TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Timothy Peters picked up his first NASCAR Truck Series victory of the season Saturday by holding off the field on a two-lap sprint to the finish at Talladega Superspeedway.
Peters ended a 22-race winless drought with the win for Red Horse Racing.
It was his eighth career victory, but first at Talladega and first since last season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Peters led a race-high 31 laps.
A spin by Norm Benning brought out a caution with six laps remaining, and set up the final two-lap dash.
Peters beat Tayler Malsam to the finish line by 0.143 seconds, but Malsam still finished a career-best second and Spencer Gallagher was a career-best third.
“Chris Lambert, who spots for me, did a great job from the time the green flag fell till the checkered flag waved,” Peters said. “It was system overload, telling me everything, how far apart they were in front of me, how close the guy behind me was, what run was coming on the outside coming to the checkered flag.”
“It just felt really good to go to Victory Lane.”
Tyler Reddick was fourth, followed by Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and Chris Fontaine.
Matt Crafton remained the points leader with four races remaining. He has a 16-point lead over Blaney.
An engine failure ended Johnny Sauter’s championship hopes. Sauter slowed on Lap 24, coasted to pit road and finished 31st. He dropped from second to fourth in the championship standings.
“Whatever … the championship’s over,” Sauter said.
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