Johnny Sauter’s 2011 Effort Leaves Him Eager for 2012 Campaign
Johnny Sauter did everything he could on Friday night to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) championship but it wasn’t meant to be.
[media-credit name=”Credit: By John Harrelson, Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”234″]
[/media-credit]He led the most laps and won for the second time in 2011 when NASCAR declared the race official 15 laps from the finish because of rain. But with point leader Austin Dillon finishing 10th it left Sauter six points behind in the standings.
“To come out of here six points back is kind of bummer with some of the problems we had throughout the course of the year,” said Sauter. “But I couldn’t be more proud of Joe and everybody at ThorSport, Duke and Rhonda Thorson … I was really concerned in the middle part of the summer, we got off track a little bit.”
Sauter called it awesome to have won two races in a season. It’s also awesome to come back in 2012 and content for the championship again, even if he has to wait a few months. The win makes Sauter feel better though. It is the first time that he has had a multiple win season in any of NASCAR’s three series.
He knows that he doesn’t seem that eyebrow raising, but it’s a big, personal accomplishment. For Sauter, showing that he can be a contender on more than one occasion is important, showing the team are not just one hit wonders.
“Phenomenal year,” Sauter said. “I’ve always wanted to have two wins in the NASCAR series in the same year and to some people that probably doesn’t mean much. I’ve been fortunate to win some Nationwide races and some Truck races but never two in a year, so that was a huge accomplishment.”
Except, there’s a bit of what could have been for Sauter and his No. 13 team this season.
They led the points for many weeks and could have had numerous victories. Then bad luck and fate turned against them. He would have won Texas until he was black flagged for changing lanes before the start-finish line on a green-white-checkered finish. There was the domination he put on the field in Kentucky but broke an axel with 20 laps to go.
In Indianapolis he again was leading when they suffered a flat tire, which led to a broken sway bar. The team was also docked points from NASCAR following Pocono for failing inspection. Once those lost opportunities added up to lost points Sauter found himself too far behind entering Homestead.
“Really if you want to get down to it, it didn’t really matter where he was running,” Sauter said of Dillon. “We knew what we had to do and that was lead the most laps to win the race. It’s a huge accomplishment to come out of here doing what we needed to do essentially and six points is a bummer.”
The off-season will be a well-deserved break for the NCWTS teams. It might also be long for Sauter though, as he’s ready to head into 2012 and try again. The fire, desire as well as the success the team experienced this season leads Sauter to believe they will again be contenders next year. Doesn’t matter that they could and maybe should have won this year, he says they’re the favorites.
And while Sauter will be back to chase the championship, the champion will not. Dillon is moving to the Nationwide Series with his entire team. Brother Ty Dillon and Joey Coulter will carry the banner for Richard Childress Racing. But Sauter doesn’t want to be anywhere but ThorSport and would love to bring them a championship.
As a company they’ve come far. His team owners care as much about the sport as they do their own team. For 16 years they’ve been at the track full-time, spending their own money and commitment. Sauter is eternally grateful and wants to make it worth it for them.
“Built a brand new 100,000 square foot shop we moved into it in August up in Sandusky, Ohio, which is anomaly in this business, being outside the Charlotte hub so to speak,” he said. “I think it’s a huge accomplishment but I also know what I have for a team, and those guys work hard. I guarantee you they work harder than anybody in the garage and I guarantee you that we are a championship team. Even though we are not champions right now, we are a championship team and I do believe we’re the favorites for next year.”
The Final Word – Wonderful finish for Tony but what about Mr. Grubb?
It was sure something to witness. The two contenders running just over a second apart, first and second, with the winner of the race the winner of the season. Would an engine blow, a tire go down, a split second lack of focus bounce one off the wall? It all made for one heck of a finale, as Tony Stewart won his third Cup championship against a very game Carl Edwards.
[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”224″]
[/media-credit]Only two drivers have won the title over the past seven seasons. There was Tony Stewart, then there was J–i–m–m–y J–o–h–n–s–o–n for five, then Stewart again. The new points system gave us the closest finish ever, dead even in points as Stewart won based on wins, 5-to-1. To do it, he had to overcome a couple of repairs that sent him to the back early on Sunday, along with an air gun that did him no favors twice, and drive like a demon to make hay during the restarts. What a wonderful end to the season, but this isn’t really the end and not everything is wonderful.
For example, Stewart wins with Darian Grubb as his crew chief, that same Darian Grubb who apparently is unemployed today. “Thanks for the title but”, as the Donald would say, “you’re fired.” What the hell? Grubb guides his boss to five Chase wins, makes a real gutsy call late that helped set up the final run to the championship, sees Stewart carrying his boy on the podium like a favorite uncle, and his butt is out the door? That decision was made five races ago, at Charlotte, but what now? Whatever happens, Grubb won’t be unemployed for long, but Stewart could find himself going from Smoke to Grinch in a hurry.
Kevin Harvick Incorporated looked like the next outfit that would grow to become a major player in NASCAR. They won a pair of truck titles, claimed 43 races, and even ten Nationwide series checkered flags. Then, they merged it all with the Richard Childress operation for 2012. We are told it makes economic sense, that it would free up time for Harvick to devote to Cup, but we are left to wonder that if Harvick and KHI can’t make it, who can? I’m sure it will also free up capital to allow Kevin and DeLana to invest in other areas where folks can make honey if they got the money to invest when prices are low.
Goodbye David Reutimann. Adios Brian Vickers. See you later, David Ragan. Sponsorship or the lack of a team send the latter duo shopping for jobs, while it appears Aaron’s did not consider Reutimann their lucky dog any longer and requested a change. Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip will take over the #00, while Red Bull’s possible demise frees Vickers as UPS moves the big brown elsewhere to park Ragan.
Jeremy Mayfield, what in hell happened? Most of us don’t know these men, just know of them and have, at best, a perception of who they might be. Of course, Mayfield could be totally innocent of all the things NASCAR and the law say he has done, but we are getting to the point where, if he is, we are in the midst of one heck of a conspiracy.
Some might not consider this good news, but I do. Might RCR’s #3 make a return to Cup action? Austin Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress, claimed the truck title this year, and Junior is okay with the 21 year old taking the number Dillon has carried this season, that his grandpa had carried, and what Earnhardt’s daddy made famous driving for RCR back to the Cup level. It might not happen next year, but it could be running in the Nationwide series this year. You know, I would be just fine with it, too.
The new baseball season is still five months away. Our boys, and Danica Patrick, have just three months to get ready for Daytona as Tony tries to make it four championships, Jimmie six, Jeff five, and Carl seeks his first. Enjoy the winter.
Carl Edwards Would Like to be the Champion But Will Be the Best Loser Instead
Carl Edwards started the 2011 season thinking about what he could have done differently to win the Daytona 500 after finishing second to Trevor Bayne. He ends the season in the same way when it comes to winning the race and the championship.
[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]“Well, the effort was all season,” said Edwards. “We finished the last two races of last season very strong and we believed in what we were capable of this year and I think we proved to ourselves that even with adversity and the things that we faced through the Chase, the bad runs that we had and the mistakes we made and recovered from, that we can compete for these championships. I guess the only thing that I’m able to take away from this that’s really positive is something I thinks important, is that we can compete with these people.”
Through the Chase Edwards was able to compete with Stewart, now a three-time champion who won half the races, and score the same amount of points. To Edwards, that’s a big deal and it was another huge test for him in the journey of life.
“The last three or four weeks have been a huge test for me and my team mentally,” he said. “For us to keep our confidence up and keep our cool and go out and do our jobs, I am really proud of that. That is it. That is my maximal effort right there and Tony beat us. He is a champion and deserves to be the champion. He did a good job and now we will go home and work even harder and if we are faced with the same test next year hopefully we will do even better.”
Edwards finished second in Homestead-Miami to Tony Stewart, leaving him a tie for the Sprint Cup Series championship. Stewart won his third championship because the tiebreaker was wins. Stewart had five, Edwards one. The hardest part was that Edwards led the points for majority of the year and through most of the Chase, holding a three point advantage heading into Sunday afternoon.
Both drivers did everything they needed to do to win the title. Edwards started the weekend by winning the pole and then leading the most laps. Stewart though, led the lap that counted most, doing what he needed to in order to beat Edwards. The two put on what might go down as one of the best Chases in history, certainly to date.
For Edwards though, it couldn’t be more heartbreaking. After learning everything he could from Jimmie Johnson the last few season, finishing second to him in 2008 after winning nine races, he thought he was in the perfect position. Heading to his best track, Edwards and the No. 99 Aflac Roush Fenway Racing team had put everything they could to put them in position to win their first championship.
As the last 20 laps wound down though, he was left chasing Stewart as he and the championship drove away. Except, Edwards fought to the very end. It was over until the checkered flag flew, a lesson he says he learned racing teammate and Nationwide Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Iowa a few months ago.
“I was fully prepared for Tony to run out fuel or have a tire problem or for anything to happen,” said Edwards. “For a caution to come out and have a restart and that is all I can do. That is my job, to be prepared as I can be. I didn’t really let myself think about the consequences of what was going on, I just had to drive the hardest I could and I did. I drove to edge and beyond and that is all I had.”
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, even with a 4.9 average in the Chase. With the championship coming down to the most unlikely of scenarios, a tie, Edwards was able to joke that he would do anything to break that tie right now. Instead, he says he’ll walk back to his motorhome and be the best loser that he can, providing a good example for his two small children.
“I wish I could do this every day,” said Edwards about the situation he was in this year. “There are lessons that I learned and things that I learned about myself, about competition, about failure, about success – things that I could not have learned away other way. If there wasn’t any pressure, there wouldn’t be any diamonds. That’s what my trainer says. We dealt with a lot of pressure and I feel very proud of the way our team and myself and everyone has handled everything through this.”
It has made them all better, strong says Edwards. It leaves him with a great feeling heading into 2012, that he will win the title should he be in this position again. It might be hard to find Edwards in a better position than he was in 2011 when he was the man to beat nearly every week. Things were going his way, his team battled hard to minimize their bad days and they ended up being the favorites.
Losing the championship on the final day of the season after running what he says were the best races of his life, is disappointing. Stewart just came with a vengeance and flat out beat him for the championship. Edwards can move on knowing that he didn’t lose it or give it away, they were fairly beat.
And while Edwards had statistics on his side, which would have won him just about any other Chase, he takes it and moves on. The hope is that the team’s disappointment will propel them into the offseason and push them to work harder.
“We performed very well,” said Edwards of 2011. “I feel like over the whole season we performed really well. I don’t know if anyone scored more points in the whole season than we did, I’m not sure about that, but there’s a lot of pride in that. We did that in 2008 and I think we did that now. We just performed the best we can. Every week we put out the best effort we can and we were only one point shy. That’s just the way it is.”
