BYRON WINS FORD ECOBOOST 200 AS SAUTER BECOMES CHAMPION

Great season for Sauter is capped off with first Championship

Sauters+Championship+celebration

Austin Travis

Sauter’s Championship celebration

       William Byron won his 7th race of 2016 in Homestead last Friday as Johnny Sauter was crowned the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion.  Sauter finished 3rd behind two non-chasers, being William Byron and Tyler Reddick.  It was the first championship for the 38 year-old Sauter.  It was Sauter’s first year with GMS Racing, and many are surprised a championship has already come.  “Am I surprised? No. I mean, I felt like that’s why I made the move – to ultimately to win races and try to win a championship,” Sauter said.  “Honestly, there’s just too many good people within the GMS organization. You know, the plan is to do it the right way,” Sauter said. “We had the right engines, the right pit crews, assembled the right people.”  Second n the championship standing was two-time champion Matt Crafton.  Crafton was the front runner of the championship contenders most of the race, but Sauter was faster late in the race.  “I kind of figured it was a matter of time,” Crafton said. “We were just really bad on that last run for whatever reason. We just went the wrong way for whatever reason.”  The 2017 season will start on February 24 at 7:30 PM ET on FS1 at Daytona.