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Nashville: Timothy Peters NASCAR Truck Race Recap
Nashville Superspeedway is one of Timothy Peters’ favorite race tracks and now he has even more reasons to love it. Peters earned his first career pole and tied his career best finish after a night of good hard racing at the Tennessee 1.33 mile concrete oval located in the heart of music city.
Peters and his #17 Strutmasters.com team worked to get just the right feel in their Toyota Tundra during two practice sessions on Friday afternoon. Peters was the 23rd truck to take time in qualifying on Saturday afternoon and after just one lap, put the #17 Tundra on the pole. He had to wait until qualifying concluded to celebrate earning his first career pole in NASCAR.
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Rain showers in the area delayed the start of the Toyota Tundra 200. When the track was dry and the race was ready to begin, Peters was enjoying his view from the front. The green flag dropped and the #17 lead the field into turn one. Peters took off and put several truck lengths between him and the second place truck. Reporting that his Tundra was just a little snug at both ends of the race track, Peters maintained his led. The #17 Strutmasters.com Toyota Tundra led for 33 laps before Peters got pinned behind a slower truck and another competitor got by him and assumed the lead on lap 34.
NASCAR threw a competition caution to allow teams to assess their tire wear on lap 35. Crew chief Chad Kendrick called his driver to pit road on lap 37. Peters picked up four fresh tires and returned the following lap for fuel and track bar adjustments. He restarted fourth.
Peters got a good restart and was able to pass the third place truck in less than a lap. Another caution came out the following lap and Peters took the opportunity to talk with his crew about the truck’s condition. He told them that the adjustment helped but that he would need more on the next stop. He said that when the #17 was out front it was running really well but became tight in traffic. Maintaining the second spot, he radioed the crew that he could catch the leader in turns one and two because the truck was handling so good but would lose all the ground he gained in turns three and four because the truck was so tight at that end of the race track. A caution on lap 83 gave Peters a chance to hit pit road for additional adjustments. He picked up two right side tires only and returned the following lap for fuel and another track bar adjustment. He restarted third.
When the green flag waved again, Peters got bottled up behind a few other trucks and fell one position to the fourth spot. He told the crew that truck was super tight and that he was really struggling with it. The #17 reclaimed the third spot on lap 93, just as rain showers moved back into the area. The rain became so heavy that NASCAR threw a caution on lap 100. Fortunately, the rain let up just a few laps later and the race restarted on lap 105.
Peters was holding onto the third position for the final 45 laps despite his struggle in turns three and four. A competitor blew a tire in the final laps of the race bringing out the caution. Peters restarted in the third position for the green, white, checkered finish. When the green flag flew every driver was battling hard for each position. Peters was able to reach the bumper of the second place truck and attempted to make the pass. The battle for the second spot gave the fourth place truck an opportunity to catch and pass them and Peters lost one spot on the final lap of the race. He crossed the finish line in the fourth position.
"It was pretty wild," Peters said after the race. "That’s what you get in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Our Strutmasters.com Tundra really ran well. We sat on the pole. Clean air was just so important and we just got stuck back there. We just got too tight. All in all it was a great night. I have to thank Chip Lofton at Strutmasters and Tom DeLoach at Red Horse Racing -- they’ve given me an awesome opportunity and we can’t wait to get to Bristol."
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will enjoy two weekends off before heading to Bristol, Tennessee. The O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway is scheduled for Wednesday evening, August 19th. It will be televised on SPEED Channel at 8:30 p.m. EDT.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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