No Further Penalties For Timothy Peters Following Incident With Ron Hornaday Jr:
A spokesperson from NASCAR reiterated Saturday afternoon at Iowa Speedway that no further penalty will be issued to Red Horse Racing’s Timothy Peters following his incident with former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday during Friday night’s American Ethanol 200.
Peters and Hornaday’s night were hampered following a Lap 62 incident where the two made contact on the frontstretch, while running inside the top-10. Peters unhappy with the situation retaliated on Hornaday Jr., hooking the left rear the next lap on the backstretch, which sparked the third caution of the race on Lap 63.
The contact, however, added insult to injury on Peters’ No. 17 Toyota Tundra, as heavy front damage sent the Virginia native to the garage for repairs. Peters later returned to the race track, salvaging a 31st place finish.
Hornaday, out of contention settled for a disappointing 21st place finish.
“I was on the outside and just got pinched,” Hornaday said. “I lifted a little bit and thought (Peters) was coming up and he pulled away from me and was a half truck down got back into it and turned right. It looked like his spotter cleared him. His guys came down and apologized and his spotter apologized, so that’s all I can say. He said I race them that way all the time and that’s the first time me and Timmy had an incident.”
After the race and obviously cooled from the banter, Peters summed the incident up to a ‘racing deal’ and is focused on the series’ next event at Eldora Speedway on July 23 in New Weston, Ohio.
“It was just one of those racing things tonight. We thought we were clear, and we made contact with the No. 30. Marcus (Richmond, crew chief) and the No. 17 guys worked hard and fast to get us back out on the track. We’ll just move forward and focus on our next race at Eldora (Speedway).”
Fans sounded off on Twitter demanding that Peters be parked, attributing the incident similar to what happened with Hornaday and Kyle Busch at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2011. Under caution, Busch right-reared Hornaday’s No. 33 Chevrolet sending him hard into the outside wall. Busch paid the price for his action when NASCAR parked him for the weekend. Subsequently, the squabble ended both drivers’ hopes at a championship that year.
Hornaday, himself though was at the center of controversy when he was slapped with a 25 point penalty and fined $25,000 last season for crashing Darrell Wallace Jr. under caution at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway. While the accident at Iowa Speedway occurred under a green flag pace, Hornaday admitted that Peters should receive a penalty for his actions.
“Hopefully the yellow was out when he turned me and he’ll get fined 25 grand like I did,” Hornaday said. “I guess we’ll find out,” he said.
Surprising to some, Peters though was not penalized further for his actions, but NASCAR insisted that the incident had been settled by both drivers with a post-race discussion on pit road. However, NASCAR also mentioned that if Peters would have took out his revenge under caution, the outcome could have been completely different.
Brad Keselowski Racing Summer Stretch Driver Lineup Shaping Up:
While Ryan Blaney is all set in the No. 29 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing, the driver lineup for the No. 19 Ford F-150 has been on the down low, but CATCHFENCE.com has learned that the lineup for the upcoming races is beginning to align.
Tyler Reddick, who finished ninth at Iowa Speedway last night will pilot the No. 19 Ford F-150 at Eldora Speedway on July 23rd, while Joey Logano is expected to carry the team at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and Michigan International Speedway respectively.
Brad Keselowski will return to the truck in his final planned race of the year at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway mid-August.
Alex Tagliani is the leading candidate to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (CTMP) on August 31, CATCHFENCE.com has learned. Tagliani, a native of Montreal Quebec has made five starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driving for owners Pat MacDonald, Steve Turner and Roger Penske. His best Nationwide effort in a four-year stretch occurred a few weeks ago at Road America (Wisc.) where the 40-year old finished second after starting first.
No sponsor has been mentioned for Tagliani’s effort, but it’s likely a current backer from the BKR stables.
Strong Weekend For Bryan Silas Despite Finish:
T3R2 driver Bryan Silas has been competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series full-time since 2012, but Friday night at Iowa Speedway, he proved he belonged there. For some though, the run wasn’t surprising considering the team’s recent elevated performance.
Despite limited sponsorship on his No. 99 Chevrolet Silverado, Silas under the leadership of Cal Boprey stood out during the day for his ability to start upfront and maintain his position throughout the American Ethanol 200.
In the only practice session, the team showed some signs of life by placing 17th. However, it was in knockout qualifying, where the No. 99 roared to life. Silas hustled to the seventh quickest lap during his first lap of competition and stepped it up even more to fourth quickest overall.
The team’s efforts immediately caught the attention of the Fox Sports 1 commentators and other teams in the garage area. Silas’ time stood and he was able to make it in the final round of knockout qualifying, where he qualified a career-best 11th.
During the race, Silas fell a few positions at the start, but as the race progressed, his No. 99 Bell Trucks Chevrolet Silverado came to life allowing the Stuart, Florida native to rundown the positions he lost. A bad pit stop knocked Silas to 23rd in the rundown, but he refused to let that miscue ruin his night.
Quickly Silas climbed through the field and worked his way back into 11th, where he stayed through the final stages of the event, until his engine seized with 26 laps remaining, abruptly ending a strong night with a 29th place finish.
“I’m still happy with the finish even with our issue,” said Silas following the race. “We’ve been really working hard to improve our program and we’re starting to flex our muscle. We still have a long way to go, but we’re happy with our direction. Our team has some confidence right now and that’s what we need to keep going.”
Career-Bests:
Seven drivers earned their career-best finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Friday night at Iowa Speedway. They were:
• Jeff Choquette, seventh (previously eight at Iowa Speedway, 2013).
• Spencer Gallagher, 11th (previously, 20th at Texas Motor Speedway, 2013)
• Justin Jennings, 15th (previously, 16th at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway 2014 and Kansas Speedway 2014)
• Brandon Brown, 25th, series debut.
• Dustin Hapka, 27th, series debut.
• Eric Caudell, 28th, series debut.
• Tommy Regan, 36th, series debut.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
