By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
It was a performance not normal for GMS Racing’s Justin Haley and Johnny Sauter in the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Once the green flag flew for the race, the thoughts of becoming champions quickly diminished.
Here is what both drivers had to say about their run:
“I don’t know, we just missed it. Me and Johnny had pretty similar setups, same front end package, same rear end package, went to the Chevy sim together, did everything together this week ‑‑ we’re not married or anything ‑‑ but I don’t know, we just struggled. I can’t tell you why. The truck drove OK, we just lacked a sh**‑ton of speed. I think Johnny will probably tell you the same,” Haley said about the run.
Ever since practice Friday morning, Sauter knew that his truck did not have what it took to be up front to win the championship.
“I’ve been racing long enough to know when you get that really good feeling about the way things are going, and I just never had it today. Even this morning when we made our mock run and we were top of the board, it just didn’t seem gripped up,” Sauter stated.
“So tonight’s race was a bit of a shock to us. I didn’t think we would be that awful, but we were. Like he said, we just missed it, and such is life, you know. Nobody died. We’re all good. Part of it.”
Haley finished eighth, while Sauter finished 12th.