CONCORD, N.C. - Johnny Sauter scored his first-career Charlotte NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory with a command performance in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250.
Sauter took the lead away from Brett Moffitt with 49 laps to go and held on through two late restarts to beat out Kyle Busch and Brandon Jones for his 20th-career truck series victory.
Moffitt was fourth, followed by Ben Rhodes.
Sauter’s victory is his third of the season following his wins at Dover and the season-opening race at Daytona, but a Charlotte victory was the one he truly wanted.
“This is a tough place – everybody wants to win here,” said Sauter. “I’d never thought I’d win here. I’ve had good runs here, and I’ve had very humbling runs here. To win this race is just super special.
“I was worried about our pit strategy there at the beginning and then we just mowed right through there.”
Sauter started the race the pole after qualifying was rained out and spent the first 20 laps trading the lead with Noah Gragson.
When the first caution flag waved on lap 22, Sauter and his crew opted to stay out and retain the lead, but proved no match for the trucks with fresher tires and promptly lost the lead to Moffitt, who went onto win the opening 30-lap stage ahead of Justin Haley and Sauter. Moffitt would then lead the opening 16 laps of stage number two before John Hunter Nemechek got past him and held on for the next 21 laps to take the green-checkered flag followed by Busch and Moffitt.
Back under green in the final stage, Moffitt and Sauter duked it out for the top spot before Sauter took the lead for good on lap 87.
Brandon Jones worked his way through the field up into the top five and moved up to third for the final restart with 10 laps to go and found himself in a side-by-side battle with his boss Kyle Busch for second.
Busch had managed to fight his way back from two pit road penalties where his crew jumped over the wall too soon, sending Busch to the rear of the field twice, and both times he came charging back through the field with a vengeance.
Busch’s last penalty with 49 laps to go looked to all but doom his night, but in typical “Rowdy” fashion, Busch was right back within sight of the leaders when the field took the green for the final restart.
Busch finally got around Jones with two laps to go but by then Sauter had checked out to a 1.9-second lead and was out of reach.
Although he managed to salvage a runner-up finish, to say Busch was displeased with the result was an understatement.
“Pure talent”, Busch said when asked how he managed to fight back from two penalties. “My pit crew did absolutely nothing to help me out tonight. My truck drove like (expletive). These splitters are absolutely horrendous. You can’t pass in traffic, you can’t race alongside of anybody, you can’t get within five truck-lengths of no one, but somehow, someway I was able to get back to the front. Had a blast.”
Jones’ third-place finish was his best since 2015 and a career-best finish at Charlotte.
“It was kind of a crazy day with the rain and everything this morning,” said Jones. “Started in the back and kind of had to keep our fight all day long and worked our way up to the last segment there. It came down to two of the best in the business that finished 1-2, so it was pretty cool to race the boss man Kyle there at the end a little bit and be able to at least hold on as long as we did there.”
Sauter padded his lead in the Truck Series standings over Noah Gragson by 24 points, now leading the standings by 59 points. Moffitt moved to third in the standings, followed by Rhodes. Grant Enfinger dropped to fifth in the standings.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – May 18, 2018
1. (1) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 134.
2. (4) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 134.
3. (28) Brandon Jones(i), Toyota, 134.
4. (6) Brett Moffitt, Toyota, 134.
5. (7) Ben Rhodes, Ford, 134.
6. (10) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 134.
7. (27) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 134.
8. (2) Noah Gragson, Toyota, 134.
9. (9) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, 134.
10. (3) Todd Gilliland #, Toyota, 134.
11. (8) Matt Crafton, Ford, 134.
12. (5) Grant Enfinger, Ford, 134.
13. (14) Chris Eggleston, Toyota, 134.
14. (11) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 134.
15. (13) Myatt Snider #, Ford, 134.
16. (24) Jesse Little, Ford, 134.
17. (15) Cody Coughlin, Chevrolet, 134.
18. (17) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 134.
19. (12) Dalton Sargeant #, Chevrolet, 134.
20. (21) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 134.
21. (16) Daniel Hemric(i), Chevrolet, 134.
22. (20) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, 134.
23. (23) Robby Lyons, Chevrolet, 134.
24. (29) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 132.
25. (22) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 132.
26. (26) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 121.
27. (19) Austin Self, Chevrolet, Accident, 117.
28. (30) Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 100.
29. (31) Mike Harmon(i), Chevrolet, 99.
30. (18) Justin Fontaine #, Chevrolet, Accident, 97.
31. (25) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Accident, 55.
32. (32) J.J. Yeley(i), Chevrolet, Transmission, 21.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 112.675 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 47 Mins, 02 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.340 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Sauter 1-2; N. Gragson 3; J. Sauter 4-9; N. Gragson 10-21; J. Sauter 22-26; B. Moffitt 27-42; J. Nemechek(i) 43-63; J. Anderson 64; B. Moffitt 65-71; J. Sauter 72-81; B. Moffitt 82-86; J. Sauter 87-134.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) J. Sauter 5 times for 71 laps; B. Moffitt 3 times for 28 laps; J. Nemechek(i) 1 time for 21 laps; N. Gragson 2 times for 13 laps; J. Anderson 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 16,24,21,25,8,51,75,4,88,97
Stage #2 Top Ten: 8,51,16,4,21,41,88,24,46,18
Top 10 in Points: 1. Johnny Sauter – 329 (3 Wins); 2. Noah Gragson (1 Win); 3. Brett Moffitt – 264 (1 Win); 4. Ben Rhodes – 250; 5. Grant Enfinger – 239; 6. Matt Crafton – 237; 7. Stewart Friesen – 209; 8. Justin Haley – 208; 9. Dalton Sargeant – 193; 10. Myatt Snider – 189.
