CONCORD, N.C. (October 12, 2003) – A top five-finish was in the works for the National Guard team under the lights at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Unfortunately, it came to a halt on lap 202. That’s when driver Todd Bodine got the air taken off his car coming out of turn four. The incident forced car 54 to come in for several pit stops to fix a damaged front end. Despite the team’s hard work, the car’s handling drastically went away and Bodine had to settle for 29th place.

I absolutely hate what happened,” said Bodine after qualifying 8th for the UAW-GM Quality 500. “We had such a good weekend going. We had an excellent qualifying effort and our practice sessions were really good. It was a good consistent performance for us. We definitely had one of the best cars out there since we unloaded at Charlotte. If we weren’t running lap times as fast as Tony Stewart, we certainly had a top three, or at least a top five car. I can’t believe our run had to end like this.”

The first 200 laps of the UAW-GM Quality 500 saw car 54 running in the top 10. Pit stops on laps 61, 87, 153 and 161 saw only minor adjustments made to the car. The driver’s main complaint was it was tight through the center and off the corners, especially on the longer runs. Track bar, wedge and air pressure were among the changes made to fix the Guard machine. 

“We made little changes to the car,” continued Bodine. “Each time we left pit road, it seemed like the car was getting better and better. 

The guys in the pits had an awesome night too. They were averaging stops in the mid-14 second range. This team really seems to be clicking right now and I’m excited to see what the rest of our season can produce.”

Bodine was running in eleventh position and recording lap times equal to Stewart on lap 200. He was dicing things up with Elliott Sadler when the 38 car appeared to take the air off car 54. 

“Our cars are so aerodynamically sensitive,” elaborated the driver. “When a car gets close behind you, it does not take much for your car to get upset. It happens so quick that sometimes you can recollect it and sometimes you have to hang on and hope for the best. It’s just racing and it’s a shame that Elliott’s day ended after this and realistically, ours did too. We didn’t have anything for them after our car was damaged. It’s tough to just ride around to the finish after the car we originally had. It was really good. 

Hopefully we can keep our momentum. I’m going to shrug off what happened in Charlotte and concentrate on Martinsville. We know how to run good there too and there’s no reason why we can’t deliver a top five-finish.”

Meanwhile, it was Tony Stewart passing Ryan Newman in the closing laps to score his second victory of the year. Rounding out the top five were Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon.

Todd’s Comments After Qualifying 8th for The UAW-GM Quality 500:
"This is a brand new car and it's got a great body on it. The fab shop put their heads together and did it the way they felt it needed to be done and it showed up tonight. Last week, we had a new body. Gary (Cogswell) has turned this team around. We're trying to be steadfast and hold to what plans we've made and go down the road we've chosen to go down and it's working. We may not be a frontrunner every week, but we're going to be a top 15 car every week the rest of the year. That's going to propel us into next year and that's what we're looking for. We're working to get the team back in order and this is just another start. It's another top 10 qualifying run and these guys deserve it because they've worked hard. I'm happy for them because it's about time the got something for what they've done."

Unofficial ResultsWC -- StandingsWC -- #54 Track Images Link 
Read More About The Event:  AP Story -- Lap by Lap --- JJohnson -- RNewman
 

By: Traci Hultzapple
Senior Account Manager – BelCar Racing - No. 54 National Guard Taurus
Cox Marketing Group / Mooresville, NC  28117