Brooklyn, Mich. (June 15, 2003) – After charging forward to 10th position, National Guard driver Todd Bodine had a late-race mishap that pushed him back to a 37th-place finish in Sunday’s Sirius 400 at Michigan International Speedway. 

"It was my own fault,” lamented Bodine. “I got caught in a sandwich of a three-wide and I rolled up to try to get out of it and when I did the back of the car got loose. Michael was outside of me and sucked me around. I'm just glad I didn't collect anybody else, but we had a real good car.” 

The Guard Car started the Sirius 400 in 41st position and quickly began to gain positions. When a caution flag came out on lap two, Crew Chief Derrick Finley began to put his strategy into play. He had Bodine bring the No. 54 in to top off the fuel cell and sent him back out. The car needed some handling adjustments, however, and Bodine brought the car back in during the second caution of the day, on lap 10. The crew made heavy changes to air pressure and gave the machine four new tires.  By lap 38, Bodine had gained his first 10 positions, running in 30th place. The National Guard driver continued to move up in positions. Although he fell a lap down on lap 154, Bodine was able to get his lap back by lap 170 thanks to fast pits stops and solid adjustments to the car. 

“The car wasn't perfect, but Derrick made the right calls and we got the car better,” commented Bodine. “Jeff Gordon let us get our lap back and everything was working out, but we just didn't get to the finish."

On lap 190, running three-wide in the 10th spot, Bodine got into the wall. The crew attempted repairs to get the car back out for the final sprint to the checkered flag, but unfortunately, the machine’s right-front brake rotor was severely damaged. A return was impossible and the National Guard Ford’s day was cut short and finished in 37th position. 

Crew Chief Derrick Finley was proud of the crew’s performance. “It was a good day, the pit crew was great. Todd was great up until lap 190, I guess that’s just part of racing. The pit crew was awesome.” 

Kurt Busch won the Sirius 400 in the No. 97 machine at Michigan.

NATIONAL GUARD CREW TAKES PRIZE FOR POCONO RACE 
The pit crew for Todd Bodine in BelCar Racing’s No. 54 Ford collected the $20,000 prize for the fastest pit work at Pocono among participating teams in the McDonald’s/Powerade Drive-Thru Pit Championship. Bodine spent 237 seconds in the pits to edge Robert Yates Racing’s No. 38 crew for Elliott Sadler by one second to give his crew its first win of the year. Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s No. 15 team for Michael Waltrip still leads the battle for the  year-end $200,000 prize, with DEI’s No. 8 team for Dale Earnhardt Jr. second.

Todd Bodine’s comments after qualifying for the Sirius 400:
(Qualified 41st) - "How did your qualifying run feel?  "We did a lot a better than practice. We picked up a half second, now we’ll just have to wait and see.  It’s a long race and we’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments to the car as the race goes on.  It’s common for track conditions to change during the race.  What’s important is that we’re in the show and we’ll race hard to get up to the front."

Official Results   Official Standings   Read More About The Race
 
 

Images of the Pit Award & Crew Celebrating
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By: Mike Mooney
Cox Marketing Group / Mooresville, NC  28117