Sauter Drives Backup
To 35th-Place Finish At LMS

Concord, N.C. – Johnny Sauter and the No. 70 Haas Automation team finished 35th in the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Having to qualify his Chevrolet Impala SS on time due to the team being outside the Top-35 in owner points, Sauter posted the 43rd fastest lap time and claimed the final starting position in the field by 1/100th of a second.

NASCAR officials, however, confiscated the car due to an illegal wing mount following an unscheduled inspection on Saturday morning and Sauter was forced to drive his backup car during the race.

With limited practice time to adjust the handling on the backup, Sauter reported early and often during Sunday’s 400-lap event that his car was extremely loose.

“I was getting sideways in the center of the turns,” Sauter said of the loose condition. “The team worked hard to make it better, but it was a handful all night.”

Sauter finished the race five laps down.

Jason Leffler is scheduled to drive the No. 70 for Haas CNC Racing at Dover. He will also be testing the car during the NASCAR-sanctioned testing session at Pocono this week.

The Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway will be televised on Fox beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, and on local MRN affiliates beginning at 1:15 p.m. EDT.