SONOMA, Calif. (June 22, 2003) – Handling hampered driver Todd Bodine’s chances for a top-15 finish in the season’s first of two-road course events. Bodine has always favored this form of racing however; Infineon Raceway and handling challenges were tough to overcome. The National Guard Taurus took the checkered flag in 23rd place. Meanwhile, the result helped move up Bodine in the driver points standing to 31st position.

"The car really didn’t handle well,” said Bodine after the race. “It was a real handful.  It just didn’t want to turn through the corners and when you have 10 turns, you can pretty much count on having a long day.”

Before the start of the Dodge/Save Mart 350, a pit strategy was determined. Crew Chief Derrick Finley felt the best way to gain significant track position was to pit early under green flag conditions. His game plan was put into action on lap 33. The crew went to work by making an air pressure adjustment, changing four Goodyears and refueling the car. The service took just 14.82 seconds.

Unlike oval tracks, caution flags did not lead to ideal opportunities to come down pit road.  Instead, most of the competition stayed out in favor of track position on laps 35, 50, and 58. Bodine’s handling condition persisted forcing him to ride in 25th position. However, the Guard car’s biggest gain occurred on lap 66 after a gaggle of cars got bunched up and turned around. Bodine dodged the cars to gain 15-track positions to run in 10th place.  Soon after, Finley put the second part of his pit strategy into action. The No. 54 machine was to pit under green for the final time on lap 72. Unfortunately the caution came out one lap earlier forcing Bodine to pit under caution going from fifth to 25th place.

“It’s a shame our strategy did not play out,” continued Bodine. “On road courses, you really need to pit under green to maintain that momentum on the track. If we could have avoided the caution, we had a good shot at a top 15. Unfortunately it didn’t happen that way.”

With less than 25 laps remaining, the caution came out with Bodine running in 32nd place. The team took a chance by pitting in favor of track bar and air pressure changes along with four new tires. It worked. The Guard car was able to pick up nine positions on the track.

“I wish we would have had more time,” said the No. 54 driver. “The car wasn’t perfect but it was the best it had been through the entire race. This isn’t the way we wanted to finish, but we’ll take it and learn from it. We still have Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International left and I’d like to see our road course program improve.”

Robby Gordon won the Dodge/Save Mart 350 beating out Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Bill Elliott and Ryan Newman.

OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS   OFFICIAL POINTS STANDINGS  Bodine picks up one spot!

Read More About The Race:
http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/06/22/bc.car..nascar.sonoma.ap/index.html
http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/06/22/rgordon_jgordon/index.html

Dodge/Save Mart 350 Images
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By: Traci Hultzapple
Senior Account Manager – BelCar Racing - No. 54 National Guard Taurus
Cox Marketing Group / Mooresville, NC  28117