Charlotte Motor Speedway NCWTS The Door’s Wide Open

 

Kyle Busch, an eight-time winner of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, is not scheduled to participate in this year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

 

 

Busch’s absence substantially increases the probability of the race having a new winner as veterans Matt Crafton (2008 & 2016) and Johnny Sauter (2018) are the only current Truck Series regulars who have visited Victory Lane at the storied 1.5-mile superspeedway. 

 

 

However, that new winner could be one of Busch’s drivers, as Kyle Busch Motorsports will field Toyota Tundras for John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, and Drew Dollar.

 

 

source

Johnny Sauter - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4

It wouldn’t be the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs if we didn’t have Johnny Sauter in the Championship 4, would it?

The 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion is back to take his crown. This is Sauter’s third trip to the Playoffs in its current format and he has been in the Championship 4 every one of those trips, winning it all in 2016.

This is Sauter’s 15th year competing in the Camping World Truck Series and his 10th as a full-timer. He has 243 total starts, 23 wins, 102 top fives, 157 top 10s and seven poles. He has led 2,447 laps and has an average start of 9.8 and average finish of 9.6.

Sauter also passed Todd Bodine this season to put himself on the list of top five all-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winners with 23.

Top Five All-Time In NCWTS Wins
Rank	Drivers	Wins
1	Kyle Busch	51
2	Ron Hornaday Jr.	51
3	Jack Sprague	28
4	Mike Skinner	28
5	Johnny Sauter	23
6	Todd Bodine	22

In 2016, Sauter’s first trip to the Playoffs and the Championship 4, he had three wins, 12 top-five finishes, 19 top 10s and one pole. He won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway to secure his spot in the Playoffs and then went on to win back-to-back Playoff races at Martinsville and Texas before winning the championship.

Last year, Sauter had four wins with 13 top fives, 19 top 10s and led 455 laps. Sauter won at Dover to secure his spot in the Playoffs and then went on to win at Chicagoland in the regular season. In the Playoffs, Sauter won at Texas and Phoenix before finishing second in the standings when Christopher Bell took home the championship.

If Sauter wins the championship this year, he will join Ron Hornaday Jr., Jack Sprague and Matt Crafton as multi-championship winners in the series. It appears that Sauter just gets better with time as he accomplished a career-best six wins this season along with 14 top fives, 17 top 10s and one pole. He also led a career-best 585 laps so far. The winning began in the season-opener at Daytona where Sauter started in the front row and ended up winning the race after leading 39 laps. And, as a reminder, the last time Sauter won the season-opener and went to the Championship 4, he won the title. From there, he just kept winning. He won at Dover after starting from second place and won at Charlotte Motor Speedway starting from the pole. Immediately after, he won at Texas to give himself back-to-back victories. He then went on to win at Bristol starting from the fourth position, also where he was crowned the regular season champion.

Find out how a second title would be different from the first for @JohnnySauter? https://t.co/X8UoTMzrdb

— GMS Racing (@GMSRacingLLC) November 14, 2018

Playoff Recap

GMS Racing’s Johnny Sauter kicked off the postseason’s Round of 8 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with a sixth-place finish. Then at Las Vegas, he started sixth and finished runner-up and then barely scraped by into the next round with a 22nd-place finish at Talladega. Sauter’s championship run got back on track at Martinsville after starting eighth and racing his way to the win securing his spot in Miami. He closed out the Round of 6 with an 11th at Texas and a seventh at ISM Raceway last weekend.

Homestead-Miami Outlook

Johnny Sauter is the only Playoff driver with some veteran experience at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He has made series 11 starts at the 1.5-mile speedway producing one win (2011), four top fives, and eight top 10s. He has also led 64 laps Homestead and has an average finish of 10.1.

His first run at the South Florida track was in 2003. From 2009-2017, Sauter has run at Homestead every season. His past two appearances resulted in third-place finishes (2016, 2017).

Sauter’s first and only win at the 1.5-mile track was in 2011 for Curb Racing, when he started fifth. If Sauter win at Homestead, he will join Kyle Busch as the only two active drivers to have ever won multiple times at the track.

Crew Chief Corner

Joe Shear, Jr. is a very experienced and knowledgeable NASCAR Camping World Truck Series crew chief and he has been with Johnny Sauter for the past three years. Shear, Jr. also worked with Sauter earlier in his career from 2004 to 2013.

The two of them have seen a lot of success together with 20 wins, 78 top fives and 106 top 10s and let’s not forget the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver championship. Shear, Jr. has been a crew chief in the Truck Series for 14 years. Of those 14 years, 10 of them were spent with Sauter either part time or fulltime. This season, Shear, Jr. has 22 starts with six wins, 14 top fives, 17 top 10s and one pole.

Aside from Shear, Jr.’s Truck Series crew chief career, he was also atop the pit box in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for a brief 10 races with Sauter and Michael Waltrip in 2005 and 2006. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Shear, Jr. was a crew chief for five years (1995, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006) accumulating 96 starts, one win, two top fives, 13 top 10s and one pole. The one win, two top fives, five of the top 10s and the pole were all with Sauter in 2005. Shear, Jr. was also crew chief in 2009 for three races in the K&N Pro Series East and West with driver Brian Ickler where he saw one win, two top fives and two top 10s.

In the Camping World Truck Series, Shear, Jr. has been to Homestead-Miami Speedway eight times. Six of those times were with Sauter (2009-2017). This weekend will mark his seventh start at the track. He has one win, four top fives, seven top 10s and an average finish of 8.4. In 2011, Shear, Jr. won at Homestead with Sauter starting from fifth.

Team Talk

GMS Racing began its NACAR Camping World Truck Series program in 2014 and since has produced 23 series wins, 85 top fives, 174 top 10s, 10 poles and one driver championship (2016). This season marks the third consecutive season GMS Racing has fielded drivers in the Championship 4 – (2016: Johnny Sauter, 2017: Johnny Sauter and 2018 Justin Haley and Johnny Sauter).

🏁 🏆 Last Five Posts 🏆 🏁

1. Brett Moffitt - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4
2. Homestead-Miami ‘Ford Championship’ Weekend Schedule
3. How The Championship 4 Sealed Their Place In The 2018 #NASCAR Playoffs
4. NASCAR, Snapchat to Celebrate 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship with Snapcode Activation, Race Highlights and More
5. #NASCAR Legend David Pearson Passes Away at Age 83

NASCAR Truck Playoff Standing for Martinsville

Weather Willing - First Race in the Round of Six

Todd Gilliland, driver of the #4 Pedigree Puppy Toyota
at Talladega (10/12/2018- Sean Gardner/Getty Images))

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

• Next Race: Texas Roadhouse 200
• The Place: Martinsville Speedway
• The Date: Saturday, October 27
• The Time: 1 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 12:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 105.2 miles (200 Laps)
• Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 50),
• Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 100)
• Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)

And Then There Were Six

Grant Enfinger's #98

Two weeks ago, the Round of 8 for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs ended at Talladega Superspeedway. It was one for the books as the only two drivers who were officially locked into the Round of 6 were GMS Racing’s Justin Haley and ThorSport Racing’s Grant Enfinger. Haley won at the Playoff opener at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Enfinger won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But, Timothy Peters, a non-Playoff driver, took home the victory in a wild finish at Talladega.

Haley was the highest-finishing Playoff driver in fourth, Stewart Friesen finished sixth, Noah Gragson finished 13th, Ben Rhodes finished 16th, Brett Moffitt in 17th, Enfinger in 19th, Johnny Sauter in 22nd and Matt Crafton finished in 26th.

Rhodes and Friesen didn’t make the cut for the Round of 6, leaving Haley, Enfinger, Sauter, Moffitt, Gragson and Crafton as the remaining Playoff contenders in the hunt for the championship.

This was Rhodes’ second appearance in the Playoffs and Friesen’s first.

Current Playoff Standings

Drivers	Points	Playoff Wins	Stage Wins	Cutoff (+/-)
Johnny Sauter	3,042	0	0	28
Brett Moffitt	3,027	0	0	13
Noah Gragson	3.025	0	3	11
Grant Enfinger	3,018	1	2	4
Justin Haley	3,014	1	0	-4
Matt Crafton	3,003	0	0	-15

Rain- 1@NASCAR_Trucks @MartinsvilleSwy- 0

All on-track activities for today are cancelled and we’ll try again tomorrow with qualifying at 10:05am ET! pic.twitter.com/f2rzu8OPps

— GMS Racing (@GMSRacingLLC) October 26, 2018

It’s a beautiful day for @NASCAR_Trucks at @MartinsvilleSwy! https://t.co/0P2IskPwgp

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 27, 2018

🏁 🏆 Last Five Posts: 🏆 🏁

1. NASCAR Driver Ryan Sieg Partners With Frank Foster For 'Til I'm Gone' Album Promotion At Kansas Speedway
2. eBay and NASCAR Launch First Joint Charity Sale
3. CMT Announces New Winter Programming Slate for “Racing Wives”
4. K&N Pro Series West Finale
5. #NASCAR Weekend Schedule for Martinsville and Kern County Raceway Park

#NASCAR Camping World Series Playoffs in Sight

Who Will Secure Their Spot?

After the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ one-week break; they head to Michigan International Speedway for the Corrigan Oil 200 on Saturday, August 11 for the second-to-last regular season race before the Playoffs begin.

At this juncture, the #NCWTS Playoffs would include:

1. Johnny Sauter
2. Brett Moffitt
3. Noah Gragson
4. Ben Rhodes
5. Justin Haley
6. Grant Enfinger
7. Stewart Friesen
8. Matt Crafton

A 2018 won secured a Playoff Berth for Sauter, Moffitt, Gragson, Rhodes and Haley. While Enfinger, Friesen and Crafton have put themselves in Playoff-contending position with their point total.

If the season were end right now, there wouldn’t be a Sunoco Rookie in the Playoffs. Myatt Snider is right under the cut line in ninth and Dalton Sargeant is in eleventh. Dalton Sargeant finished with a career-best third place at Pocono Raceway.

With just two regular season races remaining – the pressure is on!

🏁 🏆 Related Posts: 🏆 🏁

1. Will Brian France Suffer Indefinite Suspension?
2. Chase Elliott Captures First Career Cup Win
3. Michigan International Speedway Celebrates 50th
4. The New 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Logo Unveiled
5. Buffalo Bills legend Steve Tasker to Serve as Honorary Pace Car Driver for the 'Go Bowling at The Glen'

The #NASCAR Truck Series Tonight at Iowa Speedway

M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store (200 Laps)

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Iowa Speedway this weekend for the M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store on Saturday, June 16 (7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnny Sauter continued to take the Camping World Truck Series by storm last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, holding off Stewart Friesen on a three-lap shootout at the 1.5-mile oval.

.@JohnnySauter and Joe Shear Jr. are a potent combination for @GMSRacingLLC in the @NASCAR_Trucks Series: https://t.co/0ZILTynPJX

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) June 7, 2018

Sauter, the series points leader, posted his fifth career win at Texas Motor Speedway and his fourth win in eight races this season. Todd Bodine, two-time Truck Series champion, is the only driver with more wins at the track than Sauter, with six.

Finishing 0.092 seconds ahead of Friesen, Sauter took the lead for the first time on Lap 117, passing teammate Justin Haley.

Sauter has now won six of the last 11 series races, going back to Texas last fall, and has posted a top-three finish in 10 of the last 12 races. Sauter now has 21 career Truck Series victories in 229 starts.

"It's a bad fast truck & a lot of fun to drive."@StewartFriesen looks to cash in from the pole at @TXMotorSpeedway. pic.twitter.com/loPy8OpbVD

— NASCAR Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 8, 2018

After his victory on Friday, Sauter is now the third driver in series history to post four or more wins in the first eight races of the season. Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner are the only other drivers on that list. If Johnny Sauter were to win this weekend at Iowa, he would tie Kyle Busch and become just the second driver is series history to win five races in the first nine races of the season. Busch accomplished the feat in 2014.

On top of that, he hasn’t started a race outside of the top-10 this season and has finished in the top-five in all but one race – Martinsville, where he finished 19th.

Sauter now sits 77 points ahead of second-place Noah Gragson and 95 points ahead of Brett Moffitt in third. Friesen posted his first top-10 finish in the three races he’s contested at Texas Motor Speedway and recorded his fifth top-10 finish of 2018.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

• Next Race: M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store
• The Place: Iowa Speedway
• The Date: Saturday, June 16
• The Time: 7 p.m. ET
• TV: FS1, 6:30 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 175 miles (200 laps) 
• Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60)
• Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120)
• Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)

Source: NASCAR Release

🏁 🏆 Related Posts: 🏆 🏁

1. Iowa Speedway Race Schedule
2. Start Your Engines This Weekend at Iowa Speedway
3. Win Jeff Gordon’s 2013 Chevrolet Corvette and Help Pediatric Cancer Research & Treatment
4. 1-2-3 For Stewart-Haas Racing in Michigan!
5. Chad Finchum Quietly Steps On #NASCAR Xfinity Series Milestone

Let’s Go #NCWTS Night Racing

Qualifying Tonight at 5:00 Eastern

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is back again this weekend at Kansas Speedway for the ‘37 Kind Days 250’ tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The Johnny Sauter Show

Last weekend at Dover International Speedway, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returned to the track after a month-long hiatus. Johnny Sauter, substituting for the suspended Spencer Gallager, was victorious at the Monster Mile, leading 137 laps and winning his second race of the 2018 season. His first win was at Daytona.

It was also Sauter’s second win in a row at Dover after he won last year in the No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, having led the last 33 laps of the race.

This year marks Sauter’s 15th year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and at the finish of last season, he had the most season wins of his career with four. This season, he has already taken home two victories with a lot of racing left (18 races, to be exact).

Sauter only had one finish outside of the top three this season – Martinsville, where he finished 19th.

Sauter is currently leading the driver standings with 238 points; followed by Ben Rhodes in the No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Ford with 187 points, and Noah Gragson placing third in the standings in the No. 18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota with 180 points.

Ride shotgun around @kansasspeedway.

(Not a bad view, huh? 😏) pic.twitter.com/ZiK60at7J8

— NASCAR Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) May 11, 2018

Taking a Look Back at Kansas

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Kansas Speedway have seen some trends in recent years, including the winning manufacturer for the last five years.

From 2013 to 2017, a Toyota has been the victorious manufacturer at the 1.5-mile track at Kansas Speedway, a record for the track.

Will a Toyota win again and make that six years in a row?

Quite possibly, as Kyle Busch will be returning to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Kansas where he won the race last year and in 2014.

Busch hasn’t raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series since Las Vegas on March 2, when he won.

🏁 🏆 Related Posts: 🏆 🏁

1. Full Weekend #NASCAR Schedule For Kansas Speedway
2. Welcome Back Matt
3. Harvick Wins Fourth #NASCAR #MENCS Race!
4. NASCAR, Camping World Expand Partnership, Provide Gander Outdoors Entitlement
5. France Family Exploring Possible Sale of #NASCAR?

What Happen This Last #NASCAR Weekend

Johnny Sauter (#NCWTS), Tyler Reddick (#NXS), and Austin Dillon (#MENCS) Win and Are In

Daytona International Speedway Produced Numerous "Big Ones"

Just in case you had not heard . . . . . NASCAR is back! The three top National Series battled at the track known as the 'The World Center of Racing,' the Daytona International Speedway.

* * * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series * * *

On Friday, the Camping World Truck series started off the season. Johnny Sauter won the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway, his third victory in the season-opening event for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Sauter, driving the No. 21 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, emerged from a late-race battle among front-runners, taking the lead for good with eight laps remaining in the 100-lap/250-mile race on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Sauter, whose previous victories in the event came in 2013 and ’16, outraced Justin Haley (No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet) and veteran Joe Nemechek (No. 87 D.A.B. Constructors Inc./Fleetwing Chevrolet) to the finish.

“This is the most unbelievable superspeedway truck I’ve ever driven. I felt like we executed flawlessly.” Sauter exclaimed.

RETWEET TO CONGRATULATE JOHNNY SAUTER ON HIS NASCAR TRUCK SERIES WIN IN DAYTONA!#NASCARonFS1 https://t.co/sRWMBBBNWW

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2018

* * * NASCAR Xfinity Series * * *

Tyler Reddick endured a flurry of late-race incidents and five “NASCAR Overtimes” to win the PowerShares QQQ 300 on Saturday.

The season-opening race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series was scheduled for 120 laps (300 miles). By the time things wrapped up, a total of 143 laps had been run on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Reddick, a rookie driver in the No 9 BurgerFi Chevrolet partially owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., edged his JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler (No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet) in a door-rubbing photo finish. Officially, the margin of victory was listed as 0.000 seconds, the closest finish in NASCAR national series history. Two-time race winner Ryan Reed (No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford) finished third.

“This feels amazing,” Reddick reported. “Helluva way to start the year off with JR Motorsports … and get my first win for JR Motorsports.

Big thanks to everyone! I’ll get back to each of you, it will just take some time! pic.twitter.com/7fXmK5sVYj

— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) February 18, 2018

* * * Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series * * *

In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Austin Dillon delivers emotional DAYTONA 500 victory for Richard Childress Racing in the “The Great American Race.”

Twenty years after Dale Earnhardt ended a career-long drought by winning the DAYTONA 500 in the famed No. 3 Chevrolet of Richard Childress, Austin Dillon – Childress’ grandson – returned the No. 3 to Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway. And he did it with a last-lap, bump-and-run move that was absolutely Earnhardt-like, to boot – in the 60th running of the season-opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

On the way out of @DISupdates, we had to get a picture of “The Intimidator.” #3forever pic.twitter.com/YGP5grUav7

— RCR (@RCRracing) February 19, 2018

A Lap 199 late-race incident took out a number of front-running contenders and forced two extra laps of “NASCAR Overtime.” On the first OT lap, Tampa native Aric Almirola (No. 10 Smithfield Ford) assumed the lead and as the final lap transpired, he appeared headed toward the victory.

As the lead pack approached Turn 3, Dillion – with a considerable aerodynamic push from the No. 43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet of Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. – made a run in his Dow-sponsored car for the front but was blocked by Almirola. Dillon kept going, tapping the rear bumper of Almirola, which sent the Ford into the wall. Dillon and Wallace continued on to the finish line, with Dillon winning by 0.260 seconds. Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota), the 2016 DAYTONA 500 champion, finished third.

“I did what I had to do,” Dillon explained. “He was trying to block me and I just turned him. We had a run and I stayed in the gas. It’s so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to victory lane. This one is for Dale Earnhardt and all those Earnhardt fans. We’re going to keep kicking butt for the rest of the year.”

The celebration continued today for @austindillon3 and @RCRracing with this morning's #DAYTONA500 Champion's Breakfast!

📸: https://t.co/k6pqsOYCbF pic.twitter.com/7LJEpfwHNV

— Daytona International Speedway (@DISupdates) February 19, 2018

Source

🏁 🏆 Related Posts:🏆 🏁

1. Did Bubba Wallace Live Up to the #NASCAR Hype?
2. Rest In Peace Dale Sr.
3. #Daytona500 - Chipper Jones, Honorary Race Official and Peyton Manning, Honorary Pace Car Driver
4. KURT BUSCH – 2018 Daytona 500 Race Advance
5. Hooters Rewards Race Fans with Every Chase Elliott Top-10 Finish