Timothy Peters Texas Motor Speedway Post-Race Report

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series raced into Fort Worth, Texas on Friday night for the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Red Horse Racing driver, Timothy Peters, entered the seventh Truck Series race of the year second in driver’s point standings. With a hard fought and well earned, eleventh-place finish at the 1.5-mile track, Peters holds onto the second-place position, only five markers out of the lead.

Rain on Thursday afternoon cancelled qualifying, leaving the field to be set by the NASCAR rule book. Peters and his No. 17 Toyota Tundra team would start the 167-lap event in the second position. When the green-flag fell, Peters battled side-by-side for the lead for the first three laps before settling into the second position.

It was on lap17, when Peters brought his Tundra to pit road after his engine temperature gauge was reading too high. The team took two right side tires, fuel and removed tape from the grill of the truck. The team returned to the track, one lap down in the 30th position.

A charge to the front of the field was the direction this No. 17 team had in mind. During the lap 33 caution, Peters visited pit road in the 27th position for fuel only. The field went back to green-flag racing on lap 37 with Peters up to the 22nd spot.

The third caution of the night was displayed just 10 laps later, on lap 47. Peters was able to capture the ‘Lucky Dog’ position and return to the lead lap of competition. Fighting tight conditions in his race truck, the team came to pit road for fuel and a chassis adjustment.

Lap 50 was when the field went back racing, with Peters shown in the 19th position. Able to move his Tundra into the 14th spot in only 12 laps, Peters was catching those in the top-10. The chassis adjustment made on the previous stop was too much for Peters, who was now looking for an adjustment to tighten up his No. 17 machine.

 

The caution came out on lap 74 for an accident in turn one, just in time to help his Tundra. With the pit crew on the wall and ready for action, Peters came to pit road for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. After a great stop, the No. 17 pit crew moved Peters into the 11th position for the lap 78 restart. Falling into the 15th place by lap 80, Crew chief Butch Hylton reassured the driver that he would need to find a spot to settle and ride. Continuing to fight his Toyota Tundra, Peters found himself in the 17th position on lap 91.

The fifth caution flag was displayed on lap 96 for debris. Peters brought his Red Horse Racing truck to pit road three separate times during the caution period to make adjustments for the remaining 71 laps of the event. The field went back racing on lap 99 with Peters shown in the 19th place. The driver was quiet on the radio as he moved into the 17th position on lap 120.
 
With 40 laps to go, the team visited pit road for four tires, fuel and additional chassis adjustments, during the sixth caution period for an accident that occurred on the backstretch. The pit crew assisted Peters on pit road, restarting him in the 15th spot with 33 laps remaining. The field was quickly brought back under yellow-flag conditions for an accident on the frontstretch on lap 138.

The final restart was on lap 143 with the No. 17 Toyota Tundra shown in the 13th place. Peters fought through the field and crossed the finish line in the 11th place after a last lap pass. The finish holds Peters in the second place in the Truck Series point standings, only five points out of the lead.

Comments from the driver:

“I am really proud of this No. 17 Toyota Tundra racing team. These guys worked really hard all weekend. We made some major adjustments in practice yesterday and had to take a big swing tonight during the race. We’ll take this finish and head to Kentucky. If this is the worst race we have all year, they better watch out.”