AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of AOL News!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories

Heeding Bootie's Call Pays Off for Sauter

May 20, 2007 – 12:21 PM
Text Size
tallglassofmilk

tallglassofmilk %BloggerTitle%

Johnny Sauter didn't have a lot of faith in his racecar heading into Saturday's Nextel Open--he brought it in case they wrecked 'cause he didn't want to ruin his car for the Coca-Cola 600.

His crew chief, Bootie Barker, felt differently.

Sauter:
I didn't think we could really do this. The car was very, very loose all weekend and we tested this car and it was very loose. Bootie told me it was going to be okay. Yeah, and I condemned it.
Bootie's setup--without a single adjustment--earned them a 2nd place finish and a spot in the Nextel All-Star Challenge in which he drove to a 6th place finish amongst NASCAR's elite.

I'm not a fan of Sauter. I fit into the category they mentioned during the broadcast that finds him to be too aggressive a driver--without the skills to back it up.

I am, however, a huge fan of the man in the wheelchair--so this little showing pleases me.

Eleven weeks into the season with a new crew chief, Sauter sits in the 33rd position, having recorded one top 10 and one DNQ.

Not exactly lighting up the scoring pylon ... but look for this team to do bigger things as the confidence between driver and crew chief grows.
Filed under: Sports

ON FACEBOOK