By Jim Pedley
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (May 2, 2010) -- What simply had to be the two best saves of the Camping World Truck Series season occurred at exactly the same time and within inches of each other Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
When the two trucks involved finally got pointed back in the proper direction, it was the one driven by Johnny Sauter that had the lead and would go on to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.
Series victory on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. (Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images)
The other truck involved, that of Ron Hornaday Jr., finished second but left its driver buzzing like a radio with a bad tube.
“You can’t tell me that Kansas didn’t like that one,” Hornaday, not generally known to be all that excited about a second-place finish, shouted as he entered the postrace interview room.
Sauter, wearing a very large and sticky smear of birthday cake on his fire suit, was equally excited. As well he should be.
“I bet it looked pretty cool on TV,” said Sauter, who turned 32 on Saturday.
With 13 laps to go, Sauter had the lead heading down the backstretch, but Hornaday pulled even on his low side. Hornaday’s truck suddenly hooked right—right into Sauter. Both spun simultaneously. With smoke pouring from the wheel wells of both trucks, they turned 60 degrees sideways.
both slide in Turn 4 with 10 laps to go. (Rick Dole / Getty Images)
The two drivers, who have a history of roughing each other up on the track and in the pits afterward, cranked the steering wheels and both executed highlight-clip saves.
“He got into me,” Sauter said. “I couldn’t help but sit there and think as I was trying to save it … that darn Hornaday got me again within a month’s time. But it all worked out. That was good. That was good for the fans.”
The victory was the first of the year for Sauter and moved him from 14th to fifth in the points standings.
Sauter said he felt good about his truck before it even arrived at Kansas. It was the same truck he used to win his first truck race last September in Las Vegas and finish 11th at Nashville the last time out.
at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. (Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images)
Todd Bodine finished third and moved into second in the standings, 22 points behind Timothy Peters, who finished 23rd, six laps back.
Notes: Brian Ickler finished fourth and now has two top-five finishes in both of his starts for Kyle Busch Motorsports. … Rookie Austin Dillon had his best finish, sixth. … The race was stopped after 114 laps for more than 90 minutes by rain and hail.
O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 results:
1. Johnny Sauter
2. Ron Hornaday
3. Todd Bodine
4. Brian Ickler
5. Johnny Benson
6. Austin Dillon*
7. Aric Almirola
8. Mike Skinner
9. Ken Schrader
10. David Starr
11. Jason White
12. Ricky Carmichael
13. Justin Lofton*
14. Jack Smith Ford
15. Tony Jackson Jr.
16. James Buescher
17. Mario Gosselin
18. Terry Jones
19. Ryan Sieg
20. Jamie Dick
21. Brent Raymer
22. Tayler Malsam
23. Timothy Peters
24. Norm Benning
25. Matt Crafton
26. Brett Butler*
27. Carl Long
28. Jennifer Jo Cobb*
29. Jesse Smith
30. Chris Eggleston*
31. Rick Crawford
32. Brian Rose
33. Mike Harmon
34. Shane Sieg
35. Wes Burton
36. Narain Karthikeyan
*Rookie
TEXT FROM NASCAR MEDIA
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