Burton discusses pit road run-in with Sauter

Contact between the two ThorSport Racing drivers on Lap 146 resulted in Sauter’s No. 98 Toyota making a high-speed trek across the grass along the frontstretch at Texas Motor Speedway, and damaging any hopes of a solid finish.

Both drivers were racing for positions inside the top 10 when the incident unfolded. Sauter wound up 16th.

After the race, crews from both teams confronted one another on pit road.

“That thing that we had with my teammate, that was a thing that I didn’t want to happen,” said Burton, who went on to finish second behind race winner Kyle Busch. “(Johnny) checked up a little bit and I had the run and I got into him a little bit. He was already sideways and sent him into the grass.”

Any conversations between the two will likely wait, he said.

“I’ll probably try to let him cool down a little bit,” said Burton. “Me and Johnny are good friends. That’s the last thing I want to do … it was a mistake, an accident. We’ll talk it over and move on.”

It was the second consecutive week Sauter had found himself at odds with another driver (a week ago at Martinsville it was Timothy Peters) and yet another week that saw him lose ground in the points battle. He’s now 52 behind leader Matt Crafton (and fellow ThorSport driver) with just two races remaining.

Burton, eighth in points, understands his teammate’s frustration, but insisted there was nothing intentional behind the contact on the track.

“That’s the last thing I’m going to try to do … wreck my teammate,” he said. “He knows damn well I don’t race like that.”

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