Timothy Peters Prevails In Martinsville’s ValleyStar Credit Union 300
Story By: ANDY MARQUIS / NASCAR – MARTINSVILLE, VA – 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.
| Pos | No. | Name | Sponsor | Laps | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Timothy Peters | Autos by Nelson/Little Caesars | 200 | |
| 2 | 5 | Lee Pulliam | Kiker Tree Service | 200 | 1.075 |
| 3 | 26 | Peyton Sellers | Clarence’s Steakhouse/Danville Toyota | 200 | 1.099 |
| 4 | 01 | Jake Crum | MyFreedomSmokes.com/Cherokee Undergound | 200 | 1.999 |
| 5 | 2 | Trevor Noles | 200 | 2.256 | |
| 6 | 57A | Justin T. Carroll | Industrial Battery & Charger Inc | 200 | 4.089 |
| 7 | 27 | Tommy Lemons, Jr | SavingSadieRae.org | 200 | 5.085 |
| 8 | 17 | Stacy Puryear | Marion Brothers Logging | 200 | 6.316 |
| 9 | 2C | Brandon Pierce | Thunder Road Harley-Davidson | 200 | 6.612 |
| 10 | 02 | CE Falk | A-1 Heating & Cooling/Worlely Machine/Blacksburg Auto | 200 | 8.000 |
| 11 | 25 | Derrick Lancaster | Total Car & Truck Services | 200 | 8.365 |
| 12 | 22D | Grayson Cullather | Rick Hendrick Chevy | 200 | 8.888 |
| 13 | 03 | Brenden Queen | Atlantic Plumbing & Utilities | 200 | 9.701 |
| 14 | 2B | Myatt Snider | Louisiana Hot Sauce | 200 | 10.355 |
| 15 | 12A | Austin Thaxton | Fallen Trucking/Italian Delight | 199 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | 01A | Phillip Morris | Trailer Town USA | 198 | 2 Laps |
| 17 | 2A | Dennis Holdren | Blue Ridge Color/Hannabass & Rowe/Gregory’s Auto Body | 198 | 2 Laps |
| 18 | 4 | Annabeth Crum | KHM Racing/Liberty Buick GMC/Mt. Airy Toyota | 192 | 8 Laps |
| 19 | 15 | Kres VanDyke | Stallings Collision/JJ’s/GRIPP/Food City/Modern Chev | 188 | 12 Laps |
| 20 | 57 | Eddie Johnson | Medek Tree Service Inc | 179 | 21 Laps |
| 21 | 24 | Mason Diaz | United Spine Assoc of VA/Shepard Center | 176 | 24 Laps |
| 22 | 12B | Nick Smith | 171 | 29 Laps | |
| 23 | 88 | Josh Berry | The Decal Source | 155 | 45 Laps |
| 24 | 92 | Casey Wyatt | Christopher Newport University Women’s Basketball | 154 | 46 Laps |
| 25 | 17C | Bryan Reedy | Woods Transportation | 154 | 46 Laps |
| 26 | 77 | Trevor Ward | 153 | 47 Laps | |
| 27 | 8 | Thomas Scott | Draper Lumber Company | 144 | 56 Laps |
| 28 | 87 | Mike Looney | A-1 Heating & Cooling/Long Transport | 122 | 78 Laps |
| 29 | 16 | RD Smith | Smith Rentals | 122 | 78 Laps |
| 30 | 4A | Tim Phipps | Laurel Kia/Phipps Automotive | 113 | 87 Laps |
| 31 | 21A | Travis Swaim | D&L Drywall | 80 | 120 Laps |
| 32 | 22 | Bobby McCarty | AutosByNelson.com/State Farm | 78 | 122 Laps |
| 33 | 2D | Matt Leicht | Hudson Inc./Gibson Flooring | 72 | 128 Laps |
| 34 | 18A | Jason York | Scott’s Hardware/A. Hern Rentals/J&T Woodworks | 61 | 139 Laps |
| 35 | 50 | Jamey Caudill | Robert Elliott Trucking | 57 | 143 Laps |
| 36 | 77D | Blake Stallings | Stallings Collision Center | 55 | 145 Laps |
| 37 | 14 | Ryan Repko | The McClain Group | 38 | 162 Laps |
| 38 | 22C | Scott Lancaster | Nick Rush for Delegate/Fain Tire & Auto | 32 | 168 Laps |
| 39 | 26C | Danny Edwards | Danny’s Glass | 24 | 176 Laps |
| 40 | 21 | Mike Darne | ABC Hosiery | 14 | 186 Laps |
| 41 | 44 | Justin Johnson | 9 | 191 Laps | |
| 42 | 12C | Ryan Wilson | Moran Automotive | 4 | 196 Laps |
