Johnny Sauter's Hot Streak Continues with Victory at Las Vegas

Johnny Sauter cruised to his first Truck Series victory, dominating the Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350K on Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Raybestos rookie has been on a hot streak, picking the fifth race in a row that he hasn't finished out of the top five and it was just a matter of time for his first win.

Back in August prior to Chicagoland, the team made a crew chief change, bringing in Joe Shear, Jr. and it has paid off in a huge way.

Todd Bodine in the No.30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota would start on the pole, his first of the season and fifth of his career.

Johnny Sauter, in the No. 13 FunSand/Rodney Atkins/Curb Records Chevrolet, started the race from the outside pole position.

Jason White, in the No. 23 GunBroker.com Dodge, started third, Ron Hornaday, Jr., in the No. 33 Copart.com Chevrolet, started fourth and Colin Braun, in the No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford, started fifth.

The start of the race was delayed due to the lights not coming on over the grandstands in turn one and when they got under way.

We saw one of the best starts of the season. With Bodine and Sauter side by side going into turn one, Hornaday would pass White for third.

Sauter, coming out of turn two, would be leading, but Hornaday would fly by Bodine for second, drop to the low-side, and pass Sauter for the lead.

A lap later, Sauter would battle back on the high side and re-take the lead from Hornaday for the first of four times he'd lead the race.

The first caution came out on lap four for Tayler Malsam in the No. 81 One-Eighty Toyota, who got loose and fortunately didn't hit anything.

On the lap eight restart, Sauter would take the green with Hornaday in second on his bumper, but he'd pull away as both Bodine and Rick Crawford in the No. 14 Circle Bar/International Diesel Ford passed Hornaday.

They'd pick up second and third respectively, and drop Hornaday to fourth.

Brian Scott, in the No. 16 Toyota Tundra, started 21st, had been one of the fastest trucks on the track, and on lap 11, he was running 16th and had been picking them off.

Sauter would continue to lead and be pressured by Bodine in second, but would build close to a second lead and was the fastest in the bottom groove.

After 17 Laps, the top five were Sauter, Bodine, Hornaday, Crawford, and Braun.

The second caution flag came out on Lap 23 for Brian Ickler, in the No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceticals Toyota, who got loose coming out on turn four, spun, hit the wall, and had minor damage to the right rear end.

Lance Hooper, in the No. 73 County Building Center Chevrolet, was the Aaron's Lucky Dog winner under the caution.

On lap 25, everyone pits, making the first of two stops and pit strategy came into play with several trucks just making fuel stops.

While Compton, Bodine, Sauter, Hornaday, White, Carmichael, Almirola, and a couple more made a second stop, having taken tires on the first stop, getting fuel, and making adjustments.

On lap 27 and after pit stops the top five were Crawford, Crafton, Braun, Skinner, and Peteres fifth.

On the lap 29 restart, Crawford would take the green, pull away intially from Crafton by a truck length coming out turn two, but Crafton would battle back to be on his bumper and was unable to try a pass.

Crawford would hold the lead for the next seven laps, getting pressured first by Crafton and then Braun, who passed Crafton for second on lap 32.

On lap 33, Bodine would get loose on the low side while racing Scott on the high side and making an incredible save not to wreck.

The third caution came out on lap 36 for Ricky Carmichael in the No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet, who made contact while racing Max Papis in the No. 9 Geico Toyota and spun, hitting the outside wall. Papis was able to save it.  

Mike Harmon, in the No. 42 Chrome Soda Chevrolet, would be the Aaron's Lucky Dog winner.

On lap 37 and under caution, the top five were Crawford, Braun, Crafton, Skinner, and Peters.

On the lap 40 restart, Crawford would take the green with Braun on his bumper, but Hornaday jumped into the high groove next to the wall, going three wide and picking up three positions and moving into third place.

Crafton would have a bad restart and lose three positions, falling from third to sixth.

Crawford would continue leading while being pressured by Braun, who was in second. This led to some great racing by the two.

On lap 46, Braun would pass Crawford for the lead as he had to check up to avoid a slower lapped truck.

On lap 48, Hornaday (third) and Sauter (fourth) both passed Crawford for second and third, respectively.

The fourth caution came out on lap 51 for debris and Wayne Edwards (No. 48 Rockingham Speedway Chevrolet) was the Aaron's Lucky Dog winner under the caution.

Everyone pits on lap 52 for either one or two stops. The teams that took fuel only on the first pit stops made two stops this time and the opposite was the case for the teams that made two stops as they only made one.

On the following lap, Braun, Crafton, Skinner, Sauter, Buescher, Compton, and a few others make their second stops.

On lap 54, under caution and after pit stops, the top five were Hornaday, McCumbee, White, Bodine, and Ickler.

On the lap 55 restart, Hornaday took the green, had a great restart, and got a two truck length lead on McCumbee, who was in second.

Hornaday would hang on to the lead as McCumbee would lose second to Bodine on lap 58, which led to more great racing between the two.

For about the next 11 laps, Hornaday and Bodine, would battle it out side by side, swapping the lead for numerious laps, several of which seeing Hornaday battle back at the stripe for the lead.

Bodine would take the lead on Hornaday on the high side on lap 65, but never got away, with Hornaday on his bumper and trying to re-pass on the low side.

On lap 67, Hornaday would re-pass Bodine for the lead on the low side and pull away by a couple of truck lengths.

After 70 laps, the top five were Hornaday, Bodine, White, Ickler, and Sauter.

By lap 73, Hornaday led by 0.661 seconds over Bodine. Sauter (fourth) was the fast truck on the track at this point.

On lap 77, Hornaday by 0.703 seconds over Bodine while Sauter, in third, is 1.5 seconds back.

Hornaday would continue to lead for the next 11 laps, getting away from Bodine (second) by 1.077 seconds while Sauter was as far back as 3.030 seconds (third).

But as Hornaday led, he began to get into traffic and both Bodine and Sauter caught up to him quickly.

Sauter would get second by passing Bodine on the low side on lap 84 and would be on Horn's bumper.

Sauter would take the lead on lap 88, passing Hornaday on the low side and pulling away by several truck lengths.

After 90 laps, the top five were Sauter, Hornaday, Bodine, White, and Crafton.

By lap 94, Sauter pulled away by 0.503 seconds over Hornaday in second and Bodine in third, who was over two seconds back.

On lap 98, Sauter's lead had grown to 0.686 seconds on Hornaday and 2.786 seconds on Bodine.

Sauter's lead on Hornaday grew to two seconds by lap 105 and Bodine, in third, was on Horn's bumper and pressuring him.

By lap 108, Sauter led Hornaday, in second, by 3.2 seconds while the field had been lapped up to 14th place.

On lap 109, Malsam would start green flag pit stops for fuel along with Mikey Kile (No. 29 Greased Lightning Cleaning Products Chevrolet) and Chad McCumbee (No. 07 the GPSStore.com Chevrolet).

On lap 110, Sauter came to pit road to make his fuel stop along with Bell, Crawford, and Braun. Bodine would inherit the lead as Braun took four tires on his stop.

As Hornaday would come to pit road on lap 112, he got one can of fuel—not two like everyone else—making it interesting to see if it will come into play later.

By lap 113, Bodine hadn't pitted yet, while Braun made his second stop for fuel and adjustments.

At this point, only Bodine, Peters, Almirola, and Scott had yet to pit while everyone else had made their stops.

On lap 116, both Bodine and Scott made their fuel stops while Peters inherited the lead.

On lap 118, Peters and Almirola came to pit road, making their fuel stops as Sauter regained the lead.

The fifth caution came out on lap 120 for Scott, who lost a right front tire in turn three and got into the wall.

On lap 121, with only ten trucks on the lead lap, seven of them come in for tires while Crafton, White and Peters stay out.

Sauter took two right side tires while Bodine, Hornaday, Skinner, Alomirola, Ickler, and Malsam all took four tires.

Crafton would take the green on the lap 124 restart with White on his bumper and Sauter passing Peters for third.

Crafton would hold on to the lead with White pressuring him on his bumper and Sauter closing the gap in third.

On lap 127, Crafton led, but Sauter got into second, passing White and running faster than the leader.

On lap 128, Crafton blocks Sauter up on the high side but a lap later, Sauter would pass him up top for the lead and pull away.

On lap 130 the best racing saw Peters (fourth), Bodine (fifth), and Hornasday (sixth) battle each other for those positions.

The three would keep on battling each other on lap 134. Bodine would get into fourth, passing Peters.

But Peters and Hornaday would continue to battle for fifth and sixth all the way to the checkers and they'd finish that way.

By lap 137, Sauter has built up a 2.321 second lead on Crafton (second) and close to four seconds on White (third).

As the laps clicked off, there was no catching Sauter, as he just held his over two second lead for the remaining laps.

Sauter took the white flag, came around, and took the checkers, winning by 2.47 seconds over Crafton in second while leading 62 laps total.

He saluted the fans with a impressive victory burnout. In victory lane, he was jittery as he thanked his team, the Thorsons, and his sponsors.

This marks Sauter's fifth race in a row in which he's named the Raybestos Rookie of the Race. His win also marks the first rookie win since Scott Speed's victory at Dover last year in May.

Matt Crafton finished second, did what he needed to do, led 10 laps, and picked up 20 points on Hornaday.

Jason White finished third, used pit strategy a couple times, and finished in third, a career best for him.

Todd Bodine finished fourth, led twice for nine laps, and got tires late, but they never were an advantage for him.

Timothy Peters, another driver who used pit startegy, finished fifth, led two laps, and earned a top five finish.

Sixth through 10th were Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Aric Almirola, Brian Ickler, and Tayler Malsam.

The points now have Ron Hornaday leading Matt Crafton (second) by 197 points and Mike Skinner (third) by 255 points.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is now off until Oct. 22nd for the Kroger 200 at Martinsvillle Speedway. This is the final break before the stretch run to the title.

Editor's note: Well, with no good NFL games being aired nationally by me, I did watch Week 2 of the Chase and fell asleep. Needless to say, it set me behind more than three hours with this recap. As for the Cup, I'm done with it this season.

Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com