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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Hard Knocks Abound For Truckers
Timothy Peters ducked and dodged the Daytona mayhem...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 15, 2010   Daytona Beach, FL
When the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race ended Saturday night at Daytona, 14 trucks were left on the lead lap. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The win Saturday was Timothy Peters' second career victory and his first on a superspeedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Other than race-winner Timothy Peters, the biggest smiles after the NextEra Energy Resources 250 belonged to the myriad NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fabricators and body men who'll be pulling down lots of overtime next week, as they repair two dozen torn up trucks.

Yes, the Truck Series opener was a thuggish and brutal affair one that began going awry halfway through Lap 1, when 19-year-old Austin Dillon got sucked up into a three-wide run on the backstretch. Dillon got squirrelly, ricocheting off of Aric Almirola and triggering a nine-truck scrum.

Dillon's cohorts would go on to play “Groundhog Day,” Truck Series-style, reprising the backstretch crash theme no less than four times. By the time the night ended, just 14 trucks were on the lead lap, as regular frontrunners and former series champions like Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Skinner, Kyle Busch and Ted Musgrave were among the many wrecked out of the race entirely, or at least out of contention.
When the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race ended Saturday night at Daytona, 14 trucks were left on the lead lap. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Yet for all of the muggings that took place on the backstretch, the end of the race was a thing of beauty, as Peters executed a perfect crossover move at the end of the race. Peters juked high, and when two-time defending Daytona winner and race leader Todd Bodine tried to block him, Peters dove low and grabbed the lead in the coveted inside lane.

And despite his obvious frustration, even Bodine allowed as how Peters made a brilliant move for the victory.

Asked if he would have done the same thing had he been in Peters' position, Bodine was unequivocal: “Oh, yeah, exactly,” Bodine said. “Last year, I was leading on the last lap and Kyle (Busch) was behind me. I did the same thing that Timothy … did. Kyle didn't know what to do. Timothy was smart enough to do the right thing. It paid off for him, you know. He had one shot at it, and he took it, and it worked. You know, I don't think he expected to get blocked as bad as he did. But he made a crossover move and made it work. You know, hat's off to him for doing the right thing. Like I say, I got a tremendous amount of respect for Timothy.”

As for Peters, he was understandably pleased, if a little overwhelmed by winning his first Truck Series superspeedway race.

“This is only my fourth plate race — superspeedway race. I'm still learning,” said Peters. “It doesn't matter if we were at Daytona, Atlanta, Martinsville. To race with these guys is just an awesome feeling.”

And he applauded the man he defeated in battle.

“Call a spade a spade, Todd Bodine is the best Speedway racer,” Peters said. “His results prove it. I wasn't gonna leave him until it was time to. My spotter, Kevin Ray, did an awesome job, keeping me calm, keeping me in line, telling me, ‘Let's try to make the move down the pack straightaway.’ … When Todd went high, I went high, and we prevailed to the inside. It's very cool. I'm not giving him all the credit, but it is cool to beat those guys, too. But Todd and I are pretty good buddies, too. It's pretty cool to beat him at the same time.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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