Johnny Sauter’s No. 13 team has been a frequently penalized truck in pre-race inspection in the 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. The trend continued on Friday when the team was issued an L1 penalty at Michigan International Speedway.
Sauter’s truck was found to have an infraction regarding rule 20.4.17.d, which involves the return flange at the bed side panel of the truck. As a result, Sauter and his team ThorSport Racing have been docked 10 championship driver and owner points, and his crew chief Joe Shear Jr. has been ejected from the speedway for Friday’s Henry Ford Health Center 200.
Fortunately, for Sauter, he will not have to forfeit his 13th-place starting spot in the race, but if he wants to snag his first win of the year, he’ll have to do it without his long time crew chief on the pit box.
Sauter drops from 12th to 13th in the championship standings with this latest penalty. Sauter is now 53 points behind Todd Gilliland, who sits 10th in the standings. Had it not been for the other L1 penalties that Sauter has incurred this season as well as his post-race disqualification at Atlanta, Sauter would be just four points outside the cutoff line for the Playoffs.
The top-10 make it into the NGROTS Playoffs.
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