- Timothy Peters captured the checkered flag in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway.
- Peters led the field four times for a total of 31 laps (of 95) in the Red Horse Racing No. 17 Tundra.
- Tundra drivers have won 14 total races this season, including the first 10 races of the 2014 season.
- It was the eighth career NCWTS win in a Tundra for Peters and 126th for Toyota in the NCWTS since joining the series in 2004.
- It marks the seventh NCWTS win for a Tundra driver at Talladega.
- Tundra drivers Erik Jones (sixth), Chris Fontaine (seventh), John Wes Townley (eighth), Darrell Wallace Jr. (ninth) and Joe Nemechek (10th) also earned top-10 finishes at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
- Matt Crafton continues to lead the unofficial NCWTS points standings by 16 points over second-place Ryan Blaney. Tundra drivers Wallace (third),
- Johnny Sauter (fourth), Peters (fifth), German Quiroga (seventh) and Jeb Burton (ninth) are also in the top-10 in the point standings with four races remaining in the 2014 season.
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How does it feel to be in victory lane?
“Exciting. I can’t thank everybody on this team enough. Marcus (Richmond, crew chief) came on board and built us a strong truck and we showcased that at Daytona and we lost it by oh so much, so it feels good to come back to a superspeedway and improve our position by one point and get into victory lane. But, the way our summer stretch went I didn’t know what was going to happen. Races were running out and trying to get into victory lane, so it goes back to the fab shop. All of the guys at Red Horse Racing. These guys back here on the 17 team — the 77 team. Oh my goodness. All of our partners — Toyota. I can’t thank those guys enough. It’s just crazy. I’ve got to thank Darrell Wallace (Jr.) for working with me all day. The restart before last we got shuffled back and couldn’t get to each other, but we worked good all day today. And, I know Steve Byrnes was watching — he’s my guardian angel today. He was riding along with me, so Steve we wish you well. Sara (wife) and Brantley (son) I can’t believe it. I’ll see you here shortly. This is such a great effort.”
What does this victory mean to the team?
“It’s just teamwork right here. Chris Lambert (spotter), I can’t say enough about Chris Lambert my spotter up in the stand. He guided me through this to get us to the front and Darrell Wallace Jr. for working with me all day long. I hated that there towards the end we couldn’t really work together because we worked so well together. We ran up to the front all day long. This is chassis 12, this is ‘Old Faithful’ from Daytona and we missed it by 17 one-thousandths of a second so it felt good to be on the receiving end today.”
How were you able to hold the lead on the final restart?
“We were playing the side draft game and Tayler Malsam — thank him. You could sit here and probably thank the whole field, but it’s just crazy how the outcome of this race was. I’m glad we were able to cross the start finish line and the wrecks were minimal today and I hope the fans got what they wanted because it was a great race. Great out of the windshield and the rearview mirror of my Toyota Tundra. It just feels good to be in victory lane.”
MARCUS RICHMOND, crew chief, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
What does this win mean to your team?
“Man, we really needed this. This Red Horse Tundra has been really good. It was good at Daytona. We had our ups and down this year. We felt like we’ve had fast trucks. This whole team has been awesome. We stuck together and Tom DeLoach (team owner) hadn’t given up on us. Me and Timothy (Peters) haven’t given up on each other. This is awesome.”
ERIK JONES, No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 6th
How was your first superspeedway race?
“It was a learning experience for sure. We spent most of the race just trying to figure out what to do and riding around — just trying to get to the end. Once we got down to the last 20 (laps), it was kind of time to start racing a little bit. Worked our way back up to the front and ended up fourth on the final green-white-checkered. Had a shot at it I felt like, but things just didn’t play out right with trucks behind us and pushing and stuff. Ended up sixth, which is a good, solid day for us. Had a fast Tundra and it was a good owner’s points day. Good learning experience for me and a clean truck. Something to move on to.”
ERIK JONES, No. 51 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports (continued)
What happened on the final restart?
“We just tried to get going and push the 29 (Ryan Blaney) and just didn’t have enough help from behind to get up and really push Ryan like he needed to in order to get to the lead. After that happened it seemed like behind us kind of fanned out and going down the backstretch was just a fight to really stay up in the top-five and stay up in the top-10. After that it was just kind of a free for all and nobody was really pushing at all. If we would have had some good help behind us pushing me up to the 29 then I feel like we would have had a good shot at it, but it just didn’t work out.”
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Toyota Tundra, Glenden Enterprises
Finishing Position: 7th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 05 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, Athenian Motorsports
Finishing Position: 8th
How was the race?
“We had people helping throughout the whole race and at the very end everybody decided to have minds of their owns, which is a lot of times the way that it goes at these places. People stick to a plan and then at the end it all goes out the window. We came back up and finished eighth. Just really hate that we couldn’t get the Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra to victory lane today. We’ll get them next time.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 54 ToyotaCare Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 9th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 8 Bully Hill Vineyards Toyota Tundra, NEMCO Motorsports
Finishing Position: 10th
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards/Fishers Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 35 Arris Toyota Tundra, Win Tron Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
JEB BURTON, No. 13 Estes Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 16th
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 77 NET 10 Wireless Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
What happened in the accident?
“We were running pretty good — the 77 NET 10 Wireless Tundra was strong. It’s a shame. We knew we had a fast truck and the 51 (Erik Jones) was overheating I guess. They were running three wide behind me and he moved up so I thought he was going to go with them so I filled up the gap and then he came down like I was not there. I haven’t watched the video, but I think it’s pretty frustrating for us to have so many issues lately and I can’t believe this happened today.”
Are you okay and what happened on the race track?
“Yeah. I’m okay. It’s a shame to be honest. We were pretty good and the 77 Net 10 Wireless Tundra was strong. We were just handling there. The 51 (Erik Jones) was overheating and they told me he was going to go high to take some clean air and I looked back behind me and they were running three-wide so it makes sense for him to pull up and then pull a little bit back. I tried to pull the gap and then he came down on me so that spun us and that’s a shame. We work hard and we had a very, very good truck. Just really frustrating for me having so many issues the past few days and just can’t believe this happened.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 31st
Is the bolt you are holding the culprit of your day ending early?
“Yeah, obviously went through the radiator. So, just another kick in the ass I guess. I’m just proud of my ThorSport Nextant Curb Records Toyota. Triad has done a good job all year with our horsepower. It didn’t feel like it blew up. It was weird. The water temperature didn’t show anything and it just kind of stayed and they said it probably just pushed it out so fast that it didn’t have an opportunity to reflect anything. Whatever — our championship is over and from here on out we can just race like hell.”
What happened that took you out of the race?
“We evidently ran over a bolt and it went through the radiator and must have pushed the water out so fast that I didn’t have any idea. The water temperature never showed anything. We’re out of the race — the motor is blown up and it’s really unfortunate. I hate it for everybody. Obviously, the championship is pretty much out the window now. We’ll lick our wounds and go to the next one.”
