DOVER, Del. – Johnny Sauter scored his second-straight win at Dover Int’l Speedway in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series JEGS 200, and for much of the day, his competition couldn’t even get close.
Sauter charged around Parker Kligerman to take the lead for the first time on lap 61 and only gave up control briefly after that, staving off a challenge by Jesse Little in slower traffic and then coming out on top of a late battle with Noah Gragson in the final laps.
Aside from those two instances, Sauter was virtually uncontested in scoring his 19th Truck Series win and second of the year. He paced 137 laps overall, including 76 of the final 87, en route to the victory in the No. 21 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet.
Sauter held off Matt Crafton on an overtime restart, after a late crash by polesitter Noah Gragson pushed the race 10 laps beyond its scheduled distance.
“You just never give up,” said Sauter in victory lane. “We had to work for this one today. Noah was strong. I had a run and he squeezed me off, so I figured he gave me the green light to be aggressive at that point. We had a great truck on long runs. The pit stops were phenomenal. The end was just hard racing.”
Sauter will also run Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race for GMS Racing and was quick to give a nod to the recently-suspended Spencer Gallagher in victory lane.
“This has been a tough week for the Gallagher family, but this win’s for Spencer,” noted Sauter. “He’s a smart kid and he’ll get it right. I’m proud of him and proud of this team.”
It appeared that the final stage would run uninterrupted once the green flag was displayed on lap 97, with a long green-flag run stringing the field out and allowing Sauter to lap all the way up to the top 10.
However, the caution flag finally waved with 45 laps left after Stewart Friesen lost a right-front tire in turn two, slamming the outside wall and ending his afternoon.
David Gilliland won the race off pit road with a two-tire gamble, but he was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and dropped out of contention. In similar heartbreaking fashion, Little was penalized a lap for pitting outside his pit box after holding second place for the majority of the race’s second half.
That left Sauter out in front when racing resumed with 38 to go. Sauter darted away from Matt Crafton entering turn one, while polesitter Noah Gragson rallied to take the second spot away from Crafton after pit road woes dropped Gragson at the start of the second stage.
As Gragson started to close on Sauter for the top spot, disaster nearly struck when Jordan Anderson and Justin Fontaine crashed right in front of the lead duo to bring the caution flag out again with 20 laps left.
That gave Gragson a restart to work with and he pounced on the opportunity, charging past Sauter on the inside to assume command with 12 to go. Sauter wasn’t about to give up though, closing back in on Gragson’s bumper as the laps wound down.
With three to go, Sauter was there and gave Gragson a bump from behind, and with two to go they were side-by-side and banging doors down the backstretch fighting for the win.
That fight soured entering turn three, when Gragson slammed into Sauter’s door and went spinning before making heavy contact against the outside wall with the rear of his No. 18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota.
Sauter escaped unscathed and went on to win, while Gragson was left heartbroken.
“I’m extremely disappointed in myself,” said Gragson after being released from the infield care center. “That was 100 percent my fault. I was so close to getting my first win (of the year) and when I went up to side-draft him (Sauter), I got pointed to the inside wall. When I went back up, it spun me around.
“That’s not how I try and race people. I take full responsibility,” Gragson added. “It’s unacceptable on my part. All I can think about standing here is the mistake I just made. I’m devastated.”
After cleanup was completed, Crafton charged into turn one in overtime trying to pass Sauter for the win, but couldn’t hold off Sauter’s momentum on the outside and had to settle for second.
Justin Haley, David Gilliland and Harrison Burton completed the top five.
Cody Coughlin, Joe Nemechek and Ben Rhodes were sixth through eighth, respectively, while Little fought back from his penalty to be the final driver on the lead lap in ninth.
