Truck series driver Johnny Sauter has been suspended for one race after he intentionally collided with another truck during Sunday’s race at Iowa, NASCAR announced Tuesday.
During a caution, Sauter rammed into Austin Hill‘s truck multiple times. Sauter appeared to do so in retaliation for contact from Hill that led to the caution.
NASCAR tweeted video of the incident on Tuesday.
Here’s what started the drama between @JohnnySauter and @_AustinHill under this last caution at @iowaspeedway. pic.twitter.com/OYd19Rx6Gl
— #TheTrip (@NASCAR_Trucks) June 16, 2019
NASCAR forced Sauter to park his truck for the remainder of the race. He finished 27th, while Hill recovered from the damage to finish 12th.
NASCAR said the suspension will not affect Sauter’s eligibility for the postseason. Sauter is eighth in points, but he is playoff-eligible due to his win at Dover in May.
“We look back at the history of everything we’ve done and try to react with the precedents that we’ve set and then obviously tailoring those to the situation that we have at hand,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “In this case, we felt like his actions certainly warranted being sat down for an event, but it felt a little too harsh to take him straight out of the championship, so we think we landed on what we feel is fair and a deterrent.”
The decision means Sauter will not race Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois.
A representative for Sauter’s ThorSport Racing team told NASCAR.com the organization had not made a decision regarding a possible appeal.
Brett Moffitt was declared the race winner at Iowa after Ross Chastain‘s truck, which cleared the line first, failed a postrace inspection. Chastain’s team has appealed that ruling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.