Tim Sauter Nashville Preview
Tim Sauter would just as soon forget his visit to Nashville Superspeedway back in April. The Wisconsin driver was on a strong run, and it looked like a lead-lap finish for his McGill Motorsports team. On lap 121, Tim was racing hard with Ron Hornaday, Kenny Wallace and Johnny Sauter when his brother’s car broke loose and slammed the #36 hard into the outside wall. Tim’s day was done and the crash left his Lester Buildings Chevy a twisted mess of sheet metal and iron.
This time around the McGill Motorsports team is bringing a totally rebuilt racecar to this Saturday evening’s race and Tim Sauter feels that the concrete mile and a third speedway owes the team a little payback from the spring race, “We had one of our best cars all year here in the spring, I really thought we had a chance for a top-15 finish. Ricky and the guys did a great job to get the car to cut through the center of the corner, and our lap times were nearly as good as some of the Cup guys. If we can get the car to cut again this weekend, I think we can get that good finish that Lester Buildings and John and Nancy McGill deserve.”
Tim is one of only a handful of drivers entered in Saturday’s race that have a Gibson guitar at home. The guitar is a special trophy presented to the winner of a Nashville race. Tim won his in 2000 for winning the ASA (American Speed Association) race at the Nashville Fairgrounds. “Sam Bass was at the race here in April and we had a few minutes to chat together after an autograph session. We had a great conversation about racing, the old days, what it was like racing with my family. He knew all about the four of us racing together at Milwaukee in 2002. It was really neat to sit and talk with Sam about the guitars and how he paints them,” said Sauter. “I can’t tell you how much it would mean to me to win the guitar that he’s painted for this race.”
Only eight drivers will be pulling double duty this weekend and will be making the journey from Pocono down to Nashville to run the NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday. Even without the additional Cup drivers who have been running the Busch Series, there are 48 entries for this weekend’s race proving the number two motorsport in the United States can support itself in a stand-alone event.
This will be Tim’s 98th start in the NBS and 103rd career NASCAR start.
All three Sauter brothers will attempt to make the Federated Autoparts 300.
Tim finished 36th on April 15th in the Pepsi 300 after a hard crash involving his brother Johnny.
This will be the sixth time Tim has competed at Nashville in the NBS, best finish: April 2002 - Pepsi 300 - Finished 10th, started 14th.
Tim’s thoughts on Nashville Superspeedway: “We had a pretty good car here this spring, we just got caught up in a bad deal. That was a real blow to this team, and it has taken a long time to get caught back up. I love this track, I love coming to Nashville. I think we are going to have a good run for Lester Buildings and John & Nancy McGill. ”
This will be the sixth time McGill Motorsports has competed at Nashville in the NBS, best finish: June 2004 - Federated Auto Parts 300 - Driver; Travis Geisler - Finished 21st, started 26th.
McGill Motorsports will run the Lester Buildings banner for thirteen of the remaining races on the 2006 Busch Series schedule. The team is actively seeking primary sponsorship for the five of the remaining events including the June 30th Winn Dixie 250 at Daytona. Contact John McGill at 440-914-4206 or visit
mcgillmotorsports.com to learn more.