Heading into the final race of the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Timothy Peters is the only driver among the Championship 4Â who has yet to win in 2016.
Which is odd, because winning is something to which the No. 17 team is accustomed. Since joining Red Horse Racing in 2009, Peters has won at least one race in each season. If he were to do so Friday evening, not only would he be crowned the Truck Series champion, but he would also tie Dennis Setzer’s record of most consecutive seasons with a victory.
This year is the first year Peters has worked with Shane Huffman on top of the pit box. While Huffman has only been in charge for 51 total Truck Series races, the duo has helped each other get to this point of the season.
“The way we work together the first practice was as if we worked together for a long time,” Peters said. “He can relate to some of the things that I’m saying, that maybe some other guys can’t wrap their head around. A racecar driver always has a unique way of describing the way the vehicle is, and he does a good job with that.”
Through the first 22 races this year, Peters has eight top-5 finishes and 15 top 10s. Since the Chase started at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the No. 17 team has been out front for 27 laps, second most of the championship-eligible drivers.
In the same amount of time, Peters has only been sponsored for the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. Tom DeLoach, owner of Red Horse Racing, has put all of his resources into the No. 17 team, hoping to win the organizations first championship. In 2012, Peters finished second in points to James Buescher.
“We definitely want color on that truck,” Peters said. “We’ve worked really hard throughout the year to perform on the racetrack. Hopefully, the way that we performed this year with the company winning a race and [that] we’ve been really consistent can attract a sponsor for 2017.”
Throughout Peters’ career, he has shown that he is one of the most consistent drivers in the Truck Series. Since 2009, he has won 10 races with Red Horse Racing. Four out of the last five years, the No. 17 truck has had at least eight top-5 finishes and has had double-digit top-10 finishes every season.
In the championship race at Miami, though, he may not need a victory to secure the championship; he knows he may simply need to be consistent.
“I think consistency has helped us get here for sure,” Peters said. “The format put a lot of focus on winning. We’ve been so close as an organization and getting a win with Brett Moffitt, but that drives me to get that win. We never slacked up on working together. It’s all about execution and we do that all weekend, but we really want to seal the deal.”
That said, Peters admitted that he has taken the championship race as if it were any other weekend. On Tuesday of this week he helped his mom dig up her septic tank to relieve the pressure of the Chase.
About the author
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.
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