Tim surged forward to the 14th position in the first few laps after the green flag and then a tight condition slowly dropped him back through the field. The top 22 trucks stayed on the track as the second caution flew on lap 21 when Sauter brought the #07 to the pits for a chassis adjustment. The Green Light team got Tim back out first of the trucks that came to pit road. The stop would prove valuable later in the event as Tim was able to stay on the track during the long green flag run that followed.
The next caution did not come until lap 72 and all of the leaders were forced to come to the pit road under green leaving Tim one of only 16 trucks on the lead lap. Tim would restart in 9th place after the caution. Prospects for a solid finished looked good at this point.
On lap 110 everything changed as Tim moved low on the track to pass Brendan Gaughan for 11th place when the two trucks came together sending the Lester Buildings Chevy hard into the outside wall. The team made quick repairs to keep the wounded truck on the track, but Tim eventually parked his mount after it developed a vibration leaving him with a disappointing 30th place finish.
“We were a little tight and it wanted to jump-out in the center of the corner, ” Sauter said about the handling of his truck. “I’m not really sure what happened when I got inside of the 77. We touched and there was nothing I could do to save it. ”
Despite the 30th place finish Sauter was upbeat. “We didn’t have the fastest truck but we were good enough to race tonight, ” he said after the race. “We caught a break and that kept us on the lead lap, the guys did a good job on pit road and we put ourselves into position for a possible top-10. Those are all positives for this team so I feel good about that. We just need to finish the deal now. ”
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