Red Horse Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
For the 18th race of the 2015 season, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series went west to Sin City for the Rhino Linings 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the single practice held Saturday morning, Timothy Peters was third fastest, while Ben Kennedy was 16th fastest. On Saturday afternoon, teams completed two rounds of knockout single-truck qualifying, with both drivers transferring to the final round. Peters earned the fourth starting position, while Kennedy would start the 146-lap event in ninth. In a nail-biting finish, fuel mileage played a role as the lead trucks ran out in the final laps, while the Red Horse Racing teammates finished strong with Peters in second and Kennedy in third.
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Timothy Peters No. 17
No. 17 Red Horse Racing
Toyota Tundra
Second-Place Finish for Timothy Peters at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Timothy Peters continued to build momentum with a second-place finish in the Rhino Linings 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, scoring his 11th top-10 finish of 2015 and third top-five finish in three races. Peters, who won at the track in 2013, was third fastest in Saturday morning’s single practice session. During knockout qualifying on Saturday afternoon, Peters transferred the No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra into the second round of single timed laps and picked up the fourth starting position. The field took the green flag after the sun had set over the 1.5-mile speedway, and Peters defended the position for nearly 20 laps, before dropping back to sixth. During the first caution period on lap 22, crew chief Marcus Richmond called Peters to pit road for a two-tire stop, replacing the right-side Goodyear tires and filling the truck with Sunoco fuel. On the following pit stop while under caution on lap 40, Richmond called for fuel only, putting Peters in the lead on the restart. The Danville, Virginia native held the lead for 13 laps, before falling back as a right front tire deteriorated, causing handling problems. Following a four-tire, green-flag pit stop on lap 91, when the team discovered the problematic tire and packed the tank full of fuel, Peters rejoined the field a lap down to the leader in 16th place. As pit stops cycled, Peters was able to get back on the lead lap, but was caught behind the lead pack in sixth position. In the waning laps, several trucks in front of Peters were short on fuel, and the two Red Horse Racing teammates took the checkered flag with Peters in second place and Ben Kennedy in third.
Start – 4
Finish – 2
Driver Points Position – 6
Laps Led – 13
Timothy Peters Quote:
“It was a good run for the company and myself. We’ll take these two weeks off and try to attack the last five [races] and get into victory lane. Racing at Talladega (Superspeedway) is going to be exciting. I’m looking for redemption after the Speed Weeks that I had with our primary and then back-up truck getting wrecked. We have a lot of confidence and momentum going to Talladega as the past winner, especially coming off these three finishes that we’ve had with the No. 17 Toyota Tundra. I’m really looking forward to getting there. We had fast trucks at Daytona (International Speedway), and we’ll get hooked up with Ben (Kennedy) and run fast all day coming down to the last lap, it’s every man for himself.”
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Ben Kennedy
No. 11 Local Motors
Toyota Tundra
Ben Kennedy Ties Career-Best Finish with Third-Place Result in Sin City
Ben Kennedy and the Local Motors team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Rhino Linings 350 this weekend and earned a third-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 11 team logged the 16th-fastest time in the only practice session Saturday morning, and later that afternoon advanced to the second and final round of single-truck qualifying to earn the ninth starting position for the 146-lap race. As the sun set over the desert on Saturday night, Kennedy took the green flag at the 1.5-mile race track, however, starting on the inside line proved to be a disadvantage as he slipped from ninth to 15th by lap 10. Battling a slightly loose condition early in the event, crew chief Scott Zipadelli called for fuel and chassis adjustments while under the lap-14 caution, and again under yellow-flag conditions on lap 38 where they also changed the four Goodyear tires. As the night air set in and track conditions changed, the Daytona Beach, Florida native reported that the handling on the No. 11 Toyota Tundra was now tight. Teams began green-flag pit stops and Zipadelli called his driver to pit road on lap 93 for four tires, a full tank of Sunoco fuel, air pressure and a track bar adjustment. While the field cycled through pit stops, the Red Horse Racing driver climbed to the seventh position. Most teams running in the top 10 were nearing the end of their fuel window in the closing laps, and a number of trucks ran out prior to the checkered flag. In the final lap, Kennedy gained four spots to finish third, again tying his career best NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finish (Martinsville Speedway, March. 2014; Atlanta Motor Speedway, 2015; Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 2015).
Start – 9
Finish – 3
Driver Points Position – 9
Laps Led – 0
Ben Kennedy Quotes:
“We had a really good race tonight here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) and the guys did an awesome job with our Local Motors Tundra. It was really cool to have a good run out here. This is cool to come out of here [at Las Vegas Motor Speedway] with this finish as Las Vegas is home to one of Local Motors’ microfactory locations, so it was cool for us being tied in with them and having a good run like that. I’m happy for John Wes Townley and his team, too. I worked with a lot of those guys last year, and it’s exciting for them to get their first win. I’m not excited about taking a couple weeks off – I’m ready to go back racing.”
I knew we were close on fuel at the end and he [crew chief Scott Zipadelli] told me not to worry about it, to keep doing what I was doing. I had that going on in the back of my mind during that last lap. I knew that Timothy (Peters) pitted a lap before me, so he was going to run out of fuel before I did. We could see everyone running out of fuel on the race track and coming down pit road, but I had no idea we would end up third. I knew we were racing Timothy for the next position and then saw a bunch of those guys in front of us run out [of fuel]. In the back of your mind you wonder if you’re actually racing for the win, but at the other end you’re also thinking that you need to save some fuel so you can make it to the checkered flag. It was really close for us, but thankfully the No. 11 guys did the calculations right.”