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NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: NEXTERA ENERGY RESOURCES 250February 21, 2014Timothy PetersJohnny SauterDAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA KERRY THARP: Let's roll into our post race for tonight's 15th annual NexTerra Energy Resources 250, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race here at Daytona International Speedway. What a race it was. Finishing second, Timothy Peters. Kyle got you at the wire. Talk about the race here tonight. TIMOTHY PETERS: You know, it was a phenomenal race for us. Testament goes back to the shop, pre‑season thunder testing, getting back with my long time friend Marcus Richmond, who was my former crew chief, putting their nose to the grindstone, not only on the 17 truck, but the 7 and 77. To come down and have a Speedweeks like we had, we were fast from the time we unloaded. We knew if we could be there at the end, we would have had a shot to this thing. Oh so close. I'm kind of kicking myself a little bit. I feel like I got out in the front a little too far. But you can't back up too fast because you know that you'll get run over or lose what you feel like you can gain. I'm happy for everybody at Red Horse, Valvoline coming onboard for this race, Toyota, Express Oil Change. Just a great effort. Second leading the points going into Martinsville, that's kind of my hometown, so I'm looking forward to it. KERRY THARP: Questions for Timothy. Q. What was it that you had that you could pull the outside line the way you did? TIMOTHY PETERS: We built a really fast truck. Like I said, it goes back to Marcus Richmond, the guys at the fab shop being precise on every piece with the truck. I believe our truck, as long as it was leading, would pull that outside line. Man, it was awesome. Great pit stops put us up front. Chris Lambert giving me the direction when the 32 and the 30 were working hard on the outside. The first time we led, the 92 really helped us get up there last time. The 32 helped us. We're the bridesmaid. The last time we came here the bridesmaid, we almost won the championship at Homestead, so not too bad. Q. Specifically how did the new truck in race trim handle on the track? TIMOTHY PETERS: It handled really well. The difference of this year's model of our Tundra compared to last year's is the side draft really came into effect, more so than ever. We really tried to study a lot of the tools that TRD has made for us as far as with the side drafting, manipulating air, all that. What a way to start. Q. I know you had a great truck, but this has got to sting a little bit, right? Talk about your emotions of being that close. Secondly, was there anything about Kyle's approach on the last lap that surprised you? TIMOTHY PETERS: No. Had a good run on me coming off of four. He's Kyle Busch. I should have did a little bit better job of backing up to him because I knew I had a strong truck. That's the thing that stings, is got too far out. The good thing is we got second, we led laps. The only thing that matters right now is he's leading the owners points, we're leading the drivers points. A lot of people's seasons start at Daytona, that's how the outcome is. Last year we came here, finished 30th, got involved in a wreck. The year before we finished second, almost won the thing. This isn't too bad of a sting, you know. KERRY THARP: Timothy, congratulations on a very good start here tonight at Daytona. Our third‑place finisher, Johnny Sauter. Johnny, I believe you won this race last year. You had a heck of a truck here tonight. Talk about your performance. JOHNNY SAUTER: Yeah, you know, it's funny because in practice nobody was really drafting so we really didn't know what to expect. I kept saying that to my guys, Don't worry about legging back, posting a big‑time, nobody's really getting in a pack. I never would have believed the race was like it was tonight. Track position was everything. We'd get double file. The only truck I saw all night long that could make hay was the 17. In hindsight, maybe I should have jumped up in front of him, made him push me to the front. I didn't feel I was in a position to do that. I committed to the 51 all night long. We had solid pit stops on our truck. The guys did a good job in the pits. We did our best to maintain track position. We were in a position there at the end. I pushed Kyle down the backstretch because I knew that was my only chance to clear the 32 and ultimately have a run on Kyle coming up off of four. He got too far away from me. I just didn't get away from the 32 quick enough. It bogged my momentum. I was a sitting duck when Kyle launched on to the 17. Nowhere I could really go. I kind of echo what Timothy said there. Finishing Daytona is a good thing. Obviously you want to win, but this is one of those racetracks that the momentum of the season can kind of start out good and start out bad. We'll take a third‑place finish. Q. What was your perspective of the battle for the win there? Did it look like the guy won who actually won? JOHNNY SAUTER: Well, it looked to me like obviously Kyle got away from me a little bit there, so he had separation. He was able to draw on the 17. His truck obviously sucked up really well. That's basically what I saw. I just elected to try to stay in a straight line there and make sure I didn't make a mistake, get turned or anything like that. In hindsight, maybe I should have tried to break with Kyle. He was so far away from me, I don't think it really mattered. Third I think was the best we were going to do tonight. This is eight wins for Toyota and they took the top three spots tonight, so this is good. Q. You said maybe your chance would have been to pull up in front of Timothy and have him push you. Did that all happen so fast you almost didn't have time to make that choice? JOHNNY SAUTER: No. My spotter kept me aware. I was looking and watching. I told my spotter to tell Kyle that I was committed to him till the end. I had seen Timothy do what he did there earlier in the night, he pulled the outside line. He was pretty much the only guy that could do that. At one point Crafton tried to run like heck out there, wasn't able to make it work. I saw Jeb Burton pull up there, didn't really have any success. I was afraid if I went out there, I'd bog him down. I was committed to Kyle. I felt if we could get separation, not be double file, I could have legged back off of Kyle and had a run on him to the finish. You can plan all you want; it just never works out that way. KERRY THARP: Johnny, good luck at Martinsville. JOHNNY SAUTER: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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