NCWTS championship contenders Sauter, Moffitt seek wins on home track

When it comes to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, there isn’t much Johnny Sauter hasn’t done.

He has a season championship and 21 career victories. Since becoming a full time member in the truck series circuit, Sauter has finished in the top four in the points standings seven times.

What Sauter hasn’t done though is win on a track he considers to be ‘home.’

“Being a Midwest guy, it bothers me,” Sauter said of being winless at Iowa Speedway. “I won’t tell you it doesn’t. There have been a few factors. There was a late caution last year when we were in a good position to win. And my driving style is not perfect for a track like Iowa.”

The green flag for the NCWTS M&M’s 200 Presented by Casey’s General Store will be waved at 6 p.m. Saturday at Iowa Speedway. The race kicks off the 2018 season.

“It would be a huge for me to win that race,” Sauter said. “I would love to win that trophy.”

Sauter, a Wisconsin native, has been the most dominant driver in the series in 2018. He picked up his fourth win at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. Sauter has won six of the last 11 races in the series and has been in the top three in 10 of the last 12.

To put his four series wins into perspective, no other driver on the circuit has more than one win. And he has seven top-five finishes in eight starts. No other driver has more than four.

“It’s a combination of a lot of little things,” Sauter said when asked what’s working so well this season. “The GMS Racing team is building better stuff. It’s top notch right now. Everything is clicking.”

Sauter leads the points race by 77 over Noah Gragson. Iowa native Brett Moffitt is sitting third despite an 18th-place finish at Texas last week.

Moffitt has 283 points and is one point clear of fourth-place Grant Enfinger and four points in front of fifth-place Matt Crafton.

Gragson and Moffitt are the other two full-time drivers who have wins this season. Moffitt took full blame in his 18th-place finish last week at Texas.

“It’s been going well for the most part,” Moffitt said of the season. “Last weekend was my fault. I got too aggressive trying to make up some ground and hit the wall. Then, we spent the rest of the race trying to fix fenders and other parts of the truck.”

Crafton and Sauter have been full-time drivers in the truck series since 2001 and 2009, respectively. Crafton won the truck series race at Iowa in 2011.

Sauter was the runner-up at Iowa last year and also finished second in 2012. Since Iowa Speedway started hosting truck series races in 2009, Sauter has only finished outside the top 10 three times.

“I love racing at Iowa. It’s close to home and it races like a short track,” Sauter said. “The atmosphere there is awesome. Racing in the Midwest just feels right to me.”

At 40 years old, Sauter isn’t itching to climb back into a NASCAR Xfinity Series or Monster Energy Cup Series car. He was full time in the Xfinity Series from 2002-2006 and ran a full slate of races in the Cup Series in 2007.

But with a wife and four kids, he’s content with a 23-race weekend schedule.

“I love being able to spend time at home with my family,” Sauter said. “Being in the truck series is 23 weekends a year. It’s better for me than the 38 weekends the other series require.

“I won’t say that I will be in trucks forever, but it would take the right opportunity for me to leave.”

Moffitt also has found a home, for now, in the truck series. At 25, he’s in his first year of the series. He raced 31 of the 35 races in the Cup Series back in 2015.

“There’s been some room for improvement, but we have what it takes to win races and compete at this level,” Moffitt said.

Moffitt has raced at Iowa Speedway twice as an Xfinity Series driver. He was ninth in 2012. He also placed 11th in the Xfinity Series race last year.

In 2011, Moffitt drove his K&N Pro Series car into Victory Lane. He hopes to do that again on Father’s Day weekend in front of his family and friends.

“Winning at Iowa this weekend would be a perfect storm.” Moffitt said. “It’s my hometown and it’s Father’s Day weekend. My parents will both be in the stands. It’s fun competing at that track, but if I am fortunate to win that would be even better.