NASCAR Truck Series: Johnny Sauter out at GMS Racing for 2019

GMS Racing have released veteran NASCAR Truck Series driver and 2016 Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter ahead of the 2019 season.

Johnny Sauter has driven full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series since the 2009 season, and he has driven full-time for GMS Racing behind the wheel of the #21 Chevrolet since the 2016 season.

However, the 40-year-old Necedah, Wisconsin native will not return to GMS Racing as the driver of the #21 Chevrolet in the 2019 season, which is scheduled to get underway in just over one month.

Here is what Sauter had to say about leaving GMS Racing before the 2019 season, according to NASCAR.

"“I’m a big boy, 40 years old, and have been racing a long time. That’s the way it goes sometimes. That’s all I know about it. That’s all I can tell you.“It’s kind of late in the game, obviously. Daytona’s only a month away, so you don’t want it to go down like that but there ain’t a whole hell of a lot I can do about it. It’s just life. What’s next for me? Don’t have a clue. You see a lot of drivers get sidelined — good drivers — and that’s the nature of the beast.”"

Here is what GMS Racing president Mike Beam had to say about the matter, according to NASCAR.

"“We cannot thank Johnny enough for his contributions to the growth and success of GMS Racing. He won the first championship for us and added a lot of trophies to our shop. We wish him all the best for his future endeavors, both in and out of racing.”"

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Sauter has competed in 244 races over the course of his Truck Series career, which goes back all the way to the 2003 season. He competed in 11 of these 244 races from the 2003 season through the 2008 season before landing a full-time ride with ThorSport Racing in the 2009 season. He ended up driving for the team from the 2009 season through the 2015 season before landing a full-time ride with GMS Racing ahead of the 2016 season.

In his 244 career starts, Sauter has recorded 23 victories, 102 top five finishes, 157 top 10 finishes and seven pole positions. He has led 2,447 of the 36,324 laps that he has completed. His average career starting position is 9.8 and his average career finishing position is 9.6.

In his three seasons driving for GMS Racing, Sauter competed in 69 races and recorded 13 victories, 39 top five finishes, 55 top 10 finishes and two pole positions. He led 1,170 of the 10,019 laps that he completed. His average starting position was 7.1 and his average finishing position was 6.9.

Sauter won the 2016 championship in his first season driving for GMS Racing, and he never finished in lower than fourth place in the championship standings in the three seasons during which he drove for the team. He finished in that position in the 2018 season. In fact, in his 10 seasons as a full-time Truck Series driver, his lowest finish in the standings is ninth, which is where he finished in the 2012 season.

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Will Johnny Sauter ever compete in the NASCAR Truck Series or in any NASCAR series again? Who will replace him behind the wheel of the #21 GMS Racing Chevrolet for the 2019 season? The 23-race season is scheduled to get underway in slightly over one month on Friday, February 15 with the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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