Connect with us

Late Model Stock Cars

Timothy Peters holds off late challenge for Martinsville win

Timothy Peters scored his second ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday night, holding off a late charge from Peyton Sellers.

Peters, a former series regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, battled with Trevor Noles throughout much of the second half of the race, swapping the lead several times and racing side-by-side. Peters finally passed Noles for the final time with 14 laps remaining, then held off Sellers’ charge to pick up the $25,000 victory and the grandfather clock.

The win was extra-satisfying for Peters given all the adversity in 2017.

“You never know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” Peters said. “I’ve learned this year, with all the adversity that has come about, that you never give up and lose your faith. It’s really special. Barry Nelson is a go-getter. He gives us the resources and shame on us if we don’t use them. We’ve tried for so long and finally now get it a second time, it only took 12 years.”

Peters won the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 previously in 2005 – the same year Sellers won the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship.

Sellers charged through the field late, racing his way up to second, but could not reel Peters in. Coming to the white flag, Sellers got loose, allowing Lee Pulliam to get by him on the last lap of the race.

While Sellers has never won at Martinsville, he took his third-place finish in stride after struggling throughout much of the race.

“Track position hurt us,” Sellers explained. “We had some wiring issues, voltage issues and the motor just would not go like we needed it to. What an awesome job by my team to get where we’re at. It’s satisfying with the night we had though to overcome all the adversity and not crash the car. Just very pleased to be here.”

Four-time and newly crowned Whelen All-American Series national champion Lee Pulliam finished in second – a result he was satisfied with despite winning the race on two previous occasions.

“We struggled yesterday bigtime but we made some huge changes and we had a top three car,” Pulliam stated. “We just didn’t have the track position and that really hurt us. We battled and missed the invert. We probably passed more cars than anybody here coming through there. To finish second at Martinsville, you can’t hang your head about that.
Congratulations to Timothy Peters. Really proud of everybody’s hard work.”

After starting on the pole, Jake Crum ended up finishing fourth while Trevor Noles finished fifth.

  1. Timothy Peters
  2. Lee Pulliam
  3. Peyton Sellers
  4. Jake Crum
  5. Trevor Noles
  6. Justin T. Carroll
  7. Tommy Lemons, Jr
  8. Stacy Puryear
  9. Brandon Pierce
  10. CE Falk
  11. Derrick Lancaster
  12. Grayson Cullather
  13. Brenden Queen
  14. Myatt Snider
  15. Austin Thaxton
  16. Phillip Morris
  17. Dennis Holdren
  18. Annabeth Crum
  19. Kres VanDyke
  20. Eddie Johnson
  21. Mason Diaz
  22. Nick Smith
  23. Josh Berry
  24. Casey Wyatt
  25. Bryan Reedy
  26. Trevor Ward
  27. Thomas Scott
  28. Mike Looney
  29. RD Smith
  30. Tim Phipps
  31. Travis Swaim
  32. Bobby McCarty
  33. Matt Leicht
  34. Jason York
  35. Jamey Caudill
  36. Blake Stallings
  37. Ryan Repko
  38. Scott Lancaster
  39. Danny Edwards
  40. Mike Darne
  41. Justin Johnson
  42. Ryan Wilson

Read more Short Track Scene:

If you like what you read here, become a Short Track Scene Patreon and support short track journalism!

Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Archive

Advertisement

More in Late Model Stock Cars