Sauter, a rookie in the series this year, passed Matt Crafton for the lead with 17 laps to go and then held off his ThorSport Racing teammate at the finish for his first win in his 31st series start. He became the first rookie driver on the circuit to win a race since Carl Edwards won in 2003 at Nashville.

"This is unbelievable man, I can't believe it," Sauter said. "I've been praying hard a lot lately to try and get back into Victory Lane. This is a big deal for me."

Sauter joined David Starr (2002) and Shane Hmiel (2004) as the drivers who recorded their first truck wins at Las Vegas.

Prior to the 2009 season, Sauter spent several years competing in the Nationwide Series, where he was a three-time race winner.

Last month, ThorSport made a crew chief change at Sauter's No.13 Chevrolet team, with Joe Shear Jr. coming on board. Since then, Sauter has moved from 14th to fifth in the championship point standings.

"To get hooked up with Johnny, we just have gelled," Shear said. "I don't know what it is, but it's awesome."

Crafton's second-place run gave ThorSport its first 1-2 finish in a truck race.

"[ThorSport] brought two awesome trucks to this racetrack," Crafton said. "It was a decent points night for us."

Crafton trimmed 20 points off of Ron Hornaday Jr.'s lead. Hornaday, who finished sixth, holds a 197-point advantage over Crafton with five races remaining in the season.

Jason White finished third, while Todd Bodine, the pole sitter, and Timothy Peters rounded out the top-five.

Mike Skinner, Aric Almirola, Brian Ickler and Tayler Malsam finished seventh through 10th, respectively.