Sauter hit in the eye with debris at Talladega

Johnny Sauter received a scare Friday morning at Talladega Superspeedway when he was hit in the left eye by a piece of debris soon after he took his No. 13 Chevrolet onto the track for Truck Series practice.

After visiting the infield medical center, Sauter was taken to a local eye doctor, examined and cleared to drive in Saturday's Coca-Cola 250.

"The race track's dirty," Sauter said. "We were one of the first trucks out there. I had my helmet blower on and it must have blown a piece of sand or dirt in my eye. When I actually got to the eye doctor, it was gone."

Sauter said unusual things seem to happen with regularity to Talladega, but that was certainly up there on the list of weird things that have happened to him behind the wheel.

"It was just a fluke deal," Sauter said. "My eyes are very sensitive to that kind of stuff. So I just didn't want to take any chances. But it's good now."

Sauter is currently second in the standings, five points behind Austin Dillon.

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