Timothy Peters holds on to win Valley Star Credit Union 300

Although his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team shut down in May, Timothy Peters has plenty of reasons to be happy at the race track again.

Peters held off a hard-charging Lee Pulliam and Peyton Sellers over the last 25-lap sprint to win his second Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway Saturday night in the first race under permanent lights at the historic short track.

Peters passed Pulliam on Lap 175 just before the final break of the race and stayed out front on the restart and went on to score the victory.

“What a night,” said Peters. “I just appreciate everybody who’s a part of this (team).”

Sellers followed in third with pole sitter Jake Crum fourth and Trevor Noles fifth.

Peters started the race ninth and quickly moved into the top five of the 42-car field. He was battling for the lead just past the halfway point of the race after the top-six cars were inverted on the restart.

From that point Peters and Noles raced side-by-side several times for the lead without wrecking one another.  

The 10th and final caution of the race was given to the field on Lap 175 for the scheduled break for tires. Peters said that stop gave his team a chance to change tires and get ready for the sprint to the finish.

“We wanted to get a little bit of forward drive and made a small adjustment to keep those cars close to us,” Peters said. “I can’t thank everyone associated with the team enough and on top of that I get to race a truck in Las Vegas next weekend, too.”

Justin Carroll was sixth with Tommy Lemons Jr., Stacy Puryear, Brandon Pierce and C.E. Falk rounding out the top 10.

The win also gave Peters the Virginia Triple Crown award of $10,000 on top of the $25,000 he won at Martinsville.

The Triple Crown is awarded for having the best finish in Hampton Heat at Langley Speedway; the Thunder Road Harley Davidson 200 at South Boston; and Saturday’s  race at Martinsville. He edged Seller with an average finish of 6.333 to 6.666 in the three races.