Peters never gave up and worked his way back to the lead lap and a top-10 finish; marking his 16th top-10 finish of the season.
TALLADEGA, AL. (Oct 30)- Timothy Peters headed for Talladega Superspeedway hoping for a repeat of his last superspeedway performance. Peters won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway and armed with the same chassis once again, he was looking for similar results. Qualifying 15th for the Mountain Dew 250, Peters had a plan to get himself to the front. When the green flag dropped, he found his drafting partner, and the #17 started moving forward. After nearly reaching the top-10 in the first four laps, Peters noticed the window net had come loose. Peters dropped to the back and rode around until the caution came out and the team could fix it. Once repaired Peters was on the move but radio issues were making it hard to communicate with the team. The crew worked on that problem during the next stop but the green flag waved before Peters caught up to the pack and he lost the draft. Unable to catch up, he eventually went a lap down on lap 73 when the draft caught up to him. Peters got hit from behind and spun on the apron. With no damage but four flat tires, the #17 hit pit road. All fixed up, Peters was hoping to catch a break with the “Lucky Dog” which he received on lap 85. He never gave up and was back in the hunt on the next restart. Exercising patience and good judgment, Peters avoided the “big one” in the final laps of the race and was able to bring home the #17 Red Horse Racing Tundra in the seventh spot after such a challenging day.
The #17 team had only one practice session on Friday morning to get their Toyota Tundra in race ready condition. Peters did a couple mock qualifying runs then switched over to drafting practice. Confident his truck was still as good as it had been in Daytona, Peters was ready to find his way back to Victory Lane.
Peters qualified 15th on Friday afternoon but knew he wouldn’t stay there for long once the green flag waved. Under sunny skies on Saturday afternoon, it was finally time to see how the #17 would fair at one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks.
When the Mountain Dew 250 started, Peters quickly found drafting help and shot up to the 11th spot by lap four. Peters came on the radio and told the crew his window net had come unlatched at the bottom. Forced to drop to the back of the pack and ride around until the first caution, Peters was holding the net closed with one hand and driving with the other.
He was so relieved to see the first caution fly on lap 22. Peters hit pit road on lap 26 for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments. The team also took some extra time to fix the window net so it would stay closed on its own.
He restarted 23rd on lap 32 and in just on lap had already worked his way to the 16th spot. Using the draft to his advantage, Peters broke inside the top-10 on lap 40. On lap 44, Peters once again came on the radio with bad news. He reported that the window net had somehow come undone again. He dropped back to the 19th spot still having to hold the net himself.
The caution came out again on lap 60 just before Peters was about to make a green flag pit stop. He hit pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments. The team also worked to repair the window net. Experiencing radio problems the last green flag run, Peters came back to pit road one lap later to let the team switch out his radio.
He headed back out on track to catch up with the pack before the restart but the green flag flew before he reached the lead pack. As a result, Peters lost the draft and was left to ride around by himself hoping for another caution. Eventually the pack caught up to him from behind and put Peters a lap down on lap 73. Just as Peters was merging into the lead draft, another truck bumped him from behind and spun the #17 down towards the apron. Peters kept it off the wall and the truck had no damage but all four tires were flat. He hit pit road on lap 74 for four tires and fuel.
The #17 restarted 18th still one lap down to the leaders but a quick caution gave Peters the “Lucky Dog” on lap 85 and he was back on the lead lap and back in the game. Restarting 18th, he worked his way to 16th before a huge wreck broke out in front of him on lap 91. Able to avoid any contact, Peters snuck through unscathed. The red flag came out to allow officials to clean up the debris. When the track was clear once again, the engines re-fired and Peters lined up to restart ninth for a green, white, checkered finish. Holding his position, Peters used the draft to gain two spots before the end of the race. After the battles he experienced during the race, he was elated with a seventh place finish.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Ft. Worth, Texas this week. The WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Friday, November 5th and will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 8:30pm EDT.
