NASCAR: Sauter Wins at Chicagoland as Playoff Grid is Set
By Alex Herbst
Johnny Sauter rolled to victory on Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Chicago, but he wasn’t the only one celebrating at the end of the night.
While the NASCAR Cup Series prepares to get their playoffs underway on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, the Camping World Truck Series is just getting their field set for the series playoffs. The Friday night race in the Windy City marked the final race to lock into the eight-driver grid, with one spot still up for grabs. Johnny Sauter ultimately drove to victory in the TheHouse.com 225, but Ben Rhodes would also be celebrating at the end of the night.
Sauter, who will be the second seed in the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, earned the victory by passing championship favorite Christopher Bell with just over 25 laps to go and never looked back. Sauter picked up his second win of the season and the fourth of the year for his team GMS Racing.
Following Sauter home on Friday night was Chase Briscoe in second, with Christopher Bell, Ryan Truex, and Grant Enfinger rounding out the top five. With his third-place finish, Bell would lock up an additional fifteen bonus points for the playoffs by claiming the regular season Truck Series title. However, all the excitement for the playoffs was along the bubble.
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At the end of 225 miles of racing around Chicagoland, the battle for the final spot in the playoffs was tied. Ben Rhodes of ThorSport Racing and Ryan Truex of Hattori Racing Enterprises had the exact same number of points at the end of the regular season. The final playoff spot would ultimately be decided by a tiebreaker, with Rhodes having the best finish of the year (2nd at Pocono) compared to Truex (3rd, also at Pocono).
Here are the full race results from TheHouse.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway:
- Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, GMS Racing
- Chase Briscoe, Ford, Brad Keselowski Racing
- Christopher Bell, Toyota, Kyle Busch Motorsports
- Ryan Truex, Toyota, Hattori Racing Enterprises
- Grant Enfinger, Toyota, ThorSport Racing
- Ben Rhodes, Toyota, ThorSport Racing
- John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, NEMCO Motorsports
- Noah Gragson, Toyota, Kyle Busch Motorsports
- Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, GMS Racing
- Myatt Snider, Toyota, Kyle Busch Motorsports
- Cody Coughlin, Toyota, ThorSport Racing
- Regan Smith, Ford, Ricky Benton Racing
- Tyler Young, Chevrolet, Young’s Motorsports
- Justin Haley, Chevrolet, GMS Racing
- Austin Cindric, Ford, Brad Keselowski Racing
- Matt Crafton, Toyota, ThorSport Racing
- Justin Fontaine, Toyota, Niece Motorsports
- Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports
- Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, Beaver Motorsports
- Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, Martins Motorsports
- Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, Beaver Motorsports
- Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, Copp Motorsports
- Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Norm Benning Racing
- Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, JJC Racing
- Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports
- Ted Minor, Chevrolet, Minor Racing
- Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, Harmon Racing
- Tommy Regan, Chevrolet, JJC Racing
- Kevin Donahue, Chevrolet, MB Motorsports
- B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, MB Motorsports
- Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, NEMCO Motorsports
- Mike Senica, Chevrolet, Norm Benning Racing
Next: Top Five Teams that Should Join the Camping World Truck Series
The next race for the Camping World Truck Series comes from the magic mile in the mountains of New Hampshire. Catch the best truckers in America racing around the New Hampshire Motor Speedway next Saturday, live on FS1.