Johnny Sauter goes back-to-back with CWTS win at Texas

credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs

By Lisa Janine Cloud

Johnny Sauter led only six laps all night — three of those were the final three laps in the Camping World Truck Series Striping Technology 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Sauter earned his Championship 4 berth with his victory last week at Martinsville, but that didn’t keep him from going for the win Friday night.

Streaking past Matt Crafton on Lap 144, Sauter ran wide open, fully cognizant of the fact that a win would make it that much harder for Crafton to advance.

Crafton finished second, and while he can’t have been happy being unable to clinch his spot in the championship battle, he seemed resolute in his post-race interview. The two-time series champion vowed to put it all behind him just go out and race for wins.

Two non-Chase Camping World Truck series regulars, Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick, finished third and fourth, respectively, and Xfinity regular Daniel Suarez filled out the top five.

Chase contender William Byron attributed his sixth-place finish to a bad set of tires on the last pit stop.

Polesitter Spencer Gallagher had the best truck all night, but a long pit stop during the final caution cost him the lead, and he came home in seventh position.

The 220.5 mile, 147-lap race lasted just one hour, 29 minutes and 13 seconds, with the only pauses in the action coming when the caution clock expired.

Full unofficial results:

Fin	Truck #	Driver	Sponsor / Owner
1	21	Johnny Sauter	Allegiant Travel (Maury Gallagher)
2	88	Matt Crafton	Damp Rid / Menards (Duke Thorson)
3	19	Daniel Hemric	Blue Gate Bank (Brad Keselowski)
4	29	Tyler Reddick	Cooper Standard (Brad Keselowski)
5	51	Daniel Suarez	Arris (Kyle Busch)
6	9	William Byron	Liberty University (Kyle Busch)
7	23	Spencer Gallagher	Allegiant Travel (Maury Gallagher)
8	71	Austin Dillon	Russell by HTPG (Carlos Contreras)
9	0	Cole Custer	Haas Automation (JR Motorsports)
10	13	Cameron Hayley	Ride TV / Cabinets by Hayley (Duke Thorson)
11	4	Christopher Bell	JBL.com (Kyle Busch)
12	98	Rico Abreu	Safelite Auto Glass / Curb Records (Mike Curb)
13	33	Ben Kennedy	Jacob Companies (Maury Gallagher)
14	17	Timothy Peters	Red Horse Racing (Tom DeLoach)
15	41	Ben Rhodes	Alpha Energy Solutions (Duke Thorson)
16	24	Shane Lee	LeeBoy (Maury Gallagher)
17	11	Matt Tifft	Waste Connections / BrainGear (Tom DeLoach)
18	8	John Hunter Nemechek	Death Wish Coffee (Joe Nemechek)
19	20	Austin Hill	Lawless Jerky / Alien Gear Holsters (Bryan Hill)
20	97	Jesse Little	Carolina Nut Co. (Jesse Little)
21	81	Ryan Truex	Kobe Toyopet (Shigeaki Hattori)
22	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Technical Solutions (Tim Self)
23	45	Casey Smith	Niece Equipment (Al Niece)
24	49	Reed Sorenson	Premium Motorsports (Jay Robinson)
25	66	Jordan Anderson	Columbia SC, Famously Hot (Jeff Bolen)
26	2	Tyler Young	Randco / Young's Building Systems (Randy Young)
27	50	Travis Kvapil	Willbros (Mark Beaver)
28	5	Cody Coughlin	Zaxby's / JEGS (Tony Townley)
29	7	Matt Mills	Thompson Electric (Bobby Dotter)
30	1	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Grimes Irrigation & Construction (Mark Beaver)
31	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Diamond Gusset Jeans / RPM Trailers (Craig Martins)
32	63	Norm Benning	Mike Mittler