Catchfence

Sandusky, Oh. (November 20, 2010) – End of season notes and stats for ThorSport Racing and drivers Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton following the 25th and final race of the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

- Johnny Sauter finished third in the series standings, his best career result in the NCWTS in two full-time seasons; he finished sixth last season en route to the series’ Raybestos Rookie of the Year award.

- Matt Crafton finished fourth in the series standings, his third consecutive top-five result and his fourth overall.
Sauter scored one win in 2010, at Kansas Speedway, his second career series victory; his first came last season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

- Sauter’s win at Kansas Speedway was the fourth series victory for ThorSport Racing; Terry Cook scored the team’s first win at Flemington Speedway in 1998, Crafton earned the team’s second victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2008, and Sauter picked up the team’s third win last season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

- Sauter scored 14 top-five finishes in 2010 and Crafton earned 10, giving the organization 24 top-fives; that equates to a top-five finish in 47 percent of its 51 starts throughout the season (25 starts for both Sauter and Crafton, one start at Daytona for Landon Cassill).

- Sauter finished among the top three ten times with one win, five second-place finishes and four third-place finishes.
Crafton scored top-ten finishes in 20 of the series’ 25 races in 2010, tying him with Todd Bodine for the series’ best; 16 of Crafton’s top-tens were consecutive starting at Iowa Speedway in July through the final event of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the longest streak by any series driver this season.

- Sauter led 220 laps in six races; he led 101 on his way to victory at Kansas Speedway, four laps en route to second-place at Iowa Speedway, 21 laps in a second-place performance at Kentucky Speedway, 49 laps at Martinsville Speedway, 31 laps en route to another second-place run at Texas Motor Speedway, and 12 laps on his way to a third-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

- Sauter’s 220 laps led is the most in a single season by a ThorSport Racing driver.

- Crafton came within one top-ten run of matching his career best of 21, set last season.

- Both Sauter and Crafton finished among the top-five six times in 2010: Gateway International Raceway, O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Texas Motor Speedway (November), and Phoenix International Raceway.

- ThorSport Racing is the first team to place two drivers among the top five in the series’ final championship standings since 2008 when Bill Davis Racing placed both Johnny Benson and Mike Skinner in the top five; ThorSport Racing is the first non-Sprint Cup affiliated team to do so since 2002 when Ultra Motorsports placed both Ted Musgrave and Jason Leffler in the top five.

- Crafton earned ThorSport Racing’s only pole of the season in the November race at Texas Motor Speedway; it was his second consecutive pole in the fall race at TMS and his fourth career pole (New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 2005; Chicagoland Speedway, 2009; Texas Motor Speedway, 2009; Texas Motor Speedway, 2010).

- Crafton led 15 laps in three races in 2010; he led 10 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one lap at Michigan International Speedway, and four laps en route to a fourth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway.

- Sauter started among the top ten in 23 of the series’ 25 races; his only starts outside the top ten were 12th at Pocono Raceway and 21st at Martinsville Speedway in October.

- Despite not completing a single lap of the 100 possible in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway due to an accident caused by another driver, Sauter completed 3,783 of a possible 3,874 competition laps in 2010. The only time Sauter did not complete every possible lap on the racetrack following the Daytona race was when he was put a lap down by winner Kyle Busch in the late stages of the April event at Nashville Superspeedway.

- Sauter’s average start in 2010 was 6.5; his average finish was 8.1.

- Crafton’s average start in 2010 was 8.0; his average finish was 8.9.

- ThorSport Racing earned points in the manufacturers’ championship by fielding the highest finishing Chevrolet seven times: Crafton at Daytona International Speedway and Sauter at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway (June), Gateway International Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and Texas Motor Speedway (November).

- In 2010, ThorSport Racing completed its ninth consecutive full season with sponsorship from Menards, tying Ultra Motorsports and Team ASE for the longest team-sponsor relationship in series history. ThorSport Racing and Menards will break that record when the 2011 season kicks off at Daytona.

- ThorSport Racing is owned by Duke and Rhonda Thorson; the team’s shop is located in Sandusky, Ohio, just ten minutes from the front gates of the world renowned amusement park Cedar Point.

- ThorSport Racing Press Release