Crew chief Dennis Connor and his men made a dogged attempt to repair Sauter’s mangled Tundra, which went to the garage area on the leader’s 87th lap. But the damage and race-time remaining to fix it forced the team to withdraw, relegating Sauter to 21st at the finish.
It was a massively disappointing outcome for a weekend that had started so positively. In two practice sessions Sauter and Connor concentrated on race runs rather than sheer speed in the draft. Toyota’s timing system showed Sauter’s Tundra was one of the most consistently fast trucks based on average lap times.
“I don’t really know what happened (in the accident with Blaney). We were three-wide, and I think another truck ran into me in the back and sent me from the bottom of the racetrack to the top. When I got there Ryan was sideways and stopped and there just wasn’t enough room between him and the wall.”
Connor’s assessment was even blunter.
A year ago Sauter came to Kansas in sole possession of the series lead but after a fourth-place finish behind race-winning ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton a rough stretch of the season ensued that knocked Sauter out of championship contention.
Connor rejoined ThorSport as Sauter’s crew chief and they engineered a seven-race top-10 finishing string — including Sauter’s third win of the season — that got them back into fourth in the championship by season’s end.
After Friday night’s setback Sauter fell to fifth in the championship, 15 points behind series leader Matt Crafton, who for the second consecutive season took the points lead after Kansas.