Peters Fights an Ill-Handling Race Truck to Finish 20th

Timothy Peters and the No. 17 team continued to fight handling gremlins as they rolled into Texas Motor Speedway.  Starting from the 23rd position Peters and the No. 17 team struggled with a loose race truck during the duration of the WinStar World Casino 400K.  The team managed to remain on the lead lap throughout the event and made multiple chassis adjustments on pit road to help Peters condition.  However, the changes were not enough to help the No. 17 truck make much forward progress.  The team took what the truck was willing to give them and salvaged a 20th-place finish.


Peters started the WinStar World Casino 400K from the 23rd position. As the race got underway, Peters immediately reported to the team that the truck was too loose entering the corners. Under the first caution on lap five the team brought the No. 17 truck down pit road for fuel and chassis adjustments.  Peters restarted the race from the 29th position.  The No. 17 team was back on pit road under the second caution period of the evening on lap 23.  The team took on four tires, fuel and made another chassis adjustment.  By lap 40, Peters had move up to the 25th position, but still reported a loose-handling condition to the team.


Under the third caution period on lap 51, the No. 17 team chose to remain on the track as the leaders hit pit road.  By staying out Peters was credited with leading a lap and earned a valuable bonus point.  Before the caution period ended the team came to pit road to add two spring rubbers to the left-rear spring.  Fortunately for the No. 17 team, the caution waved once again on lap 58 giving them the opportunity to remove the spring rubbers.  Peters reported to the crew that the change only worsened the loose condition. Peters and the No. 17 team continued to come to pit road under each caution period to try and fix the handling issues. At the half-way point on lap 84, Peters was scored in the 24th position.


As the seventh caution of the evening waved, Peters gave up the 22nd position to come to pit road for the final scheduled pit stop of the evening.  The team took on four fresh tires, fuel and made an air-pressure adjustment.  Crew chief Butch Hylton asked Peters to save as much fuel as possible so they could make it to the end of the event.  A rash of cautions late in the event allowed the No. 17 team to save enough fuel to make the final restart of the race under a green-white-checkered condition.  Peters took the final restart scored in the 22nd position and was able to gain two spots before crossing the finish line in the 20th.

 

Red Horse Racing PR