NCWTS: Johnny Sauter Wins JEGS 200 at Dover

Johnny Sauter conquered the monster on Friday afternoon at Dover International Speedway to score his 19th career Camping World Truck Series win. The series veteran, who turned 40 years old in the week leading up to the event, led 137 of the 210 laps.

The win did not come easy for Sauter as the race was extended into NASCAR Overtime after he and Noah Gragson made contact coming to the white flag. Sauter continued without incident but that wasn’t the case for Noah Gragson. Gragson will leave the one-mile oval with a DNF and a 20th-place finish as a result.

Gragson started on the pole and led the field for 60 circuits. The young driver will go into Kansas Speedway holding two top five and two top 10 finishes.

Sauter finished stage one, won by Noah Gragson, sitting fourth on the leaderboard. The driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet would go on to win stage two of the race.

Matt Crafton finished second behind former teammate Johnny Sauter in the No. 88 Menards Ford. Crafton, finishing seventh in stage one and third in stage two, came into the day not very happy with their machine in practice the day prior.

After having a clean day and making necessary changes, Crafton and the No. 88 team posted the 10th fastest time in the final round of qualifying. While he didn’t lead any of the laps, Crafton stayed upfront all day to take the runner-up spot.

The California native now has two top five and top 10 finishes through five races in 2018.

Justin Haley will leave the Jegs 200 with a third-place finish. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet started the long afternoon in fourth and finished inside the top 10 in both stages.

David Gilliland and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-five finishers on Friday.

Stewart Friesen had one of the most frustrating days of any driver at Dover. Friesen started seventh on the leaderboard in the No. 52 Chevrolet and was one of the underdog favorites going into the race.

On the first lap, Friesen and Brett Moffitt tangled on the frontstretch to bring out the caution flag. Both of the drivers involved continued with their days following the incident on the opening lap.

A little later Friesen worked his way back into the top 10 before more problems occured on the No. 52 machine. A tire went down as it rubbed with some sheetmetal and forced the team back down pit road for repairs. They would have more problems later on regarding this issue.

On lap 155 Friesen had more issues that sent the Chevrolet to the garage for the day. The No. 52 truck finished the afternoon sitting 23rd on the leaderboard.

The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be at Kansas Speedway on May 11. Coverage of the Kansas 250 will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET. on FOX Sports 1 and MRN.

Brett Winningham
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