Johnny Sauter Left Devastated After Missing Out on the NASCAR Truck Series Playoffs

The NASCAR playoffs are not just limited to the Cup Series, but extends to the Xfinity and Truck Series as well. Friday’s Truck race was a do or die one for 42-year old Johnny Sauter.

In other words, he needed to win the regular-season finale to qualify for the 2020 playoffs. Sadly, his chances evaporated Eight laps into the 250-lap event.

During the green flag, the ThorSport Racing driver was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. As it turned out, Sauter was under the impression that he had a flat tire and pitted straight away. Instead, the team discovered and fixed a mechanical issue, before sending him out on track, two laps down.

Suffice to say, Sauter was extremely upset and let loose his feeling on the team’s radio airwaves. The situation was so hopeless that he found himself languishing in 31st by the end of Stage 1.

From there, progress was painfully sluggish and the problem that plagued him never left. and warranted further adjustments through the ToyotaCare 250. In the end, he could only manage 27th place was eight laps down on the leaders. As a further slap in the face, his ThorSport Racing teammates rounded out the Top 3.

How did this affect Johnny Sauter?

Naturally, his teammates were gutted for the playoff hopeful and sympathised with him. Teammate Matt Crafton said, “He has a black cloud that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in racing following him. They were definitely different setup-wise than all of us. All of us were different, but at the same time, Johnny was really different and it bit him.”

This was crunch time for Johnny Sauter, as he was five spots and 125 points away from making the cut. So, nothing short of a victory was desperately needed to secure a berth.

The driver has been a full-time Truck Series racer for more than a decade and never placed worse than ninth. Sadly, this loss is set to demote him to the tail of the Top 10, since he failed to reach the playoffs.

“I truly, truly feel terrible for the guys,” Crafton concluded. “I know they’ll get it together here in this playoff, win a couple and then they’re going to be mad they didn’t make it.”