Redemption! Johnny Sauter wins at Texas

Photo by Lisa Janine Cloud for Skirts and Scuffs
Maybe it was Grandma's chicken and dumplings that helped Johnny Sauter earn his first Charlie 1 Horse hat.

Or maybe, despite his disavowal that the track "owed him one," Texas Motor Speedway paid Johnny Sauter back for the one that got away. There was no "God bless America" parting shot from the winner of the WinStar World Casino 400 tonight, only words of praise for his team, his country, and the military, and for his Grandma's chicken and dumplings he ate today while visiting his grandparents in the Dallas area.

Last year in this race Sauter lost a heartbreaker by committing a lane violation when coming to the "green" part of a green-white-checkered finish. "Yeah, I think about that all the time. It's hard not to think about it." Starting in 20th, he and the No. 13 Hot Honeys/Curb Records Toyota team worked hard to keep this race from getting away. Sauter avoided the Lap 138 clash between then-leaders Ty Dillon and James Buescher and took the lead on Lap 146.

The victory is Sauter's fifth in his 93 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, and only his second top-10 finish this season.

Sauters's ThorSport Racing teammate Matt Crafton brought the No. 88 Menards/Goof Off Toyota in second, unable to really challenge for the lead on those last laps. Joey Coulter and the RCR/Darrell Gwynn Foundation Chevy finished third.

The race's highest finishing rookie, Ty Dillon, explained that while he claimed responsibility for the incident that had him with hometown driver James Buescher, who were looking as if they were on the dirt at Eldora, the incident came about because he was trying to win the race and Buescher was, too. Dillon said Buescher was mad, but "I told him I wasn't just going to move over for him. I came here to win."

Team Onion's quest for a seventh win at TMS came to an end on Lap 32 when the No. 11 ToyotaCare Toyota blew an engine. Todd Bodine told the television crew that "It wasn't anybody's fault, it was a part failure."

Justin Lofton retains the points lead over Timothy Peters by a slim 5 markers, with Ty Dillon, James Buescher, and Parker Kligerman not far behind.

Full results:
Fin#Driver
113   Johnny Sauter
288   Matt Crafton
322   Joey Coulter
42   Brendan Gaughan
530   Nelson Piquet, Jr.
618   Jason Leffler
73   Ty Dillon
833   Cale Gale
96   Justin Lofton
1029   Parker Kligerman
1117   Timothy Peters
129   Ron Hornaday, Jr.
1381   David Starr
1432   Miguel Paludo
1531   James Buescher
168   Ross Chastain
1723   Jason White
1898   Dakoda Armstrong
1939   Ryan Sieg
2014   Brandon Miller
2124   Max Gresham
2257   Norm Benning
2384   B.J. McLeod
2465   Scott Stenzel
2599   Bryan Silas
2693   Brent Raymer
279   John Wes Townley
285   Paulie Harraka
2973   Rick Crawford
3011   Todd Bodine
317   Johnny Chapman
3210   Jennifer Jo Cobb
3374   Mike Harmon
340   Chris Lafferty
3527   Brandon Knupp
Redemption! Johnny Sauter wins at Texas Redemption! Johnny Sauter wins at Texas Reviewed by Janine Cloud on Saturday, June 09, 2012 Rating: 5