NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie of the year candidate Timothy Peters ended up at the same place he started in Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Peters started in the 19th position at Bristol’s tricky and tight half mile oval, climbed to as high as the 9th position and held his own in close quarters combat with some of NASCAR’s more experienced veterans. When the evening was done Peters was back in the 19th spot, not a bad showing for the 24 year-old Providence, NC native’s first visit to Bristol in NCTS competition.

“We had a real good truck tonight,” Peters said in the garage area following the 200 lap event. “Track position was the key here and we just didn’t have it when we needed it. The Bailey’s crew put the Bailey’s Dodge in and out of the pits as fast as possible. We brought this truck home with minor, minor damage. I hate that we finished a lap down but that long green flag run didn’t help us there. Who would have thought that we would go that many green flag laps at Bristol without a caution.”

No. 4 Bailey’s Dodge Bristol Race Recap

• Peters started the race in the 19th position after his afternoon qualification run. Peters was 9th fastest in the afternoon practice session.

• After the first caution flag fell for Chris Wimmer’s spin on the front stretch, Peter’s radioed his that he was just a little bit loose. Crew Chief Randy Seals indicated they would tighten up his Bailey’s Dodge with a slight air pressure adjustment on the first pit stop. 

• When the second caution flag came out on lap 18 Peters informed his Bailey’s crew that he was “just trying to find the right rhythm.”

• By Lap 41 the handle on Peters’ Bailey’s Dodge had shifted to the tight side. He radioed his crew and told them his chassis needed to be “freed up in the middle.”

• When Deborah Renshaw’s spin in turn two brought the race’s fourth caution flag on lap 70, Peters brought his Bailey’s Dodge down pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires and a full load of Sunoco fuel. His crew also made went up two rounds on the track bar to help loosen up his chassis. Peters came in to the pits in the 9th position and exited in the 23rd spot when many of the lead lap trucks elected to stay out.

• The race endured an unusually long green flag run lasting 100 laps starting on lap 88 and ending with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points leader Dennis Setzer’s crash on lap 188. Peters did a terrific job of holding off leader and eventual race winner Mike Skinner but fell one lap down during the tail end of the long green flag run.

• Peters made his last pit stop on Lap 190, getting four fresh tires for the last 10 laps of competition.

• Peters brings his Bailey’s Dodge home in the 19th position with very little damage.

“There were three of four times that I thought I was right in the middle of a wreck and we got through it somehow,” Peters said. “That is the key to finishing one of these races at Bristol, missing wrecks, keeping your nose clean and being there at the end.  We were able to hold off the leader for a while during that long green flag run so that lets me know we had a truck capable of running in the top ten. We just didn’t have the caution flags fall the way we needed them. All in all it wasn’t a bad night. I learned a lot and I am getting some valuable experience on these tracks that I will need for next year. We will just pack this thing up and get ready for Richmond.”

Mike Skinner won the O’Reilly 200, his first NCTS win since 1996. Todd Bodine, Jack Sprague, Johnny Benson and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Peters still holds the second spot in the NCTS Raybestos rookie of the year chase, he trails Todd Kluever by 87 markers. 60,000 NASCAR fans attended Wednesday night’s midweek affair.