Johnny Sauter: Sam's Town 250 preview

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- After 29 of 34 events, the PayDay Racing team leads the Busch Series team by 156 points over the second-place No. 37 team (David Green). It leads the third-place No. 5 team (Brian Vickers) by 192 points.

The last time Johnny Sauter drove the PayDay Chevrolet was two weeks ago in Kansas. After battling an ill-handling car early in the event, Sauter began working his way to the front. His day ended early when his PayDay Chevrolet impacted the turn four wall and burst into flames. Sauter was uninjured, but his day concluded 60 laps before the end of the race.

Sauter has only one Busch Series start at Memphis Motorsports Park. Sauter started second and finished 14th last year during his rookie season in the Busch Series.

Following the Kansas event, the No. 21 PayDay team went directly to Memphis for a two-day test. Rain canceled the first day of testing, but the team was able to get in two days of great testing and gain momentum for this weekend.

For the third time this season, Richard Childress Racing will field three cars in a Busch Series event. Joining RCR drivers Sauter and Ron Hornaday this weekend in Memphis will be open-wheel driver Michael Lewis. Lewis will attempt to qualify for the event in the No. 29 entry. RCR previously fielded three cars at Indianapolis Raceway Park (Sauter, Hornaday and Marty Lindley) and Kansas Speedway (Sauter, Hornaday and Harvick).

This week, crew chief Butch Hylton will load a brand-new chassis, No. 029R, onto the PayDay transporter. The car is a short track chassis and was used in the team's test session at Memphis last week. The test was successful, and the car was fast.

JOHNNY SAUTER ON SHORT TRACK RACING - "It's what I love to do. I grew up racing short tracks, and I always look forward to going to them. We've had good runs all year long at the short tracks on the schedule, and hopefully this weekend will be no different."

ON MEMPHIS - "It's a beautiful facility and fun to drive. We ran well there last year, and just had a little bit of bad luck at the end. We tested there a couple of weeks ago, and we're really pretty optimistic going into this thing."

ON STAND-ALONE BUSCH EVENTS - "They're really important for the series. I mean, whenever we can be the main draw, that's nothing but good for the series. These events are what really shape the points race as well. When the [Winston] Cup guys aren't around, the points will really start to shake up."