DAYTONA RACE REPORT
TIMOTHY PETERS SURVIVES WILD RACE AT DAYTONA TO SCORE 11th-PLACE FINISH
Defending race winner is tied for sixth in truck points standings
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 21, 2011) – Like any good racer, especially the defending champion of a race, Timothy Peters wanted to finish better than11th in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
But the truck series season is a long one, and Peters knows that simply surviving at the 2.5-mile track is a solid accomplishment.
“I guess you could say in the big picture, it was a good day,” Peters said. “But, man, I don’t lose very well. And I know we were capable of doing better. All in all, we completed all the laps, the truck came home with minimal damage and we had an 11th-place finish. That was a good start to the season.
“We’ll put Daytona behind us. We definitely would’ve liked a repeat of 2010, but I have to look at all the positives, and the positives are that we came out of there in one piece with a solid finish – and a great start to the year. “We’ll go to Phoenix this Friday and give it all we’ve got.”
Peters, crew chief Butch Hylton and the rest of the No. 17 K&N Filters Toyota Tundra overcame some mysterious handling problems during practice, and Peters soared to sixth in the final practice session. Peters qualified 18th but was confident of his chances during the 100-lap race, given his history at Daytona.
Once in the race, however, Peters discovered his truck wasn’t what he’d hoped. Plus, as it happens sometimes at Daytona and Talladega, Peters often found himself in the wrong drafting lane. He fought to get out of the high lane, which seemed to be slower on the repaved track, throughout the race.
“If we had a hole, it wasn’t difficult, but if we didn’t have a hole, you had to be patient and wait for one to be open,” Peters said. “But the difficult part of the whole night was that our Tundra wouldn’t suck up (to the truck in front). That’s what we battled the whole race. But the beauty part of it was (Red Horse Racing teammate) Miguel (Paludo) and I came out of there with no damage, and we can work on it for Talladega. And I guarantee you that at Talladega, both of us will be much better.”
Still, Peters worked his way up to seventh at the halfway point, with Paludo drafting behind him in ninth. Under the race’s second caution on lap 55, crew chief Butch Hylton brought Peters to pit road to make a fuel-only stop. The No. 17 Red Horse crew whipped through the stop and got Peters back on the track with the lead. “It would’ve been very nice if we could’ve gone the whole race green flag and we became the winner,” Peters said. “But to look at it is we were confident I could stay up front. At the same time, too, being Daytona, you have to expect the unexpected. You know it’s hard to go 40-plus green-flag laps to the finish. We were just holding on.
“Butch Hylton made a great call for fuel only to get us out front, and the pit crew did a great job. And speaking on the pit crew, they did a great job all week long working on the truck.
“With that said, we’ll just keep the negativity out of sight and look at all the positives: We got a great start to the year.”
Peters led a total of 12 laps before another caution, where he made a stop for fuel. He restarted third, but this time the inside lane didn’t move, and he slipped back to seventh when a mutli-car crash on the backstretch brought out another yellow. Peters dodged that accident, but that was only the beginning to his missing-the-crash skill. On lap 97, three laps short of the scheduled distance, trucks near the front of the field collided, collecting as many as 10 competitors.
Peters nimbly avoided the accident and was scored fourth when NASCAR displayed the red flag to clean up the melee. “The man upstairs was looking out for us,” Peters said. “I’m just thankful we came out of there unscathed.” Peters had to slam on his Toyota’s brakes and flat-spotted at least one tire, so Hylton decided to not take a chance and brought Peters back to pit road for four tires and fuel. That ensured Peters would finish the race, and though he slipped out of the top 10, he did finish.
With four drivers finishing in front of him ineligible for truck series points, Peters finds himself tied for sixth in the standings after one race.
TIMOTHY PETERS RACE SUMMARY Starting position: 18th Finish position: 11th Laps led: 12 Laps completed: 103 of 103 (race finished with a green-white-checkered) Status: Running Points position: Sixth (tied with Matt Crafton, eight points behind leader Clay Rogers) Race winner: Michael Waltrip Pole winner: Austin Dillon Next race: Lucas Oil 150, Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., February 25
