RACE REPORT
North Carolina Education Lottery 200
Charlotte Motor Speedway
May 19, 2017
Red Horse Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway
It was a home game for the Red Horse Racing teams, who traveled across town to Charlotte Motor Speedway, located in nearby Concord, N.C. On Thursday, teams participated in two evening practice sessions. Brett Moffitt recorded the fourth and 13th fastest times, while Timothy Peters was 17th and 21st respectively. On Friday afternoon, teams competed in two rounds of single-truck knockout qualifying. Brett Moffitt and Timothy Peters both transferred into the second round to compete for the pole, where Moffitt earned the seventh starting position and Peters the 10th. After 134 laps at the 1.5-mile facility, Moffitt, who was involved in an on-track incident with another vehicle, finished 18th with a heavily damaged Tundra, while Peters earned his first top-five finish of the season with a fifth-place finish.
Timothy Peters No. 17
No. 17 Red Horse Racing
Toyota Tundra
Peters Earns First Top-Five Finish of 2017
Timothy Peters notched a season-best fifth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200. The result is his second top-five finish at Charlotte and ties his track-best finish. In Thursday’s two practice sessions, Peters was shown 17th and 21st on the speed chart, but thanks to thoughtful adjustments by crew chief Chad Kendrick and company overnight, Peters advanced to the second round of qualifying on Friday afternoon and started from the 10th position. When the green flag dropped, Peters immediately moved forward into the top-five in the first five circuits, despite a snug condition that lingered from Thursday’s practices. While running seventh late in Stage 1, Kendrick elected to keep Peters on track during a lap 34 caution period. The strategy call positioned Peters to collect one point at the end of Stage 1. Peters made his first pit stop under the following caution on lap 42 for four tires, fuel, and minimal air pressure and track bar changes to aid his snug condition. He restarted 17th on lap 47, but wouldn’t stay there for long. In turns one and two, Peters went to the top line and made a stunning three wide move to advance seven positions back inside the top-10 on the first lap after the restart. He continued to make quick work of the trucks in front and made his way back into the top-five by lap 59. While running inside the top seven during the stage, Peters radioed to the #17 team that he needed additional lateral and front grip. Peters took the green and white checkered flag in eighth at the end of Stage 2 and collected three additional points. Peters made his final trip to pit road at the end of Stage 2 for four tires, fuel, and air pressure changes to combat his tight balance. Peters restarted from the sixth position on lap 88. He lined up sixth for the final two-lap dash and made the most of restarting in the outside lane to finish fifth. The result is Peters’ best finish of the 2017 season thus far, and has him in a tie for fifth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points after five races.
Start – 10
Finish – 5
Driver Points Position – 5 (Tied)
Laps Led – 0
Timothy Peters Quote:
“This is like starting all over for us, really. Both sessions yesterday, it seemed like we were a little worse. Chad (Kendrick) and all the guys really worked hard and kind of came over here experimenting a little bit, just trying to get a notebook. I’m proud of everybody on this Toyota Tundra. We’ve gotten to what we felt like we need to run with these guys. It’s good, for sure. We just have to perfect it a little bit. This right here is leaps and bounds a step in the right direction. It’s a fifth-place. I’m a little disappointed, but it’s almost like a win.”
Brett Moffitt
No. 7 Red Horse Racing
Toyota Tundra
Rough Night in Charlotte Nets 18th-Place Finish for Moffitt
A long night at Charlotte Motor Speedway resulted in an 18th-place finish for Brett Moffitt and the No. 7 Red Horse Racing Tundra team in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200. On Thursday evening, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams participated in two practice sessions, where Moffitt was fourth and 13th fastest. On Friday afternoon, teams returned in the hot and muggy afternoon sun for two rounds of single-truck, knockout qualifying. Moffitt transferred to the second round to put the No. 7 Toyota Tundra in the seventh starting position. After the green flag fell, Moffitt complained that he was feeling a tight condition in the turns and fell back to tenth. Crew chief Butch Hylton called him to pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments under the second caution flag on lap 34, but a miscommunication amongst the team resulted in a second stop under the same caution. At the end of Stage 1, Moffitt was scored 17th. Still fighting a tight condition, the team again pitted under caution to make adjustments. During Stage 2, the team continued to adjust on the white Toyota Tundra, making improvements and climbing into the top-10, but coming to the end of the stage, Moffitt made unavoidable contact with another vehicle suffering from a mechanical failure. The No. 7 team hammered the racing machine back into shape over the course of several stops and Moffitt started the final stage in 18th. Although the damage slowed his progress, he finished on the lead lap in 18th.
Start – 7
Finish – 18
Driver Points Position – 10
Laps Led – 0
Brett Moffitt Quote:
“It was a really rough night. We had a good Toyota Tundra and just needed to make a few adjustments, but some mistakes in the pits cost us track position, and just as we were getting closer to where we needed to be, we were caught up in someone else’s mess. The guys worked hard to keep us on the lead lap, but we need to get better at execution.”