Saturday, February 13, 2010

Timothy Peters Wins Wild Truck Series Race at Daytona


Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR


One day overdue because of Friday rain, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway started under the lights. While the rains passed, the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series opener that ran just a few hours prior indicated that storms are in full critical mass between competitors on the 2.5 mile superspeedway.

Led to green by the #23 Ford of Jason White and #2 Chevrolet of Elliott Sadler, it took little time for the truck race to establish itself as an expensive outing for many teams. In fact, it was lap 1 where an incident was sparked by the #3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon was trapped in a three-wide scenario on Daytona's backstretch. Driving in his first Daytona truck race, the rookie driver was squeezed in the middle until he was unable to keep control of his race truck brushing the low truck of Aric Almirola. Dillon then swam up the race track and collected the #13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet. Kyle Busch, Dennis Setzer, Jennifer Jo Cobb, and Sauter's Thorsport teammate Landon Cassill were some of the 9 drivers who fell victim to this early wreck.

Leading 25 laps overall, the #2 Kevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet truck driven by Elliott Sadler dominated the early stages of the 250 mile race with the polesitting #23 Ford of Jason White finding his way around to reclaim the top position briefly.

Unfortunately, Sadler's dream run turned into a nightmare; a nightmare which would hunt 9 other drivers. At 32 laps, a second massive wreck started with an ever so soft tap on the #33 Chevrolet of Ron Hornaday rear bumper by the #4 truck of Ricky Carmichael along the Daytona backstretch. A slightly uneven bumpdraft, the impact was enough to send Hornaday's truck out of control slamming into the outside wall grabbing Carmichael's truck as well as other great contenders including Aric Almirola, Rick Crawford, Ted Mugrave and Donny Lia.

With many of the frontrunners having been eliminated by two major accidents, the Toyotas Mike Skinner, Todd Bodine, and Matt Crafton remained as seasoned veterans capable to take victory. This hope for Skinner ended on lap 62 with another mishap in bumpdrafting down the backstretch. Within the top 5 trucks, Skinner's #5 Toyota was receiving an aggressive push from the #17 of Timothy Peters. Meaning only to help Skinner gain speed to the front, the overaggressive bumping sent Skinner into the wall in turn 3.

Despite an early race right rear tire failure, Todd Bodine #30 Toyota would storm back to the front of the field on lap 83 of the 100 lap race. Reaching the climax of the event, the #46 of Dennis Setzer, driving one of only two Dodge (Ram) trucks being campaigned at Daytona, the #88 Chevrolet of Matt Crafton, Jason White's #23 Ford and the Toyota of Peters fought to find a way by a strong Todd Bodine through the final 17 laps.

Unsuccessful through 16 laps, the 2nd place running Timothy Peters pulled off a brilliant fake to the outside of Bodine halfway through the backstretch. As Bodine moved up to block, Peters ducked down and used the 'slingshot' as well as a a little muscle to move by Todd Bodine. Caught by surprise, Bodine briefly lost the #30 truck and slid into the outside wall. Determined to not lose the prestigious Daytona 250 mile truck race, Bodine stayed in the throttle and made a hard-charging run on Peters through turn 3 and 4. Side-by-side out of turn 4, Bodine and Peters rub fenders as Dennis Setzer provided the boost Peter's Toyota needed to win the Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy Resources 250. Finishing a close 2nd over Setzer, Bodine lost control and slid harmlessly into the front infield.

Taking his K&N Filters-sponsored #17 Toyota owned by Red Horse Racing to victory lane, a delighted Timothy Peters celebrated with his crew triumphing through the 2010 Daytona crash fest. With a smile on his face in spite of coming by short for victory, Todd Bodine in the garage area happily congratulated Peters.


2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series:
NextEra Energy Resources 250
Daytona International Speedway

Top 10:
1) 17 Timothy Peters     K&N Toyota
2) 30 Todd Bodine     GEICO Toyota
3) 46 Dennis Setzer     Plane Guts Dodge
4) 23 Jason White     GunBroker.com Ford
5) 88 Matt Crafton     Herculiner / Menards Chevrolet
6) 1 Nelson Piquet     Red Horse Racing Toyota
7) 60 Stacy Compton     SafeAuto Insurance / Wyler.com Toyota
8) 95 Johnny Benson     Plane Guts Ford
9) 6 Donnie Neuenberger  EZ-Slider Chevrolet
10) 01 J J Yeley     Koma Unwind Chillazation Drink Chevrolet


Other Notable:
12) 51 Aric Almirola   Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota
14) 00 Carlos Contreras  Potenica Blast Energy Shot / Alpina Water Chevrolet
20) 2 Elliott Sadler   Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet
21) 9 Max Papis   GEICO Toyota
22) 18 Kyle Busch   Heluva Good! Toyota
23) 12 Mario Gosselin   Tiremonkey.com Chevrolet
24) 5 Mike Skinner   International Trucks / Monaco RV Toyota
26) 3 Austin Dillon     Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
27) 33 Ron Hornaday Jr.  Longhorn Chevrolet
28) 14 Rick Crawford   Lilly Trucking of Virginia Ford


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