Peters’ Bid for Second Daytona Win Comes up Short

Timothy Peters kicked off his 2017 campaign with another bid for victory at Daytona International Speedway, but was swept up in the final lap calamity that collected 12 trucks, and finished 17th in the NextEra Energy Resources 250. The 2010 Daytona winner began his weekend by posting the fifth-quickest lap in Thursday’s practice session, and qualifying fifth on Friday evening. From the outset, Peters asserted himself as one of the strongest trucks in the field, racing in and around the top five during the first 20-lap stage. Peters collected nine regular-season points by running second at the end of Stage 1, all while avoiding an accident on lap 20. Crew chief Chad Kendrick brought Peters to pit road for fuel only, and once again, he ran inside the top five until the end of Stage 2 at lap 40, collecting six additional points. A two-tire pit stop on lap 47 gained Peters the race lead, and he maintained his position inside the top five until a lap-72 caution. Peters suffered slight damage to the left-side door of his No. 17 Toyota Tundra in the incident, but remained a contender at the front of the field. The restart on lap 78 produced a single-file lead draft for the next 18 laps, during which Peters found himself comfortably in contention, running fifth. A caution on lap 96 bunched up the field for a two-lap sprint to the checkers. After restarting fifth, Peters made a three-wide bid for second on the final lap, but was collected in a multi-truck accident on the backstretch while running third. As a result of the accident, Peters was credited with a 17th-place finish.
 
Start – 5
Finish – 17
Driver Points Position – 7
Laps Led – 2
 
Timothy Peters Quote:
“It just got wild there at the end. We got a good run on the outside and the next thing I know, the 27 (Ben Rhodes) came across in front of me. I know it’s just a racing deal, but I just hate that we got collected up in it with as hard as everybody worked on this Tundra in the off season. We came here to win, and we were in good position. We just got caught up in something that is a racing deal.”

RHR PR