HOMESTEAD, Fla. – On the anniversary of earning his first NASCAR national series championship one year ago, GMS Racing confirmed Friday morning that Johnny Sauter will continue to drive the No. 21 Chevrolet for the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season.
“I can’t thank the Gallagher family and Mike Beam enough for the opportunity they’ve given me the last two years,” said Sauter. “To be able to compete at this level, where you know you could win any given weekend, is incredible and I’m excited to be able to continue with the No. 21 team next year.”
After seven years at ThorSport Racing, the Necedah, Wisc. native moved to Maury Gallagher’s GMS Racing last season and delivered what the team wanted, a championship.
In two seasons with the Statesville, N.C.-based team, Sauter has earned seven wins, 24 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes and is one of four Championship 4 contenders entering Friday night’s Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. After starting the year with crew chief Marcus Richmond, Sauter reunited with former crew chief and friend Joe Shear Jr. after seven races and the rest is history.
His sophomore season with crew chief Shear Jr. at GMS has been even better than his championship season. In 22 starts, he has accumulated four wins, 12 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes compared to just three wins in 2017. Sauter has more than doubled laps led this season at 455 entering Homestead compared to just 130 last year.
“I do feel like we’ve been strong all year,” Sauter said Thursday during Championship 4 media day at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach. “If I look at the way we started off the season, finishing second, third, second, third, getting really close to winning, I feel like we’re a more competitive team than we were last year.
“We’ve led three times as many laps this year as we did last year. I feel like we’ve shot ourselves—I’ve shot ourselves in a foot once or twice, and there’s a couple races where we didn’t execute, so I feel legitimately we should be sitting here with six, seven, maybe eight wins right now.
“I feel like we were (competitive) a year ago, but I also know that the rest of the season is history, and it’s all about tomorrow night. We just have to run well tomorrow night. Win, lose or draw, you have to put your best effort forth because it comes down to one race.
“We’ve had a great year, and hopefully, we can continue that tomorrow (Friday).”
Overall, the 39-year-old seasoned veteran has 17 career NCWTS wins, 87 top-five and 139 top-10 finishes and six career poles.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
