LOUDON, N.H. (May 11, 2002) – Todd Bodine and the Excedrin Racing team put together their season’s best finish this past weekend at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.  Bodine took the checkered flag in second place at “The Magic Mile” after qualifying in the third spot for the event.

Bodine posted a speed of 128.828 miles per hour around the 1.058-mile oval, which placed him third on the starting grid.  The third-place qualifying run was the best qualifying effort ever in the three-year history of the Herzog Jackson Motorsports NASCAR Busch Series team.

41 Busch Series cars started the event on Saturday afternoon and despite encountering a loose handling Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the early laps of the event, Bodine took the second spot on lap 12 of the 200-lap Busch 200.  A yellow flag on lap 78 gave the team, led by crew chief Tony (Rambo) Liberati, the opportunity to make a pit stop and adjust the handling of the No. 92 Chevy, which had become tight as the run progressed.  Following an outstanding stop by the pit crew, Bodine returned to the track with the race lead.  Bodine led the next 50 laps before falling to second, when his car once again became tight.

Bodine continued to run in second place behind rookie Shane Hmiel, who took on only two tires during his final pit stop.  Bobby Hamilton Jr., who had a strong car for the entire event, later took the lead from Hmiel and went on to score his first NASCAR Busch Series victory.  The top-five finish was the 140th of Bodine’s Busch Series career and moved the team up one spot in the owner point standings to 12th.

“We had a good racecar,” said Bodine in a post-race interview.  “We weren’t satisfied with the car in happy hour so Rambo and I put our heads together this morning and came up with some ideas that we thought might make the car better.

“We were good, just on long runs it would get tight in the middle of the corner and that’s where Bobby was beating everybody.  It was a pretty uneventful day, we just had a good race car and great pit stops and are happy with a second-place finish today.”

The NASCAR Busch Series travels to Nazareth (Penn.) Speedway next weekend for the running of the Stacker2 200 on Sunday afternoon.  The event will be broadcast live on FX television and MRN radio at 12:30 p.m. EDT.  Qualifying for the race will take place on Saturday, May 18 at 1:00 p.m. EDT. 

For more Excedrin Racing information log onto www.excedrin.com.  Excedrin is a family of non-prescription pain relievers for safe and effective pain relief for a range of headache types.  Excedrin is produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb, a leading diversified worldwide health and personal care company, whose principle businesses are medications, nutritionals and medical devices.

For more information on Herzog Jackson Motorsports, Reggie Jackson and Todd Bodine please visit www.hjmotorsports.com, www.reggiejackson.com and www.todd-bodine.com.
 

Prepared by: Michelle Marckwardt - Excedrin Racing/Eclipse Management Co.