Despite numerous on track incidents and mechanical woes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie Timothy Peters and his Bailey’s Dodge survived a wild and hot night in the Dixie delta. Peters rallied to pass four trucks on the last lap and posted an 18^th place finish in the O’Reilly 200 at Memphis Motorsports Park.

“Our Bailey’s truck was good tonight,” Peters said after the event. “We just couldn’t dodge all the incidents and troubles throughout the course of the night. If we had a few more breaks to fall our way we would have had a really good finish. The rear brakes overheated and it caused us to spin out but we didn’t tear up the truck. Considering how far back we fell I think we did a good job as a team to fight back to 18^th.”

Peters started the event in the 9^th position after a strong qualifying run despite a heat index of 118 and track temperatures that climbed as high as 147 degrees. Peters maintained his top ten status through the race’s early stages, running as high as seventh on lap 40. On lap 43 Peters was forced to pit because of an overheating problem with his Bailey’s Dodge. After his crew changed four tires and fuel and removed tape from his front grill Peters exited in the 27^th spot.

On lap 53 several fellow competitors stacked up directly in Peter’s path in turn three and he was unable to avoid the incident although his Dodge was not significantly damaged. On lap 69 newcomer Aric Almirola spun while running alongside Peters but the Providence, NC native was able to once again avoid damage. Peters was able to climb back through the field and by lap 100 he had made it back in contention in 16^th position.

Peters brought his Dodge down pit road on lap 115 for four fresh tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment and an air pressure adjustment to help fight a loose race truck. Then when fellow Dodge driver Deborah Renshaw spun in turn two on lap 141 Peters was unable to avoid contact because his rear brakes were overheating and not stopping fast.  The result was a damaged right rear quarter panel and Peters was forced to pit for repairs.

Then on lap 154 Robert Huffman spun on the backstretch bringing out another caution and allowing Peters to pit once again to investigate his rear brake problems and try to eliminate a “wheel hopping” problem related to the brake bias. On lap 161 Ted Musgrave, Mike Skinner and Almirola tangled on the backstretch bringing out a red flag condition. Officials scrambled to provide water for the drivers who were battling dehydration in the scorching heat. When the race resumed Peters once again came to pit road for continued repairs and fell one lap down to the leaders. Peters regained that lap via NASCAR’s lucky dog rule just a few laps later when Ricky Craven made hard contact with the turn one wall. Peters restarted in the 26^th position and climbed up to 22^nd by the time the last caution came out on lap 196. On the ensuing green-white-checker finishing run a full scale melee broke out when Jimmy Spencer spun and several trucks became involved including race leader Ron Hornaday Jr. who was spun backwards and attempted to make it to the finish line in reverse. Peters passed four trucks in the midst of the confusion and nipped Hornaday at the line for a hard fought 18^th place finish.

“It was really hot out there tonight,” Peters said as he recuperated in the garage area. “I have never been that hot in a race. That red flag period really helped us. It cooled the driver down and it cooled the brakes down.”

Brandon Whitt won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in front of the 30,000+ enthusiastic fans at Memphis Motorsports Park. David Reutimann, Brendan Gaughan, Dennis Setzer and David Starr rounded out the top five.