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Johnny Sauter made a statement in his debut with GMS Racing by winning Friday night's NextEra Energy Resources 250 from Daytona International Speedway. Sauter received drafting help on the final lap from the No. 4 truck of Christopher Bell who was involved in the last lap crash which caused him to flip and Sauter to take the checkered flag under yellow.

Bell's truck which went briefly airborned while taking multiple flips was completely destroyed. Bell was transported to the hospital but later released.

Sauter explains his victory did not come without prior setbacks either.

"Tonight was crazy," Sauter said. "We had great track position to start the night but you know we were trying to pit there b efore the caution clock came out, and the caution ended up coming out and we were pinned. So we had to go to the tail end of the longest line.Lost all of our track position and put that thing up on the outside there with that ECR horsepower and I'd be surprised and just started driving by everybody. 

"Couldn't be prouder of everybody and all their effort. I'm just a small part of what happened tonight. But tonight was unbelievable. That last restart was very hairy to say the least. I thought I was in big trouble there."

Sauter, who led just 12 of the race's 100 laps, captured his 11th career victory in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series. The win is also Sauter's second at Daytona and more importantly all but secures him a place in this season's Truck Series Chase for the Championship.

Sauter had no doubts about winning early and often in his debut season at GMS Racing.

"I honestly can't say that I'm surprised that we're here," Sauter explained. "I felt like after practice yesterday that we had as good a truck as anybody. I knew we had raw speed. It's one thing and we proved it tonight. I've always had trucks that maybe didn't qualify that great down here, but we were able to win once before. But when a truck runs fast by itself, it really runs fast in the draft, too, so I did learn that tonight."

Ryan Truex was able to start the race at Daytona with backing from Hattori Racing and he did not disappoint. Truex, the younger brother of the Sprint Cup Series' Martin Truex, Jr., ran near the front for a majority of the race leading 14 laps and holding the lead until Sauter's late pass.  

The second place finish marks Truex's second top-ten finish in the Truck Series at Daytona but the driver of the No. 81 Toyota takes for granted every chance he gets to climb into a race car of any sort.

" I didn't have a ride a few weeks ago, and Hattori Racing called me and wanted me to come drive for them," Truex said. "At first it just looked like Daytona but the more we got to talking, the more we were going to try to run a full season. Obviously we have a few races to fill out but tonight helps out a lot. You think about it a lot and you wonder what you're going to do. My option is go work on a clam boat for my dad and I refuse to do that, so that's why you see me at the race track every weekend."

Parker Kligerman, like Truex, thought he may never race again after losing his ride and working at NBC Sports all of last season however when the chance came for him to race, he was all over it. Kligerman piloted Ricky Benton Racing's No. 92 Ford to the front and held it there for majority of the entire race. The finish is his first top-ten at Daytona in his Truck Series career.

Brandon Brown took home the fourth spot while former Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil grabbed a fifth place finish. 

Tyler Young finished in sixth place with rookie Ben Rhodes, Daniel Hemric, Scott Lagasse, Jr, and Matt Crafton rounding out the race's top ten finishers.

The debut of the new Truck Series season also meant the debut of the caution clock which was implemented in the offseason and exclusive to the series. The Caution Clock is a 20 minute countdown from the last green flag being waved, if at the end of the time period there has not been a caution NASCAR will wave the yellow flag.

But it was the caution clock which ironically caused the race's first caution. Drivers who were attempting to pit prior to the caution clock expiring to gain an upper hand on the competition were involved in an accident near the entrance of pit road. 

The race winner was almost involved in this early wreck but Sauter believes he had some extra help on his way to tonight's victory.

"The caution deal coming to pit road where the guys were running into each other and spinning that was all happening behind me," Sauter explained. "I'm like, I'm slowing down here to get to pit road and guys are blowing by me backwards. I'm like, this is bad. But those are things you can't control. You just do the best job you can and try to avoid people as best you can. But this is aggressive style racing. You have to really be mindful of what's going on around you at all times and constantly looking in the mirror and be prepared for the push when it comes so you're not caught off guard and go spinning down the backstretch. 

"There's a lot of things to think about in these types of races, but luck is -- I don't know that you can really put a number on how lucky you have to be.  I think that's something that just...the good Lord is looking out for you some days."

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Number 1
Unofficial Race Results for the 17Th Annual Nextera Energy Resources 250 
- Friday, February 19, 2016
Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL - 2.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 100 Laps - 250 Miles
Leader
Fin    Str    Trk    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    2    21    Johnny Sauter    Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet    100    36    4    116.3    Running    5    12
2    20    81    Ryan Truex    Toyota Osaka Parts Distributor Toyota    100    32    1    94.8    Running    3    14
3    23    92    Parker Kligerman    Valvoline/Advance Auto Parts/BTS Tire Ford    100    30        83.1    Running        
4    22    86    Brandon Brown    NCaseIt Chevrolet    100    29        86.7    Running        
5    32    50    Travis Kvapil    CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet    100    29    1    62.1    Running    1    2
6    21    02    Tyler Young    Randco/Young's Building Systems Chevrolet    100    27        58.2    Running        
7    24    41    Ben Rhodes #    Alpha Energy Solutions Toyota    100    26        86.1    Running        
8    18    19    Daniel Hemric    DrawTite Ford    100    25        70.9    Running        
9    26    14    Scott Lagasse Jr(i)    Alert Today Florida Chevrolet    100    0        70.2    Running        
10    6    88    Matt Crafton    Menards/Slim Jim Toyota    100    24    1    83.3    Running    1    5
11    29    07    Michel Disdier    Pray for Paris Chevrolet    100    22        41.8    Running        
12    25    36    Bobby Gerhart(i)    Lucas Oil Chevrolet    100    0        48.8    Running        
13    13    9    William Byron #    Liberty University Toyota    100    20        66.8    Running        
14    30    49    Timmy Hill    Hormone Therapeutics Chevrolet    100    20    1    45.4    Running    1    1
15    3    17    Timothy Peters    Red Horse Racing Toyota    100    19    1    99.8    Running    3    15
16    8    4    Christopher Bell #    JBL Toyota    99    17        83.0    Running        
17    15    8    John H Nemechek    farbe technik Chevrolet    99    16        85.3    Running        
18    12    29    Tyler Reddick    Cooper Standard Careers for Veterans Ford    99    16    1    78.0    Running    2    12
19    19    22    Austin Wayne Self    AM Technical Solutions Toyota    99    14        72.2    Running        
20    1    33    Grant Enfinger #    Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet    98    14    1    75.3    Running    3    4
21    11    23    Spencer Gallagher    Allegiant Travel Chevrolet    96    12        63.8    Running        
22    17    78    Chris Fontaine    Glenden Enterprises Toyota    95    11        41.1    Accident        
23    31    11    Ben Kennedy    JACOB Companies Toyota    93    10        82.6    Accident        
24    10    00    Cole Custer #    Haas Automation Chevrolet    93    9        57.2    Accident        
25    14    13    Cameron Hayley    Cabinets by Hayley Toyota    92    9    1    89.0    Accident    2    4
26    7    05    John Wes Townley    Bad Boy Mowers Chevrolet    92    7        60.8    Accident        
27    4    2    Austin Theriault    Gogo Ford    92    8    2    91.2    Accident    5    31
28    5    51    Daniel Suarez(i)    ARRIS Toyota    92    0        55.1    Accident        
29    16    98    Rico Abreu #    Safelite Auto Glass/CURB Records Toyota    92    4        46.1    Accident        
30    27    66    Jordan Anderson    Columbia SC - Famously Hot Chevrolet    75    3        51.2    Rear Gear        
31    9    18    Cody Coughlin #    Jegs/SpillFix Toyota    41    2        34.5    Accident        
32    28    44    Tommy Joe Martins    Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet    11    1        40.3    Accident        
 Race Comments:    Johnny Sauter won the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway, his 11th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following truck dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 11 (Unapproved Adjustments).
 Failed to Qualify:    (11) 59 Korbin Forrister, 58 Ryan Reed(i), 68 Clay Greenfield, 43 Austin Hill, 6 Norm Benning, 71 Carlos Contreras, 63 Reed Sorenson(i), 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb, 28 Ryan Ellis, 1 David Levine, 74 Mike Harmon(i).
 Time of Race:    01 Hrs, 56 Mins, 15 Secs.    Average Speed:    129.032 MPH    Margin of Victory:    Caution
 Caution Flags:    7 for 29 laps: Laps: 6-9 (Debris Frontstretch [None]); 13-16 (#44 Accident Turn 4 [None]); 42-48 (#23, 18, 4 Accident Frontstretch [49]); 67-70 (Debris Turn 4 [07]); 78-81 (#66 Stalled On Track [07]); 94-98 (#13, 19, 00, 51, 11, 2, 78, 29, 22, 33, 8, 88, 98, 05, 17, 86, 41, 14 Accident Turn 3 [Red Flag 27:54] [23]); 100-100 (#8, 4, 17, 22, 9, 49 Accident Frontstretch [None]).
 Lead Changes:    26 among 10 drivers: G. Enfinger # 0; A. Theriault 1; G. Enfinger # 2-3; A. Theriault 4-9; G. Enfinger # 10; J. Sauter 11-13; T. Reddick 14-20; A. Theriault 21; J. Sauter 22-24; M. Crafton 25-29; A. Theriault 30-44; T. Kvapil 45-46; T. Peters 47-51; A. Theriault 52-59; J. Sauter 60-63; C. Hayley 64-66; T. Hill 67; T. Peters 68-70; T. Reddick 71-75; T. Peters 76-82; C. Hayley 83; R. Truex 84; G. Enfinger # 85; R. Truex 86-91; J. Sauter 92; R. Truex 93-99; J. Sauter 100; 
Top 10 Driver Points:     (1) J. Sauter 36;(2) R. Truex 32;(3) P. Kligerman 30;(4) B. Brown 29;(5) T. Kvapil 29;(6) T. Young 27;(7) B. Rhodes # 26;(8) D. Hemric 25;(9) M. Crafton 24;(10) M. Disdier 22.
Keystone Light Pole Award    : Grant Enfinger, #33 180.752 mph    Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines, #21 
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Johnny Sauter, #21     Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Christopher Bell, #4 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Feb. 27, 2016 - Atlanta Motor Speedway
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