NASCAR Cup
Joliet: Tim Sauter race notes
Engine failure stops Sauter, AP Performance Chevy at Chicago. JOLIET, IL (July 13, 2002) Tim Sauter and his No. 19 AP Performance Chevy had an uncharacteristic engine failure in the Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday ...
Edited: Jul 15, 2002, 3:23 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Engine failure stops Sauter, AP Performance Chevy at Chicago.
JOLIET, IL (July 13, 2002) Tim Sauter and his No. 19 AP Performance Chevy had an uncharacteristic engine failure in the Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday resulting 34th-place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series race. The short-circuited effort was only the second DNF (did not finish) for the team this season.
"What makes this such a heartbreaker is that the team prepared a Top 10 car," said Sauter. "I was racing a good race, but we will go home without the points to show for it. AP Performance Racing is competing for points, and to attract a sponsor. To do that, we need to run up front consistently. Even though we had the car for it today we did not get the finish."
Sauter qualified 22nd for his first race at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland oval with a lap of 30.643 seconds (176.223 miles per hour). At the drop of the green flag, Sauter headed his Chevy toward the front passing his brother and eventual race winner, Johnny Sauter, on Lap 3. Sauter climbed to the 12th position when a caution flag flew on Lap 64. Crew chief Bobby Bakeeff made the call to bring Sauter in for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments completing the stop in just 16.7 seconds.
Sauter's solid run was cut short on Lap 78 when he radioed the crew that the engine was "laying down." Reluctantly, Sauter pulled behind the wall where it was apparent that the engine failure was terminal.
"We had a great car today and moved up from 22nd to 12th in a short time," said Sauter. "Sometimes it seems like we can't get a break. All of the elements were there today for a top finish. It just didn't end up that way."
Sauter was credited with 33rd in the final running order and earned $16,920 in prize money. Despite the subpar finish, the Necedah, WI held the 12th spot in the 2002 NBS point standings.
"Johnny's win means a great deal for my family," said Sauter of his brother's victory. "I wish I could have been the first Sauter to bring home a Busch Series trophy, but it wasn't our day. I am very proud of my brother Johnny and my family."
Sauter will continue his quest for a first NASCAR victory when the AP Performance Racing team comes to Gateway International Raceway for the Charter Pipeline 250, at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The event will telecast live on TNT and broadcast worldwide on MRN Radio.
For more information on Tim Sauter and AP Performance Racing, please team visit www.timsauter.com.
-app-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Joliet happy hour times
Next article Stewart, Zipadelli on change to Chevrolet
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Johnny Sauter
Every time NASCAR took a win away due yellow line violations
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Every time NASCAR took a win away due yellow line violations
NASCAR suspends Truck Series veteran Johnny Sauter
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR suspends Truck Series veteran Johnny Sauter
Johnny Sauter faces possible suspension for incident at Iowa
NASCAR Truck
NASCAR Truck
Iowa
Johnny Sauter faces possible suspension for incident at Iowa
Latest news
How Aston Martin’s fuel gamble in Monza WEC fell short by just three seconds
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
8 min
How Aston Martin’s fuel gamble in Monza WEC fell short by just three seconds
Brad Keselowski expects "lots of soul searching" in off-season as he reflects on 2026
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
17 min
Brad Keselowski expects "lots of soul searching" in off-season as he reflects on 2026
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
32 min
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
39 min
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe