MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 3, 2011) – Johnny Sauter did something very few people have been able to do this season: he beat Kyle Busch.
Sauter passed Busch on the next-to-last lap of Saturday’s Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway and held on to post his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season and the third of his career.
Busch has five NASCAR wins this season, one in the Sprint Cup Series, three in the Nationwide Series and one in the Truck Series.
Busch, who has never won a race at Martinsville, ran second, .453 seconds behind Sauter. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third, followed by his team owner, Kevin Harvick, who recovered from early trouble to finish fourth.
Sauter said his truck was just about perfect Saturday.
“About the only thing that was missing today was leather interior,” he said in victory lane. “I think Kyle got in the corner and got loose (on the penultimate lap). He got loose and swung the back around and tried to come back down, and I was there and I made contact with him.
“It’s pretty cool when you can beat Kyle Busch.”
“We had a shot, and we gave it away,” Busch said. “I just hate it. We had a really good truck, (but) on that last restart, I couldn’t turn. The front tires were just beat off it. If we didn’t have that last caution come out (on Lap 241 of 250), we probably would have been all right.
“Johnny was really good, but I hate to lose at Martinsville. I’d love to win one here someday-eventually.”
Austin Dillon held the lead by four truck-lengths over Max Papis when Dusty Davis’ crash in Turn 3, after contract from Todd Bodine’s Toyota, brought out the 10th caution on Lap 202. The accident bunched the field for a restart on Lap 209; by then Harvick, who restarted ninth, had regained two laps he lost on pit road early in the race.
During the five green-flag laps that followed, Busch worked his way from sixth to second and Harvick from ninth to fifth. Bodine’s spin caused the 11th caution on Lap 214 and tightened the field for a restart on Lap 220, with Dillon in the lead.
Busch regained the lead in the first corner and paced the field through one more yellow-flag period until Matt Lofton’s spin in Turn 1 brought out the 13th caution and set up a four-lap sprint to the finish.
Action returns to Martinsville Speedway Sunday with the running of the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Good seats remain starting at $40 and may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX, visiting www.martinsvillespeedway.com or at the ticket office after 9 a.m. Sunday.
