To wrap up the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, Young’s Motorsports‘ three-truck effort will have a pair of new names as Johnny Sauter and Armani Williams respectively take over the #02 and #20 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs.
The 2016 Truck champion, Sauter competed full-time from 2009 to 2021 before scaling back to a limited slate in 2022. However, what was supposed to be a part-time schedule with G2G Racing only resulted in him running the season opener at Daytona—where he retired after a wreck—before the team continued through a carousel of drivers and drama. He returned to ThorSport Racing, with whom he raced for the past three years and much of his Truck career, for four races at Martinsville (finished second), Gateway (fifth), IRP (twelfth), and Talladega (twenty-fifth).
Sauter has expressed interest in returning to full-time competition in the future, provided the ride is competitive. Indeed, his performances in his handful of ThorSport starts and his résumé back up his demands.
Williams has attempted four Truck races since 2021, all for Reaume Brothers Racing. He finished twenty-first at Gateway in his maiden start, followed by three races in 2022: a DNQ at Texas, thirty-first at Pocono, and thirty-fifth at Kansas. Prior to the Trucks, he competed in various regional tiers including the ARCA Menards Series, where he scored a top ten at Michigan in 2020, and the Pinty’s Series in Canada.
He is one of five black drivers to have run a national series race in 2022 alongside Rajah Caruth, Jesse Iwuji, Blake Lothian, and Bubba Wallace. Williams is also the first NASCAR driver openly diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
“Phoenix is a very competitive race track, fFor it is a smaller track, there is plenty of room to race which should put on a good show for the Truck Series fans on Friday night,” said Williams. “Like any smaller track though, track position will be important, so I am hoping that we have a strong practice and qualifying session with our #20 Visit Mesa Chevrolet Silverado RST.
“From there, we can make gains throughout the race and keep up with the expected track changes and hopefully contend for a top-twenty finish when the checkered flag waves on the season.”
The #02 is twentieth in owner points, nine spots ahead of the #20. The former has been split between Kaz Grala and Jesse Little for much of the season until Little’s retirement from racing, and the two recorded a top ten each. While the #02 had some continuity behind the wheel, the #20 has been piloted by thirteen other drivers: Jesse Little, Danny Bohn, Trey Burke, Sheldon Creed, Joey Gase, Leland Honeyman, Matt Mills, Thad Moffitt, Stefan Parsons, Parker Retzlaff, and Dillon Steuer. Bohn holds its best finish of eighth at Daytona while Creed scored a pole in his one-off at COTA.
As usual, Spencer Boyd is in the #12.
