More than half the field crashed out or was heavily damaged, but NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series had enough survivors to offer another classic finish Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Timothy Peters muscled past former champion Todd Bodine in the last turn on the last lap, then held off five challengers to win the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 by about a yard.
Bodine, bidding for his third consecutive Daytona victory, ended up second after leading most of the final 20 laps and 32 of the race's 100 laps. Dennis Setzer was third, then pole winner Jason White, Matt Crafton, ex-Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr., Stacy Compton, former champion Johnny Benson, Donnie Neuenberger and J.J. Yeley.
Twenty of the 36 entries were sidelined or damaged in crashes. Among them were the trucks of four-time and defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., former champions Mike Skinner and Ted Musgrave, No. 2 starter Elliott Sadler, ex-motocross star Ricky Carmichael, series veteran Rick Crawford, Kyle Busch, Johnny Sauter, Landon Cassill, Mario Gosslin and Max Papis.
Peters likely would have settled for second behind Bodine until he saw third-running White pull out and make an outside run entering Turn 3 on the last lap. Peters went up for a push, then cut back down, passing Bodine on the inside.
"He did exactly what he was supposed to do," Bodine said. "It was a great crossover move."
Peters credited White with helping him win the race. "Jason gave me such a great push," he said. "It got me right by Todd."
Bodine led four times for a race-high 34 laps and Sadler led three times for 25 laps before crashing out. None of the other 10 leaders were in front for more than eight laps: Carlos Contreras, Brett Butler, Papis, Skinner, Peters, Setzer, White, Compton, Benson, and Yeley.
The next Camping World Truck race is March 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Source: autoweek.com
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