Thorsport Pair Paces Final Truck Practice

Veteran ThorSport Racing teammates Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton emerged atop the speed chart during Thursday’s third and final practice for Friday night’s 23rd annual SpeedyCash.com 400 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Sauter, the defending event champion and five-time winner here, toured TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile quad-oval at 183.237 mph in his No. 13 Tenda Heal Ford F-150. Crafton, a two-time TMS winner, posted a best lap of 183.138 mph in his No. 88 Chi-Chi’s/Menards Ford. Rounding out the top three was Austin Hill at 183.057 mph in the No. 16 Ennis Steel Toyota 

Tundra.

Ben Rhodes, also of ThorSport Racing, led the opening practice at 180.681 mph in the No. 99 Carolina Nut Ford. Sauter paced the second session at 184.168 mph.

Tyler Dippel was the fastest Chevrolet driver at 182.902 mph in the No. 02 LOBAS! Productions Silverado. Dippel was fourth in the final practice.

An extra $50,000 will be on the line when the green flag falls at 8 p.m. (CDT) as part of the NASCAR Triple Truck Challenge. The special bonus program will take place over three consecutive races – TMS, Iowa Speedway (June 15) and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill. (June 22). All drivers earning series points are eligible and drivers who win one of the three races receive a $50,000 bonus.

A driver winning two of three events will be awarded the $50,000 bonus per race and an additional $50,000 bringing the total bonus to $150,000. If a driver wins all three events, he/she will be crowned the Triple Truck Challenge champion and receive an additional $300,000, bringing the total to $500,000 in prize money.