Championship contender cuts deficit by half
BROOKLYN, Mich. (August 20, 2011) — The rolling hills of Michigan welcomed the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for their annual event. Timothy Peters and the No. 17 Red Horse Racing team entered the track with a new truck and a new chassis set-up to take on the challenges of the two-mile speedway. The team fought a tight-handling race truck throughout the event. However, Peters skillfully maneuvered his way through two late-race incidents to come home with his career-best finish of second at Michigan International Speedway
“What a great run at Michigan,” said Peters after climbing from the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra. “I can’t say enough about the guys on this Crescent Hand Tools Toyota Tundra. Our Red Horse Racing team did a great job on pit road. We were just a little too loose on the start. We went just a little too far and got a little too tight. We had a run on the leader down the back, but he could cut through the center better than we could with our Tundra. It was a great point’s day. Not only was it a great run for us, but for our teammate Miguel (Paludo) and his Stemco/Duroline Tundra as well. We had the Apex family of brands on the deck lid so it is great to have such a strong run with their support. I can’t thank Tom DeLoach (owner) enough who has given me an awesome opportunity — it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Peters started the VFW 200 from the 12th position. For the second race in a row in for the Truck Series, the threat of rain put the scheduled distance of the 100-lap race in question in the minds of crew chiefs up and down pit road. As the race began, Peters maintained his 12th-place starting position until the first caution of the day waved on lap eight. Banking on rain the No. 17 team chose to come down pit road on lap nine for fuel and a chassis adjustment. Peters only lost a few positions restarting in 15th on lap 10. On the restart the No. 17 truck was forced to the bottom of the track loosing several positions before settling into 20th. Peters remained patient as the second caution of the day came out on lap 13.
The No. 17 truck chose to remain on the track during the second caution period. With other trucks playing different pit strategies Peters was able to move up to the 13th position for the restart on lap 15. Peters reported to the team that the truck was too tight and he had to run the high line to make any forward progress. After the restart many of the leaders began to make green-flag pit stops. The No. 17 team was slightly off sequence with the leaders, but decided to come to pit road on lap 44 for four tires, fuel and another chassis adjustment. The moved placed Peters back in pit sequence with the leaders. As the green-flag pit sequence cycled through the No. 17 truck was scored in the 11th running position. Taking a closer look at the radar crew chief, Butch Hylton recognized that the storm heading toward the speedway would stay away to the conclusion of the event and was forced to adjust his initial strategy.
By lap 75, Peters had slowly picked his way into the top 10 and continued to make forward progress. The No. 17 team was moments away from hitting pit road for the final time, when the caution waved on lap 77. Peters gave up the second position to bring the No. 17 truck to the attention of the crew on pit road for four tires, fuel and a final chassis adjustment. Several of the other trucks on pit road took two tires leaving Peters to restart in the 10th position with only 19 laps remaining in the race. On lap 85, the caution waved again for an on-track incident. Peters was able to move his way up to the seventh position for the restart on lap 89. Coming around turn-four to complete lap 90, several of Peters’ competitors became tangled and began spinning in front of the No. 17 truck. Instantly, Peters dove to the inside narrowly missing the carnage. The quick maneuver placed Peters in the third position for the restart on lap 95.
However, the caution was displayed again on lap 96 for another on-track incident. The race was forced into overtime with a green-white-checkered restart. As the green-flag dropped, Peters was able to slip past his Red Horse Racing teammate Miguel Paludo and take over the second position. He and Paludo did their best to get past the leader but ran out of time. Peters took the checkered flag in the second position. The run marked Peters’ career-best finish at Michigan International Speedway and his fourth top-10 finish in the last four races. Peters remains fourth in the Truck Series championship points standings but is only 12 points behind the leader.
The Truck Series returns to action next week on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at Bristol Motor Speedway for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 which can be viewed live on SPEED at 8:00 p.m., EDT.
