One year after Bobby Hamilton provided Dodge with their first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver’s championship veteran Ted Musgrave provided Dodge with a second consecutive NCTS driver’s crown in Saturday morning’s Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Rookie of the year contender Timothy Peters proved to be the second highest finishing Dodge with a 15th place finish in his No. 4 Bailey’s Dodge. The event was run 12 hours after its scheduled Friday night start after intermittent rain showers forced the postponement of the event.  

“I really didn’t have the Bailey’s Dodge balanced just right toady,” Peters said following the event. “We set the truck up for a night time race and we were just too loose for an early morning race. It seemed like the last 30 laps we were able to get a good handle on the truck but by that time it was just too late in the race for us to make it up and we didn’t have the track position we needed. Sammy Sanders, Danny Gill and the whole Bailey’s team did a great job today in calling the race and in getting me in and off of pit road and the pit stops were great.” 

No. 4 Bailey’s Dodge Timothy Peters Ford 200 Recap

• Peters started Ford 200 in the 20th position.
• On lap 1 under the first caution Peters radioed, “If I keep my nose clean here, we have a winning piece.  It will hook on the bottom.”
• Then under green flag conditions on lap 13 Peters radioed, “I’m really loose around other trucks.”  The driver fell back to 23rd position.
• Under the second caution on lap 32 the Bailey’s Racing Team made a track bar adjustment and performed a timely pit stop.  Peters restarted 23rd.
• In the next green flag laps Peters worked his way into the top 20.  The rookie told Spotter Danny Gill under the fourth caution his Dodge was not driving bad, but he couldn’t get a run on them in the bottom groove.
• On lap 98 under green-flag conditions, Peters brought his Bailey’s Dodge on to pit road for a routine pit stop.  Peters resumed his position on the track in 20th. 
• Then on lap 122 the sixth caution came out.  Gill radioed the Bailey’s team to pump up the right side tires for Timothy’s last pit stop of 2005.
• As Peters entered pit road on lap 125 he overshot the pit stall.  As he backed up to get in the required square, it stripped the gear on the No. 4 Dodge.
• With only minimal laps left in the race, Peters restarted the race in second gear and picked up two more positions to finish the event, missing the big melee on the backstretch of the last lap, in the 15th spot.

“We will take this momentum into next year and see if maybe we can get us a couple of wins,” Peters said. “These last few races have been very helpful and I have learned a lot in this Bailey’s Dodge. We got a top ten finish at Martinsville and we ran competitively at Atlanta and Homestead and we finished second in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year race so I think there is a lot to build on at Bobby Hamilton Racing.”

Todd Bodine continued his late season hot streak by winning the Ford 200, his third consecutive NCTS victory. Jack Sprague, Johnny Benson, Mike Bliss and Bill Lester rounded out the top five.