NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race Report
Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Smith’s 350 | Race 17 of 22
Todd Bodine
No. 11 Toyota Care Toyota Tundra
Start: 10th
Finish: 5th
Point Standings: 14th
Las Vegas, NV (Sept. 30, 2012) — Todd Bodine and the No. 11 Toyota Care team entered NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition this Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a brand-new, Red Horse Racing built chassis in tow. After starting from the 10th position, Bodine came back from a spin on lap one in the Smith’s 350 with the help of crew chief Rick Gay’s strategy calls and adjustments to the Toyota Care Tundra. “The Onion” marched through the field after recovering from the incident and grabbed a fifth place finish.
Electing to focus on race runs for the majority of the lone practice session on Friday afternoon, the No. 11 team found a good balance they were comfortable with for the race. Bodine qualified 10th on Friday evening and began the move toward the front at the drop of the green. Avoiding tragedy on the very first lap, Bodine saved his Tundra from damage when the truck broke loose and went for a loop coming off of turn four. Gay brought his driver down pit road for four tires and adjustments to help tighten up the Toyota Care machine.
Reminding his driver there was plenty of racing left, Gay brought Bodine down pit road once again 10 laps later under caution to take another swing at the handling. After restarting just outside the top-25 after his spin and the following two pit stops, Bodine wasted no time with the new balance in his Toyota Care Tundra to pick his way up through the field, reaching the top 15 on lap 25. Loose handling conditions continued to linger for Bodine, but his Red Horse Racing crew was given another chance for changes on lap 77 and performed a fast pit stop to get their driver back out in the seventh spot.
“Just stick with me Todd, I promise if you keep this Tundra in one piece, we’ll make the right adjustments and you’ll be up there to fight for the win at the end,” Gay radioed to his driver after the stop.
Inching his way towards the front, Bodine relayed to his crew that the adjustments were helping each time, and maintained his position until a critical caution flag period came on lap 103; allowing Bodine to make another pit stop for more adjustments. Gay made a quick strategy call as “The Onion” came into his pit stall, electing to take just right side tires to put him second in the running order. Picking his way through three-wide traffic after the restart, Bodine came through the congestion unscathed and settled in to the fifth spot.
Bodine would get another shot at the restart with less than 20 laps remaining, but didn’t have quite enough for the rest of the leaders in front of him. A solid fifth place finish with the newest Red Horse Racing built chassis went in the books for the two-time series champion at the conclusion of Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series main event.
“I think my Toyota Care team was the hardest working team on pit road tonight,” Bodine explained. “We were so loose to start the race and my crew chief, Rick Gay, made some great calls and we made a ton of adjustments. But as typical racers do, we over adjusted it a little. I just got really loose on the first lap and couldn’t catch it, but to come back after a spin, make as many adjustments as we did and have a shot at the win, I really can’t complain.”
Timothy Peters No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra Start: 2nd Finish: 8th Point Standings: 3rd (-24)
Las Vegas, NV (Sept. 30, 2012)- The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series traveled to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday in the midst of a tight championship points race battle for the Smith’s 350. Timothy Peters showed early promise in his Strutmasters.com Toyota Tundra, until an unscheduled pit stop 52 laps into the event threw the No. 17 Red Horse Racing team a curve ball. The challenge was met by experience and impressive strategy calls by Butch Hylton that helped Peters fight back for an eighth place finish.
Dialing in a setup that would help Peters over the bumps during Friday’s practice sessions, crew chief Butch Hylton decided to revert to some of the same setup components they had previous success with at the 1.5-mile oval in 2011. The changes gave Peters the speed he needed to qualify on the outside of the front row for Saturday’s main event.
Taking charge heading into the first turn, Peters pulled in front of the pole sitter to lead the first lap as the caution flag came out for the first time. He held his position in front of the field for the next 18 laps, staying quiet on the radio as Hylton read off lap times. The first opportunity for Peters to get fresh tires and changes came under the fourth caution of the night, as he asked his Red Horse Racing crew to loosen up his Tundra just a tick on entry. Several competitors elected to take two tires instead of four, placing Peters in the eighth position on the restart.
Just 10 laps after resuming the race, Peters suddenly jumped on the radio and explained to Hylton that something was amiss on the Strutmasters.com Tundra and he was extremely loose. Thinking it may be a tire issue, Hylton brought Peters down pit road for an unscheduled pit stop and four fresh tires to help remedy the condition. The tires didn’t solve the problem as Peters radioed just a few short laps later that the rear end wasn’t gripping the track as well as the front, and he was just hanging on.
While making the unscheduled pit stop, Peters fell one lap down to the leaders and was caught in that position under the fifth caution of the night on lap 77 of 146. His Red Horse Racing crew determined the drastic change in track temperature as the cause of the sudden change in handling and decided to make several changes to their Tundra on pit road before heading back to green flag competition. Peters would soon report that those changes were helping and aided him in the battle to get his lap back.
A much needed caution period on lap 103 gave Peters his lap back, along with a chance to march back to the front and battle for the lead. Hylton gave Peters a new set of tires and a few more adjustments before he rejoined the rest of the field and restarted from the tail end of the lead lap. Peters maneuvered his way through the traffic after another restart on lap 116 to break back into the top-10. As the field spread out for the final 16 lap run, Peters picked off a few more positions to climb into the eighth spot as the checkered flag dropped.
“Our Strutmasters.com Toyota Tundra was so fast at the beginning of this race, but the track changed so much tonight- way different than I thought it would. Something happened with our tires on the first stop of the night and I was so loose I couldn’t hang on to it. We had to come in the pits and that cost us a lap. But this Red Horse Racing team stayed calm as they always do and did a great job to put us back on the lead lap. I’m proud of the comeback we had tonight and after all we went through, we’ll gladly take a top-10. We gained a few points and now we head to the crap shoot next week at Talladega,” Peters said.
Parker Kligerman No. 7 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra Start: 14th Finish: 19th Point Standings: 5th (-39)
Las Vegas, NV. (Sept. 30, 2012) — Parker Kligerman headed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Smith’s 350 looking to continue his streak of consistent runs at intermediate tracks on the circuit. Showing commanding speed through the first half of the race, a pit road penalty and a brush with the outside retaining wall set Kligerman and the No. 7 Red Horse Racing Tundra back for a 19th place finish.
For the third week in a row, Kligerman began his race weekend by topping the speed charts for the majority of the practice session on Friday, happy with the speed of his Red Horse Racing Tundra as he and his team worked strictly on race setups. Without a mock qualifying run to go off of, Kligerman captured the 14th place starting position. He knew he would have to quickly make his climb to the front if he wanted a chance at the clean air his Tundra would prefer.
In turn four on the first lap of the night, Kligerman narrowly dodged a bullet as teammate Todd Bodine went for a loop directly in front of the No. 7 Toyota Tundra. Quick reaction time by the Connecticut native helped him scoot by unscathed and continue his march towards the front. By lap 10, Kligerman had moved into top-10 for the first time, explaining to crew chief Chad Kendrick that he would need help through the bumps in order to get up to and run with the leaders.
Kligerman would get his first round of adjustments under the fourth caution of the night, as Kendrick made a gutsy strategy call to take only right side tires and send his driver back out to competition with the lead for the restart. The move paid off and the clean air helped bring Kligerman’s Tundra to life, as he pulled out to a commanding lead just a few laps after taking the restart. Though he had a comfortable lead, the shorter stop for two tires left him on a different fuel mileage strategy than the rest of the leaders, and Kligerman was forced to pit on lap 73 for four tires and fuel.
While pulling off the track for his stop, Kligerman wasn’t able to get his Red Horse Racing Tundra slowed down enough in the first segment of pit road and was penalized for speeding. The pass through penalty put him one lap down to the leaders, leaving him in a battle with teammate Timothy Peters for the lucky dog award. His persistence and patience paid off with 30 laps remaining as the caution came out, putting him back on the lead lap. Kendrick brought Kligerman down pit road one last time for an adjustment and a new set of tires to help him make his way back to the front on the restart.
With time winding down, Kligerman made a bold move on the outside heading into turn one on the restart, hoping to gain several spots in one fell swoop. Going three and four wide to make passes, Kligerman ran out of racing room and brushed the wall with the right side of his Tundra. The contact caused right front damage that would send him into the turn two wall two laps later, bringing out the caution with 19 laps to go. The second impact with the retaining wall caused irreparable damage to Kligerman’s Red Horse Racing Tundra, forcing him to end the night in the garage with a 19th place finish.
“I just made a mistake and it cost us. The pit road speeding penalty really set us back in the pack and we had to spend so much time and work hard to get our lap back. Then when we finally did, I just drove it in to make something happen on the outside and ended up getting the right sides into the wall. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out, because with races like this, you just have to make something happen to have a shot to win,” Kligerman explained.
“We’ve done everything we can and these Red Horse Racing guys give me fast Toyota Tundras every week. I really thought we were going to have something for them tonight. We’ll just put this in the past and move on because that’s what you have to do if you want to compete for this championship.”
Championship Points Update:Timothy Peters gained two valuable points in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship point standings in Las Vegas, now 24 points out of the lead. Teammate Parker Kligerman’s misfortune rolled him back into the fifth spot in the standings, 39 points behind the leader. Bodine’s solid run and fifth place finish holds him in the 14th spot in points.
Next on the Schedule:The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is in the final stretch of four straight races, taking on the final of the four events Saturday, October 6, at Talladega Superspeedway for the Coca-Cola 250 powered by Fred’s. Broadcast for the 18th event of the 2012 season begins at 3:30 PM EST on SPEED.
Toyota Racing For Awareness: Toyota Racing kicked off ‘Racing For Awareness’ in August, a friendly competition among women affiliated with the Toyota NASCAR program to design t-shirts that will support breast cancer awareness. Among the participants are two members of the Red Horse Racing family, Janet Bodine, wife of driver Todd Bodine, and Sara Peters, wife of driver Timothy Peters. The winning design will be selected from fan votes and produced during the Charlotte race weekend in October, and Toyota will donate $500 in the name of each participant to Carolina Breast Friends in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Vote at www.toyotaracing.com/RacingForAwareness now through Oct. 4, 2012 at 12 PM (ET).
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About Red Horse Racing:
Founded in 2005 by former Mobil Corporation executive Tom DeLoach and NASCAR veteran Jeff Hammond, Red Horse Racing aims to be a professional racing team that strives for excellence on and off the race track. Red Horse hopes to build and maintain solid, mutual relationships with its partners, to win championships and races and to represent itself in a professional manner. The team has nine victories and eight poles in its brief existence. DeLoach and Hammond also own Performance Instruction and Training (visitPIT.com), the number one pit crew training center in the world that also has many corporate training options that include team-building, lean manufacturing, motorsports demonstrations and more.
