Jonathan Joseph Sauter[1] (born May 1, 1978) is an American professional stock car racing driver.

After graduating high school in 1996, Sauter began competing in various amateur series throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest.

He notched five Top 10 finishes, including his first Busch Series win in the Tropicana Twister 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway, despite skipping one race.

In 2003, Sauter drove for Childress Racing and the Curb Agajanian Performance Group in the Busch Series, piloting the No.

Sauter finished the 2003 season eighth in the driver standings and, together with Kevin Harvick, led the No.

4 Kodak Easy Share-sponsored Pontiac Grand Prix for five races with Morgan-McClure Motorsports.

He also ran three races in the Craftsman Truck Series for Fasscore Motorsports and had a tenth-place run at Richmond.

27 Kleenex-sponsored Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevy Monte Carlo to an 18th-place points finish.

Sauter joined Phoenix full-time in 2005, with Yellow Transportation becoming the team's primary sponsor.

He had 11 Top 10 finishes and a win at his home track at Milwaukee and improved his position in points to twelfth for the year.

Driving with sponsorships from Yellow, Best Buy, Haas Automation, and Radioactive Energy Drink, Sauter had two Top 10s but finished 30th in points.

He has since spent time as a substitute driver for many teams, starting at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he was unable to qualify for the No.

Sauter won his first-ever Truck Series race at the Las Vegas, holding off teammate Matt Crafton for the win.

[3] He would win the 2012 WinStar World Casino 400K with a ThorSport Racing 1–2 finish alongside Matt Crafton.

[4] In 2013, Sauter started the season with his first win at Daytona International Speedway in the NextEra Energy Resources 250.

It was only the second time in Truck Series history that someone had won back-to-back season-opening wins since Mark Martin did it in 2006.

While competing full-time in the Truck Series, Sauter raced several times in his home state of Wisconsin in 2015.

He appeared at the Slinger Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway,[6] won an ARCA Midwest Tour race at Madison International Speedway,[7] the Larry Detjens Memorial Race at State Park Speedway,[7] and set a new Super Late Model track record at an ARCA Midwest Tour race at Wisconsin International Raceway.

Sauter won Texas and Phoenix, which advanced him to the final round at Homestead Miami.

At Iowa, Sauter was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Austin Hill under caution on lap 139 of 200.

[16] Sauter was eliminated from the playoffs at Las Vegas when he finished 29th after experiencing an engine failure that also plagued three other trucks.

[17] Despite Ilmor's announcement, NASCAR denied ThorSport's request to reinstate Sauter and Grant Enfinger into the playoffs.

[18] At Talladega, Sauter appeared to have won the race, but was penalized and placed in 14th for blocking Riley Herbst below the yellow line on the final lap, effectively giving the win to Spencer Boyd.

Despite that, Sauter's season wasn't much better he missed the playoffs went winless again, and finished 12th in the final standings.

On February 14, the Tuesday before the race, Sauter was replaced by Norm Benning on the Daytona entry list in the No.