RICHMOND, VA. (May 5, 2003) – Progress continues with the No. 54 National Guard team after running in the top 10 for the second half of Saturday night’s running of the Pontiac Excitement 400.  However a top-10 finish was washed away on lap 371 of a rain-shortened 391-lap event after driver Todd Bodine got caught up in the aftermath of Jimmie Johnson and Sterling Marlin’s crash. It’s the second time this season that the No. 54 was involved in one of their on track collisions. Despite the mishap, Bodine finished 22nd allowing him to move up another position in the NASCAR Winston Cup points standings.

“We had a really good car,” said Bodine who started the Pontiac Excitement 400 in 34th place. “Our goal for this season is a top-25 in the Winston Cup Series points standings. The more top 25’s we can string together puts us that much closer to our goal. It also means we are getting closer to the coveted top 10 & top-five finishes. We’ve just got to keep our focus & the rest will come.

Our qualifying effort was hurt after making a slight air pressure adjustment before going out,” continued Bodine. “We had to shrug it off and get back to work on the bigger task at hand and that was race set-up. We knew we had a good car in race trim and we had two back-to-back practices to put it all together.” 

Within the first five laps of the race, Bodine’s remarks were on target. The No. 54 National Guard car had gained 10-track positions. Bodine knew it would be a long night so patience from the driver’s seat was his course of action. Crew chief Derrick Finley called out the driver’s lap times, many of which were as fast or faster than the leaders. The only call in to Finley by Bodine was to say the car was tight driving through the middle of the corners and then loose off. For the most part, the car was good. Therefore under caution on lap 44, the No. 54 was pitted for just an air pressure adjustment, four new tires and fuel. The service was completed in 16-seconds. 

By lap 100, Bodine was racing with the likes of Mike Skinner, Jamie McMurray, and Dale Jarrett. Bodine had the faster car but traffic was proving to be a challenge. While driving into turns three and four during this sequence, Skinner went door-to-door with the No. 54 driver. Miraculously, what could have been a wreck ended up being an incredible feat of driving by Bodine. Unfortunately, the Guard car sustained some handling damage and would prove to be somewhat of a hindrance for the remainder of the race.

“It was wild,” said Bodine of the incident with Skinner. “I was driving my line into turns three and four and of a sudden I felt this bumping and banging. Skinner was door-to-door with me and all I could do was hang on. I got sideways but kept it together despite losing some positions. After that, I felt something was wrong with the car because it would not turn through the corners. Sure enough, we checked the car’s toe alignment when the caution came out (lap 149) and it had been knocked out, less than an eighth of an inch. We had to leave it alone and race with it so we wouldn’t lose a lap.” 

When the caution came out on lap 211, Finley opted to come down pit road for four tires and fuel. Indications pointed to a caution-plagued race and the rookie crew chief decided to gamble on early pit stops in favor of staying out late in the race for track position. His strategy proved profitable. After the yellow flag flew on lap 224 for an incident involving Tony Stewart, Bodine stayed out of the pits to retake the green flag in 10th place. 

Bodine’s best track position of the event occurred on the restart on lap 303. Racing in third position, the Guard crew was gearing up for a top-10 finish. Despite the toe-out challenges, the No. 54 raced on with the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Bill Elliott.

“They let you know you were racing them,” laughed Bodine after the race. “They all made a point of bumping me to let me know they were there. I didn’t take it personally. I saw Bill Elliott give Jeff Gordon his notice. It’s just racing at Richmond.”

The incident that took Bodine out of contention happened with just 10-laps to go when Sterling Marlin got into the back of Jimmie Johnson. Bodine all but stopped to avoid getting involved but he was carrying too much momentum.

“The car’s nose looks like it hit a tree,” said Finley over the radio as the No. 54 sat in 15th position. “We have to forgo the track position to make sure the engine doesn’t overheat. We can’t risk it.”

The race went back to green on lap 374 with the Guard car in 26th position. Bodine was able to outlast two more caution flags and a red-flag to finish 22nd in the rain-shortened race. Joe Nemechek, a former teammate of Bodine’s captured his first victory since November 2001 at North Carolina Speedway. The Pontiac Excitement 400 set a new track record for caution periods. A total of 15-caution flags were thrown for 91 laps.

To Read More About Saturday’s Events: 
http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/05/03/bc.car..nascar.richmond.ap/index.html

http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/05/02/hendrick_top10/index.html

http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/05/03/bc.car..nascar.nadeau.ap/index.html

http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/headlines/wc/05/04/bc.car..nascar.nadeau.ap/index.html

UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS   UNOFFICIAL POINTS STANDINGS
 

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