TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway – Oct. 24, 2015
- Tundra driver Timothy Peters was victorious in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway.
- Peters started from the pole and led 23 laps (of 98) over five stints at the 2.66-mile superspeedway to capture the checkered flag.
- In addition to Peters’ win, Tundra drivers Erik Jones (fourth), Cameron Hayley (sixth), Johnny Sauter (seventh) and Chris Fontaine (eighth) tallied top-10 results in Alabama.
- For Jones, the fourth-place result extended his NCWTS points lead to 18 marks over second-place Tyler Reddick.
- Jones led the field once for six laps, while fellow Tundra drivers Matt Crafton (24th) and Ben Kennedy (25th) also led the field before being involved in a late-race accident. Crafton led the field for 43 laps over three stints, while Kennedy led twice for six laps.
- In addition to Jones’ 18-point lead in the NCWTS standings, Tundra drivers Crafton (third), Sauter (fourth), Peters (fifth), Hayley (sixth) and Kennedy (ninth) also rank in the top-10 in the point standings after 19 of the 23 events in 2015.
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How was today’s race?
“This is for her (Ashlee Richmond, sister of crew chief Marcus Richmond). We know you’re watching. Ashlee Richmond, we love you to death. Thank you for riding with us today and being who you are. This is just an awesome feeling. Thanks to all these guys – Red Horse Racing back at the shop, Triad horsepower, Toyota Tundra was awesome today. Oh my goodness – just Tom DeLoach (team owner) for believing in us and this time. We got on a roll starting at Chicago and, man, it’s just been up from here.”
What were you thinking going into the last restart?
“Just trying to get out front, you know? Make sure that we stay there. You don’t ever want to wish anyone bad luck, but it wouldn’t your feelings either to see that caution. I’m glad everybody is okay – I hope they’re okay for sure. Just thanks to everybody that’s involved with us – everybody that plays a big part of this right here. It’s just a very awesome, awesome feeling.”
How does a short-track racer win back-to-back Talladega races?
“A good team right here for sure. This team right here went to work when the deal happened at Daytona earlier this year and built chassis 12. This is the one we won with last year and got it even better. It showed how hard that they work because we were able to sit on the pole. Just Chris Lambert (spotter) gave me system overload all day long telling me what the outside line was doing, who was behind me, what the gap was in front of me and just was able to put ourself in position with our Toyota Tundra at the end to go for the win and the good Lord was with us all day long. Thank you to the good Lord for keeping everybody safe. Had Ashlee Richmond riding with us this weekend as she continues her battle with cancer and this was for her for sure.”
How difficult is it to restart knowing you need a push?
“I think at that point, all bets are off – teammates or not, you just kind of go after what you can. I didn’t get a good shove in the beginning, but the 23 (Spencer Gallagher) came and gave me a really good shot and was able to get us out front and at that point it was just trying to manage the gap and not get out too far and block the line. I don’t know what happened there. I seem him slide across in my mirror, so I was just glad that I was able to keep enough fuel in our Triad engine and our Toyota Tundra to make it back to the checkered flag.”
What does this win mean to you and the team?
“For one, ever since I’ve been able to – since Tom (DeLoach, team owner) has let me join Red Horse Racing, we’ve been able to win a race very year, so I’m glad to keep that streak going. We’re going to one of my favorite places next weekend, so we have four more races to get to victory lane and try to get ourselves further inside the top-five.”
Were you nervous waiting to take the checkered flag when the caution came out on the final lap?
“A little bit, but right before we went back to green initially, I radioed back to Marcus (crew chief) and asked where we were at on our fuel and obviously with the banking we have a flapper inside of our fuel cell making sure we keep our box full as we call it. It was still intense and I wasn’t going to celebrate until I saw the checkered flag and the truck was completely across the line.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing (continued)
What does it mean to get the victory at Talladega today?
“First off, the guys at the shop, Marcus (Richmond, crew chief), the guys that are here and just really put chassis 12 back together even better from our little qualifying incident at Daytona and from the time we unloaded off the lift gate our Tundra was fast. We knew that if all the fenders would stay on it we could qualify well and they did a phenomenal job and we were able to start on the pole. It’s all about positioning yourself throughout the race to be there at the end. Chris Lambert (spotter) did an awesome job telling me where everybody was at, what they were doing and tried to keep up the best I could with what the truck was doing and getting it back to Marcus and he made great changes and the guys made great pit stops throughout the race, so even better going to victory lane and sitting on the pole with Ashlee (Richmond, crew chief sister) riding shotgun with me. It feels good to join Todd (Bodine) and Kyle (Busch) as those who have won this race more than once.”
Were you surprised at the lane choice by Brandon Jones for the final restart?
“Not really, I kind of thought that maybe he (Brandon Jones) would take the outside, but when we’ve already got the radio from the tower that this was going to be the one and only attempt so at that point you know teammates are good for 95 laps and coming to the checkered you’re on your own. We kind of knew that it was every man for himself and I appreciate the push that Spencer (Gallagher) gave to me and glad he’s okay after that wreck on the backstretch, but we got a good restart there, but the 4 (Erik Jones) was pushing the 33 (Jones) from the get-go and the push that Spencer gave me was a little delayed, but it was enough to get us both in front of the 33.”
How much information does Chris Lambert give you during the race and in the closing lap?
“Chris Lambert (spotter) does a great job spotting and the 23 (Gallagher) gave me a great push. We got out there, but he said don’t get out too far and the 05 (John Wes Townley) has been a really good truck all weekend as well and he was pushing the 23, so I went high to block, but I guess they were pushing as much as they could within reason of the rule and unfortunately the 23 went spinning. Chris Lambert was on system overload all day long, he’s always great for me everywhere we go, but here he’s always great. Just letting me know who’s in the lane with me, how far the gap is to the truck in front of me or if I was leading how far the gap is from me or the outside line – all of them were good trucks, but the ones that have been fast all weekend, how many of them were in the outside line and how tight they were together. He did a great job.”
Did you think there was much of a difference with one green-white-checkered attempt instead of three?
“I look at the one attempt is no different than the three – everybody is going to get super aggressive and so you don’t wish for a caution by any means because you want to keep the competitors safety top priority, but everybody is doing their best to try to push and get the best position or put themselves in position to be there to make a last lap pass coming out of the tri-oval. It really wasn’t any different with one versus three. Everybody was just a tad more aggressive.”
MARCUS RICHMOND, crew chief, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
How was the view from the pit box for today’s race?
“It’s a whole lot better from the pit box. It takes a lot of pressure off of me when you have Timothy (Peters) out there and Chris (Lambert) spotting. It really helps out a lot. We’ve had a good Tundra from as soon as we unloaded. We were really excited to sit on the pole. It shows how much hard work and effort comes from the shop. Just like to thank Tom DeLoach (team owner) for the opportunity and Timothy (Peters) for doing an awesome job.”
ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th
Are you surprised how well the day turned out for you in the points?
“It was just exciting, typical of Talladega – green-white-checkered there for the last lap or so. I kept asking, ‘Are we on the white flag or not?’ I don’t even remember if we got the white flag – no we didn’t. I saw them all wrecking and I saw the 23 (Spencer Gallagher) get free down the backstretch and start to lose it and just went to the bottom and hoped nobody was going to come down and tag us and we got out of it. Really, really great day for us in the points. Never would have thought that we could have come out of this race that far ahead. Everything from the best to the worst can happen here and fortunately the best happened for us.”
CAMERON HAYLEY, No. 13 Mattei/CBH/Carolina Nut Company Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 45 Glenden Enterprises/Racktail.com Toyota Tundra, Glenden Enterprises
Finishing Position: 8th
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 54 JBL Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 13th
Were you disappointed that you were penalized for locking bumpers?
“I’m learning as we go, but kind of penalize you if you do and penalize you if you don’t. If I don’t push them like that then you end up getting hung up and not getting up there. Learning experience and we’ll learn from it and go onto the next one.”
Are you in a situation where bumping takes place due to the lead truck dragging the brake?
“Yeah, a little bit and then you get pushed from behind. I definitely felt my truck getting bumped and I guess I didn’t get off of him enough. It was a learning experience for me – my first ever one, so hopefully we can come back and be a little better next time.”
Did you expect to be in position to possibly win at the end of this race?
“Absolutely not, if you would have told me that I would restart fourth and have a chance to win I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s pretty cool that it worked out that way. My whole goal coming into this race was just being able to finish. Thankfully all my guys did an awesome job. They carried me through the weekend and gave me an awesome, bad fast JBL Tundra.”
Did you get any coaching from Kyle Busch or Erik Jones?
“I talked to them quite a bit and Kyle (Busch, team owner) was on the radio talking to me quite a bit there on the last restart and it’s just a shame it didn’t work out.”
MATT TIFFT, No. 51 Waves for Water Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 23rd
How was your race before the incident?
“It was good before then. For a while there the first half of the race, we were in really good track position, came down for four tires and we kind of lost that track position. We never got the break we really needed to get back in the top-five kind of where we were and the Waves for Water Tundra was good all the way through there and we thought we may be able to make up a few spots there at the end with that restart with six to go or whatever it was and made a little run on the outside and that’s kind of when that happened whatever it was. Just was going straight and got turned, so that’s unfortunately Talladega.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Hormel/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 24th
How strong was the truck and how disappointing was it to be involved in the accident?
“The guys brought a great, great Menards Toyota Tundra and we led a lot of laps today. This says a lot for what these guys have done at the race track and what they build and are bringing to the race track. We qualified seventh and we led a lot of laps. It was fun racing there for a lot of it.”
Do you feel you can still rebound and get back into the points battle in the final four races?
“They’ve had their problems and I’ve had my problems and if they have more problems, I’m not worried about it. We’re going to go try to win the next four and see what happens.”
BEN KENNEDY, No. 11 Local Motors Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 25th
