfinger and the No. 98 Thorsport team to be a strong contender this weekend.
3. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland only has three starts at the 1.5-mile track in the Lone Star state with a best finish of sixth in the summer race last year. The No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports driver even started on the outside pole and led 62 laps. He finished fourth in November and wound up 14th in the previous race in March of this year. At 1.5 mile tracks this year, Gilliland’s best finish came at Kansas last month with a finish of third where he challenged for the win late. Other finishes include ninth at Atlanta, seventh at Las Vegas and seventh at Charlotte. Gilliland has faced a lot of pressure to perform lately and he Triple Truck Challenge just might give him a little extra motivation to win this Friday night.
4. Stewart Friesen – Speaking of first-time winners, there could be one this weekend and it might be the No. 52 Halmar Racing driver Stewart Friesen. He has five starts with a best finish of second twice (2018 and March of 2019). His first two outings did not go well with finishes of 22nd and 14th. However, since the summer race, Friesen finished second, eighth and second. The Canada native sat on the pole and led 13 laps last year in the summer race. Those finishes have led to 26 laps led and an average finish of 9.6 at Texas. Friesen has been close multiple times to victory lane, falling short to Kyle Busch in March. Friday night could be redemption for Friesen and the No. 52 Halmar Racing team.
5. Greg Biffle – When people see the entry list this week, they’ll see a familiar name making a one-off start and his first race in quite some time. NASCAR fans will see Greg Biffle entered in the famed No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck Friday night. It will be his first Truck Series start since 2004 at Homestead where he finished eighth. Before making the jump to the Cup Series, the Washington State native used the Truck Series as a stepping stone to get to the Busch Series and eventually to the Cup Series in 2002. Biffle won the Truck Series championship 19 years ago in 2000. In his championship season, he earned five wins, 18 top fives and 18 top 10 finishes. In 1999, the year before he won the championship, Biffle set the record in the Truck Series by winning nine races, the most in a single season. Only one driver has come close and that was William Byron in 2016 when he earned seven wins that season. At his last Texas start in November of 2000, he finished 25th driving for Jack Roush. However, he won that year as well at Texas. Biffle practiced in Kyle Busch’s truck at Texas earlier this March to adjust to the truck. It will be interesting to see how the 2000 Truck Series champion performs this Friday night.
Cory Roper will be back with his own team this week, driving the No. 04 Roper Racing Ford, Codie Rohrbaugh will be in the No. 9, Trey Hutchens will compete in the No. 14, Anthony Alfredo will pilot the No. 15, Ted Minor will be in the No. 25, Scott Stenzel will drive the No. 34 and Kyle Benjamin will be in the No. 45.

Texas Motor Speedway has hosted 43 Truck Series races dating back to its first year in 1997.

Johnny Sauter has the most wins with five, while former series regular Brendan Gaughan is the only driver to win four in a row and that occurred in the 2002-2003 season.

The list of winners include Kenny Irwin Jr, Tony Raines, Dennis Setzer, Jay Sauter, Greg Biffle, Bryan Reffner, Jack Sprague, Travis Kvapil, Todd Bodine, Clint Bowyer, Ted Musgrave, Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeb Burton, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, Erik Jones, William Byron, Christopher Bell and Justin Haley.

The lowest a race winner has ever come from to win was 22nd set by Todd Bodine in 2004. The race winner has started on the pole five times and includes drivers Jay Sauter, Biffle, Reffner, Bowyer and Bodine, who was the last to do so in 2007.

The Truck Series will be on-track Thursday afternoon with two practice sessions. The first occurs at 2:05 p.m. ET and the final is set for 6 p.m. ET. There will be no live TV coverage for either practice session. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday afternoon at 5:35 p.m. ET with no live TV coverage as well.

The SpeedyCash.com 400 green flag will fly shortly after 9 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio. The event will see three stages as usual with the first stage ending on Lap 40, the second stage on Lap 80 and the final stage on Lap 167.
June 4, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings- Kansas
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series headed west this past weekend to the heartland and the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway and as usual, the Truck Series didn’t disappoint.

Some were worried that it was going to be a single file race. But, in the end, a crowd favorite won the race with a late race thriller while others were left disappointed and still searching for a win.

There are some fresh new names that popped up in the power rankings, while some were able to keep their position. Here’s a look at this week’s power rankings.
1. Ross Chastain – Chastain finally broke through this past weekend by winning at Kansas Speedway. Chastain and the Niece Motorsports team had been running and finishing inside the top-10 all season and have been close many times, especially with a third place finish at Daytona to open the season. Some fans since then have considered the Niece Motorsports a fan favorite and quite possibly, an underdog team in NASCAR. They continued week by week to strive toward their goal in hopes of winning in the Truck Series, or NASCAR overall. That moment came Friday night when Chastain passed Stewart Friesen with three laps to go, as Friesen ran out of gas and Chastain went on by. Chastain and the No. 45 team were hoping for no cautions for the rest of the way while Ben Rhodes was trying to chase him down in hopes of redemption from a couple of years ago, but couldn’t do it. In the end, Chastain and team owner Al Niece won their first Truck Series win. Chastain led three times for five laps and finished fourth in both stages. It was his first Truck Series victory in just 66 starts and Chastain’s first top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway. The Niece Motorsports team will look to carry this momentum throughout the rest of the season in hopes of fighting for the owners’ championship in which they currently sit third, 33 points behind Kyle Busch’s No. 51 team.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 5th
2. Ben Rhodes – Rhodes had a strong No. 99 Carolina Nut Co. Ford F-150 on Friday night at Kansas and came oh so close to capturing the Digital Ally 250 checkered flag. Despite looking at practice speeds after practice was over with where Rhodes slated 12th and 14th fastest in both practices, some probably thought, he may not have the truck to win Friday night. Rhodes and the No. 99 Thorsport team proved them wrong where he finished tenth in Stage 2 and found himself with a shot at the win late in the race. Rhodes was chasing down eventual race winner Ross Chastain, but ran out of time and fell .483 seconds short. It was his third top five of the 2019 season.
  
  Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked
3. Grant Enfinger – After qualifying 13th, Enfinger and the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment Ford F-150 quickly moved up into the top-10 and led 47 laps until a late race incident with 27 to go when he and Brett Moffitt made contact, bringing out the fifth caution of the race. The team was doing well before then by finishing third in both stages but eventually finished seventh. If things had gone their way, they probably could have finished inside the top five or top three. Nonetheless, Enfinger still holds the points lead over Brett Moffitt by 13 points.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 1st
4. Todd Gilliland – Gilliland and the No. 4 KBM team improved on their finish from Dover by finishing third in Friday night’s race at Kansas. He started fifth and remained consistent, running in the top-10 and finishing seventh in both stages. In an exciting late-race battle for the win, Gilliland and company wound up in the top five. It was a much needed top five after finishing 15th at Dover and his first top five of the year.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
5. Matt Crafton – Crafton was looking to snap the long winless streak this past weekend in the heartland, but once again, fell short of doing so, not without effort, however. The No. 88 Menards Ford F-150 driver showed speed in early morning practice sessions on Friday by placing third and fourth fastest, respectively, in both practices. The No. 88 Thorsport team followed that up by qualifying on the pole, Crafton’s 14th of his career and his first at Kansas. Crafton led early but only led eight laps and was not really seen up front after leading early. He finished sixth in both stages to ultimately finish a disappointing sixth after having such a fast truck in practice and qualifying.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 4th
  
  Fell Out
  
  1. Johnny Sauter – A forgettable night for Sauter and the No. 13 ThorSport team who previously won at Dover before heading to Kansas Speedway. Mechanical issues plagued Sauter early on and he was sent to the garage to fix the problem. He could never really rebound and wound up 22nd after starting 12th.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 3rd
  
  2. Brett Moffitt – Much like Sauter, Moffit and the No. 24 GMS team had a disappointing night and were ready to move on to Charlotte after the race ended. The team started well by qualifying fourth earlier in the day. He even finished second in both stages and led three times for four laps. But troubles came late in the race when Moffitt and Enfinger collided with each other off Turn 2 and spun out. Both would escape without major damage, but the incident more than likely ended Moffit’s chance at the win and he had to settle for finishing eighth. The No. 24 GMS team will look to rebound this week at Charlotte.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 2nd
May 13, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Kansas
After visiting the Monster Mile this past weekend, the Truck Series heads to the Midwest and Kansas Speedway. Some drivers may follow “the yellow brick road” to victory lane in the heartland and others will leave grateful they are “not in Kansas anymore.”

The sponsor of the race is a Lenexa, Kansas based company Digital Ally, and the Truck Series race will be called the Digital Ally 250.

Currently, there are 27 Trucks entered on the preliminary entry list for Friday night’s race at Kansas Speedway.

While Johnny Sauter won his first race of the season last weekend at Dover, is he ready to set the world on fire or will someone else take over this weekend?

Here’s a look at who might just win Friday nights Truck race at Kansas.
1. Matt Crafton – This weekend could be the weekend that snaps Crafton’s year and a half winless streak since Eldora of 2017. He has the most starts of any active drivers with 18 starts and has competed in every race since the Trucks debuted at Kansas in 2001. Crafton has two wins at Kansas (2013, 2015). Overall, he has completed 97.7 percent of the laps and has led 110 laps. The No. 88 driver also has five top fives and nine top-10 finishes but does have three DNFs with the last coming in 2005. Since then, he’s had inconsistent finishes. In 2018, Crafton finished sixth, 16th in 2017, second in 2016 and 2014, and 12th in 2012. Nonetheless, Crafton could be following the “Yellow Brickroad” to victory lane on Friday night and snapping his long winless streak.
2. Brandon Jones – Brandon Jones will once again pilot the famed No. 51. Jones returned to the Truck Series last weekend at Dover where he finished 13th. He’ll have some pressure to perform well as Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers Noah Gragson and Kyle Busch swept the top two spots last season at Kansas. Jones will also have veteran crew chief Rudy Fugle who has two career wins at the track located in Kansas City, Kansas. The first in 2016 was with William Byron and last year with Gragson. Jones has two starts overall at Kansas with a best finish of ninth coming in last year’s race. He’ll be using chassis number KBM-055 as this chassis has had three outings with two wins, both this season with owner-driver Kyle Busch behind the wheel, at Atlanta and Texas. Jones finished seventh and fourth in both stages in 2018. He also has a couple of ARCA starts as well.
3. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger has been on a roll recently in the Truck Series by taking over the points lead after Dover and he just might continue that momentum this weekend at Kansas. In just two starts, his first coming in 2017, he has a best finish of eighth at the 1.5-mile track. In the first race, Enfinger started 15th and finished eleventh, and led 14 laps led. In 2017, he finished ninth and sixth in both stages, while in 2018 Enfinger finished fifth and eight in both stages, respectively. Enfinger finished inside the top-10 last year on 1.5-mile tracks including winning the Las Vegas race in September. Look for the No. 98 team to continue their momentum this weekend for the Digital Ally 250.
4. Stewart Friesen – Friesen and the No. 52 team will be looking forward to getting back on track this weekend at Kansas, and he might do just that. While his first outing didn’t go well finishing 32nd in 2017, Friesen upped his finish in last year’s race where he finished third after starting eighth and leading six laps. He also finished 10th and fifth in both stages last year. Friesen will be hungry for a win.
5. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt only has two starts at Kansas with a best finish of seventh in his first start in 2017. Last year didn’t fare so well for the defending Truck Series champion, where he finished 16th, four laps down. However, Moffitt has had four top fives and four top-10 finishes this season and he finished second last weekend at Dover after leading 81 laps.
  
  Of note, Angela Ruch will drive the No. 44 for Niece Motorsports, Norm Benning will be in the No. 6, Joe Nemechek will drive the No. 8, Josh Bilicki will be piloting the No. 34 Reaume Brothers Racing Truck and Riley Herbst will be in the No. 46. Natalie Decker originally wasn’t supposed to race at Kansas but added six races to her schedule and will be competing this weekend in the No. 54.
  
  Update – Announced Wednesday, May 9, the No. 30 On Point Motorsports team of Brennan Poole has withdrawn from Friday night’s race due to lack of sponsorship. The team will return to Charlotte next week.
  
  The list of winners at the speedway include Ricky Hendrick winning the first race in 2001, Mike Bliss, Jon Wood, Carl Edwards, Todd Bodine, Terry Cook, Erik Darnell, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Mike Skinner, Johnny Sauter, hometown favorite Clint Bowyer, James Buescher, Matt Crafton who won twice, Kyle Busch who also won twice, William Byron in 2016, and recently, Noah Gragson in 2018.
  
  Qualifying will be critical here at Kansas, as the lowest a race winner has ever started was 10th set by Todd Bodine in 2005, Erik Darnell in 2007 and Kyle Busch in 2017. The highest a race winner has come from was first place three times, the first in 2008 by Ron Hornaday Jr., Kyle Busch in 2014 and Noah Gragson in 2018.
  
  The Truck Series gets on track early Friday morning with the first practice at 9:35 a.m. ET and final practice at 11:35 a.m. ET. Qualifying for the Digital Ally 250 is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1.
  
  The Digital Ally 250 will take place Friday night a little after 8:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1 and MRN Radio for 167 laps.
May 9, 2019
Four Takeaways-NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race-Dover
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series visited Dover International Speedway for their six race of the 2019 Truck Series season. While a season-veteran and champion return to victory lane, what did we learn from the race? Here are four takeaways from the JEGS 200 at Dover.
1. Johnny Sauter Finally Gets Win – If you would have told someone before Dover that two-time Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter would not have a win yet at this point in the season, some would have shaken their heads in disbelief. Despite it taking this long, if you look at last year, he won the season opener at Daytona but wouldn’t win again until Dover. Friday was his first win of the season and his third consecutive Dover win. Now we have to wait and see if Sauter and the No. 13 ThorSport team will set the world on fire or not.
2. Track Position- Dover is not known to have the best races and that’s been seen here recently in the Truck Series. There wasn’t that much excitement that happened throughout the race. While yes, it was somewhat determined as a short track, it didn’t provide much passing for the lead. Also, Brett Moffitt wasn’t able to catch Sauter for the win late. Sauter even said in a post-race press conference, that track position was very important. And you could see why. It seemed like the only way you could pass was either on the restart or on pit road under caution. In last year’s race, there were only nine leaders among seven lead changes. This years race saw a little bit more lead changes with 11, but still, there wasn’t much excitement. There were only six cautions for 35 laps with two of them coming for stage breaks, and four of them coming for actual incidents. Maybe the Truck Series shouldn’t come to Dover or maybe they should but something needs to change.
3. Start Time – There was an odd start time to Friday’s race at Dover with a 5 p.m. ET start on the East coast. It’s hard for someone to who works a 9-5 job to take off early to catch a Truck Series race with a start time like that. Imagine living on the West coast, where the start time would be 3:00 p.m. Pacific. Barely anyone would be able to catch the race live. Thank goodness for DVRs. Still, something needs to change about the race start times. Maybe it’s time for a doubleheader with the Xfinity Series.
4. Derek Kraus Earns Top-10 Finish – Flying under the radar after Friday’s race was rookie Derek Kraus, who currently drives part-time for Bill McAnally Racing in the Truck Series. It was Derek’s third career Truck Series race in his young NASCAR career. He tied his best finish of eighth. Kraus also finished eighth in his first Truck Series race at ISM.
May 8, 2019
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Power Rankings-Dover
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series returned to on-track action this past weekend at Dover International Speedway, famously known as the Monster Mile.

While it’s known to reach out and bite drivers, the drivers, for the most part, able to tame it. One, in particular, Johnny Sauter, took the lead with 30 to go and went on to win the JEGS 200. It didn’t come without some controversy, however, as Sauter fought an ignition issue early on but he rebounded nicely for the win.

While it was Sauter’s third consecutive win at Dover, how did everyone else fair? Was Stewart Friesen able to keep the points lead?

Here’s a look at this weeks power rankings.
1. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger and the No. 98 Champion Power Equipment team had a good day at Dover, finishing fourth after starting sixth and running inside the top-10 all day. Enfinger even finished fourth in both stages and led three laps. Nonetheless, Enfinger had something to smile about after the race was over, as he took over the points lead by four points over teammate Johnny Sauter. It was Enfinger’s fourth top five of the year thus far.
  
  Previous Week Ranking- 2nd
2. Brett Moffitt – Some say Moffitt should have won this race. The No. 24 team got off to a great start Friday by qualifying on the pole. As the race started, Moffitt completely dominated and won Stage 1 and finished third in Stage 2. He consistently stayed up front, led 81 laps and finished second.
  
  Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked
3. Johnny Sauter – You could say Sauter got the monkey off his back by winning at one of his favorite racetracks. He showed speed in qualifying by starting on the outside pole. Sauter won Stage 2 but faced an ignition issue afterward. The No. 13 team was able to get it fixed and ultimately Sauter went on to win. Believe it or not, it was his first win of the season. Keep an eye on Sauter and company as they just might start to go on a tear this summer.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
4. Matt Crafton – Crafton and the No. 88 Menards team were able to salvage a top-five finish at Dover this past weekend, but not without a tough start. The two-time champion had to drop to the rear after an engine change before the race. Problems only got worse for Crafton as they started to face plug wire issues. Crafton came back to finish fifth. However, the No. 88 team had seen better days and were looking forward to getting out of Dover. Nice rebound, however, for the veteran driver.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 3rd
5. Ross Chastain – Chastain had an eventful day at the Monster Mile. He didn’t have nearly as strong a truck as in past races this year but still managed a top 10 finish, even after some close calls. There was a moment late in the race, where he almost lost control of his truck which would have brought out a caution. A late race caution helped the team get a decent finish to continue their great run in the 2019 season.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 4th
  
  Fell Out
  
  1. Stewart Friesen – After qualifying fourth and finishing fifth in Stage 2, the No. 52 team was really nowhere to be seen throughout the race. Friesen wound up 12th and lost the points lead to Grant Enfinger, and now sits third in the standings, 11 points behind.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 1st
  
  2. Tyler Ankrum – Ankrum quietly finished ninth at Dover but didn’t make too much noise, as he has had in previous races, such as his sixth-place finish in March at Texas.
  
  Previous Week Ranking – 5th
May 8, 2019

Johnny Sauter goes three in a row a Dover

Two-time Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter finally scored a win in the 2019 Truck Series season after starting second and taking the lead with 31 to go. However, it didn’t quite look that way earlier in the race as the Wisconsin driver had an ignition issue after trying to save fuel.

“Well I was trying to figure out why it (truck) wouldn’t start,” Sauter told MRN Radio. “I looked at the ignition switch right away and it was up, I just couldn’t get it to fire. I played with the switch on the steering wheel, killswitch and that didn’t do anything, so I thought what the hell? We’ll try to get it running. I just can’t thank all of these guys enough at ThorSport Racing. Our Ford F-150 was awesome. Tenda Heel, Joe and all of these guys at ThorSport, this was a big win. Three in a row at a place like this, that’s saying something. I can remember being in the lounge yesterday before the start of practice and I saw the victory lane hat bag, and I thought, hell, why not? Just can’t thank Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) enough. A couple of months ago didn’t know if we’d be here racing, so it’s pretty special.”

The race sure didn’t start out that way. Moffitt sat on the pole and completly dominated Stage 1 with very little incident. It was Moffitt’s first stage win of the year and there were only 17 trucks on the lead lap.

During the pit stops, however, there were some penalties handed out. Tyler Ankrum (uncontrolled tire), Todd Gilliland (too fast), Derek Kraus (safety violation), and Joe Nemechek (too fast).

Stage 2 was when we saw Sauter out front, as he took the lead on Lap 81 after Moffitt encountered lap traffic which allowed Sauter to go on by.

Not much else happened in that stage and Sauter went on to win Stage 2. However, his ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton had a different story, as he was a facing a plug wire that fell off but it was eventually fixed. The ignition issue came into play for Sauter as well.

With 102 to go for the restart in Stage 3, ARCA champion, Sheldon Creed, took the lead. There were some incidents that took place in this stage.

Jesse Little had a flat right rear tire off Turn 4 and barely lost it. A caution flew on lap 110 with 90 to go for Korbin Forrister who wrecked on the frontstretch.

There was a breathtaking moment with 83 to go on the restart, as Moffitt, Creed and Harrison Burton made it three wide for first. However, Creed came out on top and retained his lead.

Jesse Little’s day went from bad to worse, as he suffered a broken track bar and was done for the day.

With many drivers short on fuel should a caution not come out for the rest of the race, the drivers were able to catch a break when the caution came out with 47 to go for Austin Wayne Self who wrecked off Turn 4.

On the restart with 41 to go, another caution broke out when Sheldon Creed wrecked on the backstretch after getting loose and collecting Todd Gilliland who got through, but suffered damage.

A late race caution came with 10 to go for Brennan Poole, but even with the late caution, nobody could touch Sauter and he went on to win his third consecutive race at Dover, thus becoming the first driver to do so.

Despite his ignition issue early on, the No. 13 ThorSport Racing driver explained how special this win was for him.

“Well I knew after Atlanta we were going to be able to race for wins,” Sauter continued in his post-race interview with MRN Radio. “At Martinsville, we had the truck to beat and it went away from us. People like Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) are gold. You don’t encounter too many people like that throughout your life. You know when we first had the conservation, I didn’t know how it was going to go, honestly. Like I said, you don’t encounter people like that very often. All of these guys, I worked with a lot of these guys with ThorSport in the past, some of them are new, youthful a lot of them and got some experience on the team as well. Just hats off to everyone at ThorSport Racing, fab shop, finish fab, it’s a team effort. These races are won during the week, not during the weekend and that showed today.”

Sauter led twice for 43 laps and became the first driver in the Truck Series to win three in a row at Dover.

There were 12 lead changes among six drivers.

Up next: The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series heads to Kansas Speedway next Friday, May 11 for the Digital Ally 250.

Gander Outdoors Truck Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the 20th Annual JEGS 200 – Friday, May 3, 2019
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1. – Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 200 Laps – 200. Miles

Fin	Str	No	Driver	Team	Laps	S1Pos	S2Pos	Pts	Status
1	2	13	Johnny Sauter	Tenda Heal Ford	200	2	1	59	Running
2	1	24	Brett Moffitt	ISM Connect Chevrolet	200	1	3	53	Running
3	9	18	Harrison Burton #	Safelite AutoGlass Toyota	200	5	6	45	Running
4	6	98	Grant Enfinger	Champion Power Equipment Ford	200	4	4	47	Running
5	5	88	Matt Crafton	Shasta/Menards Ford	200	10	0	33	Running
6	11	99	Ben Rhodes	Carolina Nut Ford	200	0	8	34	Running
7	12	16	Austin Hill	Toyota Racing Development Toyota	200	7	5	40	Running
8	15	19	Derek Kraus	ENEOS/NAPA Filters Toyota	200	0	0	29	Running
9	10	17	Tyler Ankrum #	May’s Hawaii Toyota	200	8	0	31	Running
10	16	45	Ross Chastain(i)	Florida Watermelon Association Chevrolet	200	0	10	0	Running
11	7	46	Raphael Lessard	Spectra Premium Toyota	200	9	0	28	Running
12	4	52	Stewart Friesen	hfracingforautism.com/crossroadscenterChev	200	6	0	30	Running
13	19	51	Brandon Jones(i)	Chigo/Menards Toyota	200	0	9	0	Running
14	18	12	Gus Dean #	OverkillRV.com Chevrolet	200	0	0	23	Running
15	14	4	Todd Gilliland	Mobil 1 Toyota	200	0	0	22	Running
16	32	33	Ryan Sieg(i)	Night Owl Contractors Chevrolet	198	0	0	0	Running
17	20	54	Natalie Decker	N29 Technologies LLC Toyota	197	0	0	20	Running
18	23	2	Tyler Dippel #	Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet	197	0	0	19	Running
19	17	22	Austin Wayne Self	Go TEXAN/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet	197	0	0	18	Running
20	25	56	Tyler Hill	Southern Maryland Crane Rentals Chevrolet	197	0	0	17	Running
21	22	3	Jordan Anderson	Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet	196	0	0	16	Running
22	27	20	Spencer Boyd	DLX Mattresses Chevrolet	192	0	0	15	Running
23	8	30	Brennan Poole	Toyota	189	0	0	14	DVP
24	30	49	Ray Ciccarelli	CMI Motorsports Chevrolet	188	0	0	13	Running
25	28	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet	186	0	0	12	Running
26	21	8	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	167	0	0	11	Suspension
27	3	2	Sheldon Creed #	Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet	160	3	2	27	Accident
28	24	44	Reid Wilson	TruNorth.Paul Jr Designs Chevrolet	140	0	0	9	Alternator
29	13	97	Jesse Little	JJL Motorsports Ford	115	0	7	12	Track Bar
30	26	7	Korbin Forrister	All Out Toyota	108	0	0	7	Accident
31	29	34	Josh Reaume	Surface Prep Supply Chevrolet	51	0	0	6	Too Slow
32	31	6	Norm Benning	H&H Transport Chevrolet	28	0	0	5	Too Slow

May 3, 2019