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Johnny Sauter’s season of misery ended when he captured the Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night.

Sauter, who had just one top-20 finish in 2012 at the start of the Texas race, won for the fifth time in his career.

Matt Crafton finished second – 2.1 seconds back – to give ThorSport Racing a 1-2 finish.

“Every win is special, and I’ve been fortunate to win some very cool races in the truck series,” said Sauter, the 2009 Rookie of the Year. “This one is going to rank right up there, with the start to this season. Last year was tough. That definitely by far was the toughest loss. It’s hard not to think about that because everybody’s talking about it.”

Third was Joey Coulter while Brendan Gaughan was fourth. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished fifth.

Ty Dillon had the lead on a restart with 33 laps to go and went door-to-door with James Buescher for several laps. That action ended when Dillon got loose and ran Buescher up into the wall to bring out a caution

On the restart, which came with 24 laps to go, Crafton was the leader and Gaughan was on the inside.

Sauter moved past Gaughan and fought his ThorSport teammate, Crafton, for the lead. Two laps later, Sauter took that lead.

Once in the lead, Sauter pulled away from the field.

Sauter’s shot at the win at Texas last year went awry when he was black-flagged for moving out his lane before reaching the start/finish line on a late-race restart opposite Ron Hornaday Jr. While Hornaday celebrated his third career victory at TMS, Sauter retreated to his trailer after placing 22nd.

“There’s no sweeter vindication,” said Sauter, driver of the No. 13 Toyota Tundra co-owned by Mike Curb, and Duke and Rhonda Thorson. “Last year was really tough to swallow coming down to a late-race restart, but I broke the rules. The season we’ve had this year has been bad luck after bad luck. I couldn’t be prouder of (crew chief) Joe Shear and the guys at ThorSport. The driver’s only a small part of the equation. That truck could pretty much drive itself.”

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RACE RESULTS

1. (20) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 167, $58,025.

2. (10) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 167, $39,715.

3. (11) Joey Coulter, Chevrolet, 167, $29,085.

4. (6) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 167, $21,025.

5. (8) Nelson Piquet Jr., Chevrolet, 167, $17,050.

6. (18) Jason Leffler, Toyota, 167, $14,825.

7. (3) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 167, $14,575.

8. (16) Cale Gale, Chevrolet, 167, $13,075.

9. (1) Justin Lofton, Chevrolet, 167, $12,975.

10. (5) Parker Kligerman, RAM, 167, $14,150.

11. (2) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 167, $12,775.

12. (9) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 167, $12,600.

13. (17) David Starr, Toyota, 167, $12,500.

14. (15) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 167, $12,400.

15. (4) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 167, $13,375.

16. (23) Ross Chastain, Toyota, 167, $12,200.

17. (13) Jason White, Ford, 167, $12,100.

18. (19) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 167, $12,000.

19. (25) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 167, $10,600.

20. (34) Brandon Miller, Chevrolet, 167, $9,825.

21. (21) Max Gresham, Chevrolet, 164, $10,700.

22. (30) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 162, $9,300.

23. (26) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 161, $9,200.

24. (31) Scott Stenzel, Chevrolet, 160, $9,100.

25. (24) Bryan Silas, Ford, 159, $9,150.

26. (27) Brent Raymer, Chevrolet, Suspension, 139, $8,900.

27. (12) John Wes Townley, Toyota, 128, $8,800.

28. (22) Paulie Harraka, Ford, Accident, 69, $8,700.

29. (32) Rick Crawford, Chevrolet, Accident, 52, $8,595.

30. (7) Todd Bodine, Toyota, Oil Pump, 31, $8,995.

31. (28) Johnny Chapman, Toyota, Overheating, 25, $8,370.

32. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, RAM, Engine, 10, $8,270.

33. (33) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, Overheating, 6, $8,195.

34. (35) Chris Lafferty, RAM, Engine, 3, $8,145.

35. (14) Brandon Knupp, Chevrolet, Ignition, 2, $8,120.

RACE STATISTICS

Average Speed of Race Winner: 123.925 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 01 Mins, 17 Secs.

Margin of Victory: 2.101 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 32 laps.

Lead Changes: 13 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Lofton 1-26; J. Buescher 27-33; T. Dillon 34-50; J. Buescher 51-54; J. Sauter 55-73; J. Buescher 74; J. White 75-81; J. Buescher 82-96; J. Lofton 97-125; J. Buescher 126-129; T. Dillon 130-134; J. Buescher 135-137; M. Crafton 138-145; J. Sauter 146-167.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Lofton 2 times for 55 laps; J. Sauter 2 times for 41 laps; J. Buescher 6 times for 34 laps; T. Dillon 2 times for 22 laps; M. Crafton 1 time for 8 laps; J. White 1 time for 7 laps.

Top 10 in Points: J. Lofton – 272; T. Peters – 267; T. Dillon – 260; J. Buescher – 249; P. Kligerman – 247; N. Piquet Jr. – 234; M. Crafton – 223; J. Coulter – 219; R. Hornaday Jr. – 218; T. Bodine – 212.

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