Todd Bodine's bid for a top-10 finish went up in smoke when his engine let go on lap 174 of the 200-lap event at Kansas Speedway on Saturday. "It's a shame because we finally got the car to handle a little bit there at the end," said Bodine. "We made several changes, but it was just so tight in traffic it was tough to pass."

Bodine started the event in 25th and quickly moved up to 22nd when Damon Lusk hit the wall to bring out the caution on lap 6. The safety crews cleaned the track and the green flag was back out on lap 9. Bodine reported on lap 13 to crew chief Gere Kennon that the car was unbelievably tight. Bodine passed Brian Vickers for 21st on lap 22 and Johnny Sauter for 20th on lap 27. "I think I found a little groove here," said Bodine.

"Well go ahead and get your groove on," said Kennon.

Some of the lead cars started to make green-flag pit stops at lap 51. Kennon calculated that the team could go all the way to lap 70, so he elected to keep Bodine on the track. One by one, cars pulled down pit lane. Bodine took the lead on lap 67. Kennon instructed Bodine to pit on lap 70,
and Bodine did so and gave up the lead.

The crew put on 4 fresh tires, filled the tank with fuel, made an air pressure adjustment and a trackbar adjustment. Just as the team was changing the left-side tires, Tim Fedewa spun off of turn 4 to bring out the caution flag. Bodine just missed going a lap down when he left the pits. Bodine's #48 car was running 16th with 17 cars on the lead lap.

When NASCAR gave the "one to go" signal, Bodine came back down pit lane to top off the tank with fuel. The green flag was displayed again on lap 76 with Bodine in 16th. Bodine passed Mike Wallace and Joe Nemechek on lap 79 to move up to 14th. Ron Hornaday spun on lap 84, bringing out the caution once again. Bodine took the caution flag in 13th after passing Hornaday.

During the caution period, some of the lead lap cars pitted, but Bodine did not, and he took the green on lap 88 in 9th. The car's handling went away and Bodine was fighting a very tight car again. He fell back to 16th by lap 112 when the car of Blake Mallory lost an engine to bring out another caution flag. Bodine came down pit lane, took 4 tires, fuel, added a rubber to the right rear, and made another air pressure and trackbar adjustment. Bodine left the pits in 16th.

The green was displayed on lap 118, but Fedewa spun again on lap 123 to bring out another caution. Bodine pitted on lap 125 to top off the tank with fuel as Kennon and the crew calculated they could make it the rest of the way on gas.

The competitors were back to green-flag racing on lap 128 with Bodine in 14th. Bodine passed Mike Bliss for 13th on lap 134, and then got Mike Wallace again, this time for 12th. Michael Waltrip and David Green passed Bodine to drop him back to 14th when Johnny Sauter crashed on lap 140 to bring out the caution flag.

Several leaders pitted, but of course Bodine was good on fuel, so he restarted on lap 147 in 5th. Nemechek got by Bodine on lap 153, followed by Bobby Hamilton, Jr. on lap 160 and David Green on lap 162. Debris was spotted on the track on lap 169 and NASCAR displayed the caution yet again. Bodine did not pit and restarted in 8th on lap 173. One lap later, the engine let go ending the team's day.

"We really do appreciate Todd stepping in and helping us out," said George deBidart, IMI team owner. "It looked like we had a shot for a solid finish, but it just was not meant to be."

The next scheduled NASCAR Busch Series event is at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Fri., Oct 10th.

RACE START:  25th
RACE FINISH:  29th
WINNINGS: $16,350
OWNER POINTS STANDINGS:  12th
 

By: Kyle Chapman - Innovative Motorsports