Peters’ first career victory couldn’t have come at a better place
Timothy Peters has endured his share of heartache and disappointment both in and outside of NASCAR the last few years.
Remembering his late father Tony’s admonitions to keep going, the 29-year-old has soldiered on.
Days like the one Peters enjoyed in the Kroger 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway make his trying journey worth it.
After surviving a fuel scare to lead the last 84 laps and claim his first triumph in 64 Truck starts, an emotional driver reflected on his bumpy road to victory lane. And he seemed overwhelmed that his first win came at Martinsville, a track only about 20 minutes from his Danville, Va., home.
The win was a popular one in the Truck garage. Among those stopping to congratulate Peters in victory lane were former series champions Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine and Mike Skinner.
Bodine finished second but couldn’t mount a charge on Peters despite three cautions in the final 80 laps.
Peters’ ties to the area run deep. He won the prestigious Bailey’s 300 Late Model race at the track in 2005 and was the Late Model track champion at nearby South Boston Speedway in 2004. But winning a Truck race at Martinsville was even more special – particularly in light of his setbacks in recent years.
Sponsorship struggles relegated Peters to a partial Truck schedule in each of the last four years, beginning with his debut campaign of 2005. He suffered a professional loss in 2007 when he was released from a Nationwide Series ride at Richard Childress Racing and suffered a personal loss when his father died of a massive heart attack in 2001.
“I realized in ’07 that things don’t just come easy like they did and they beat me down pretty good, but I just had that determination that I wasn’t going to give up,” he said.
Peters dedicated his Martinsville win to his father, who helped launch his son’s racing career.
“This right here is awesome to win at Martinsville for my dad,” Peters said. “I have a lot of memories right here. I’m speechless.”
Peters did plenty of talking on the track, running virtually unchallenged after inheriting the lead when frontrunners Denny Hamlin and David Starr pitted under caution just past the midway point.
Peters pitted for tires and fuel under the first caution period a little more than 30 laps in and went the rest of the way without stopping.
“We were going to do one stop and we knew we could go all the way,” crew chief Chad Kendrick said. “So when that caution came out, it kind of came out exactly where we kind of planned.”
Other frontrunners didn’t have such good fortune. Polesitter Skinner gave up the lead to Hornaday on the first lap and was involved in a crash on lap 168 of 200 that badly damaged the right side of his Toyota. Making his 200th career start, the 1995 series champ was running fourth at the time of the wreck but finished 23rd. Kevin
Harvick, making a rare Truck start in the entry he co-owns with his wife, DeLana, fell two laps down after suffering a cut tire but rallied to finish fifth.
Matt Crafton, who entered the race 197 points behind Hornaday in the standings, finished ninth and fell to 224 points back with four races left.
Peters moved up two spots to seventh in the standings with his win and continued a series of strong runs with the Red Horse Racing team he joined in mid-June.
Peters started 2008 with Danville-based Premier Racing before carrying his primary sponsor, Strutmasters.com, to team owner Tom DeLoach’s organization.
“Timothy comes down to our shop every day,” said DeLoach, whose team is based in Mooresville, N.C. “He is there in the shop every day working on his truck and [teammate] T.J. [Bell’s] truck. You don’t see that in drivers today.
“You tell me any other driver that is going into any shop and participating with the guys building those trucks. It doesn’t exist and that’s what is so special about this guy.”
Perhaps fourth-place finisher Hornaday summed up the sentiments surrounding Peters’ win better than anyone.
“He’s a hard racer, he’s a good kid and he deserves it,” Hornaday said.
