NASCAR Truck Series title contender Johnny Sauter has been suspended for one race after crashing into Austin Hill in Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway.
NASCAR announced on Tuesday that Sauter would be suspended from this weekend’s race at Gateway, the 11th round of the 2019 season.
Despite missing the race, Sauter will remain eligible for the series playoffs so long as he remains within the top 20 of the current standings – in which he is currently eighth overall.
On the 138th lap of 200 in Sunday’s race at Iowa, Austin Hill hit Sauter at Turn 4 and sent Sauter into the wall – an action Hill took in retaliation for Sauter colliding into him laps earlier.
Sauter then returned to the track in his damaged truck while the race was under caution, chased after Hill and drove into the back of his No. 16 Toyota.
Although he made contact with the wall, Hill was able to continue on in the race and finished 13th. Sauter was immediately parked by NASCAR for the remainder of the event, and ordered to report to the NASCAR hauler after the race.
Sauter’s ThorSport team-mate Grant Enfinger currently leads the NASCAR Truck Series from fellow Ford runner Matt Crafton.
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