TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 6, 2003) – In anticipation of today’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, critics and drivers alike wondered, will the “big one” happen? It did. On lap five between turns one and two, a cut-down tire led to chaos by collecting 27 cars including the No. 54 National Guard machine driven by Todd Bodine. Fortunately, after extensive repairs, the Guard car was able to make it to the finish and score a 28th place, respectively.

"It was the same as yesterday,” commented Bodine as he compared yesterday’s Busch Series incident to today’s melee. “Ryan Newman cut down a left-rear tire and he was toward the front just like Jay (Sauter) was yesterday. There's nothing you can do. You just start piling into one another. You're going so fast that when something like this happens you want to be right behind it. You don't want to be five cars behind it because that fifth car --- that’s the one that’s going to get it. Once that starts, then everybody gets into it. We did."

Bodine brought his No. 54 machine down pit road for the crew to survey the damage. At first it appeared that only the fenders needed to be pulled out however upon further observation, it was discovered that water was leaking from the radiator. The crew was forced to go behind the wall to fix the car.

“The bumper went back and put a hole in the radiator,” added Bodine. “Everyone worked together to change it, even one of our owners, Travis Carter.  It was truly a BelCar Racing team effort. That says a lot about this race team. We come upon some hard times, but we refuse to give up. We’re ready to do what it takes to get back out there and compete for every position we can get.”

In a blistering 33 laps, the repair was made and Bodine was back out and running full throttle with the frontrunners. At one point, the Guard car driver called in to say he could actually run to the front and was impressed with how well the car handled despite the damage to the car’s aerodynamics.  

“You can always speculate, if I went one way or the other, I might have made it through the big one,” reflected the No. 54 driver. “Honestly, what good does it do? At least our car was not as bad as some especially when looking at the other military cars. It was a tough day. What really matters most is no one got hurt. It was a pretty wild looking crash.” 

Bodine’s wild day ended racing within the pack as Dale Earnhardt Jr. fiercely fought Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Ward Burton for the victory.  Junior’s win is his fourth-straight at Talladega making him the first driver ever to accomplish the feat.

To Read More About Sunday’s Events: 
Junior’s Yellow Line Debate:
The Big One:
UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
UNOFFICIAL POINTS STANDINGS:

Please visit the following links for pictures from Talladega. 
Friday 4/4         Sunday  4/6
 

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