Sauter looks to continue trend of new Iowa winners

n its six-year history hosting the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Iowa Speedway has seen one repeat winner, Timothy Peters.

Johnny Sauter would love to continue that trend, and add his name to the growing list of winners come Friday night (8:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).

With only three past winners (Peters, Ryan Blaney and Matt Crafton) expected to run the race, a new face in Victory Lane would be no surprise. Among the winless are two drivers with the highest active driver ratings with multiple starts at the track, Erik Jones (107.4) and Johnny Sauter (107.0).

“Iowa is a track that always produces great racing and we’ve seen some good finishes there,” Sauter said. “I’ve always run well there, but I’ve never been able to close the deal. In order to be successful at Iowa, you’ve got to get over the bumps in turns one and two to carry your momentum down the backstretch. If you can handle that, you can bring home a good finish. This team continues to be consistent week in and week out and although we don’t always have the best truck, we seem to salvage a decent day.”

Sauter has scored six top-five finishes in seven starts at Iowa Speedway, and at 36 years old he has nearly twice the experience of Jones. Sauter owns the best average finish of 4.9 at the track and is currently the series points leader.