Todd Bodine Snares 1st Daytona Victory

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By Deb Williams

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 15, 2008) – Todd Bodine held off a hard-charging Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson on the final lap of Friday night's Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway to claim his first-ever victory at the 2.5-mile track.

The dash to the checkered flag was set up by the sixth and final yellow flag that waved on lap 88 of the 100-lap race. During that caution period, Bodine took only two tires while Busch received four with 10 laps to go.

When the race restarted on lap 92, Benson was leading with Bodine second and Busch third. Bodine relegated Benson to second on lap 93, then Busch overtook Benson. On the backstretch, the field behind the top three began jockeying for position. With the checkered flag in sight, Busch swung high as they exited turn four with Benson in tow. However, as they raced through the trioval, Benson dove low in an unsuccessful attempt to steal the runner-up slot from Busch.

“This is my 40th year coming to this speedway,” said a jubilant Bodine, who led three times for 49 laps, including the final eight. “I came here for three years as a crew member, 17 years now driving, finished second and third, crashed hard, burned a couple of times; finally, 17 years to get here and we're here.”

Bodine, the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, said he was concerned about whether he would be able to hold off Busch down the stretch since Busch had four fresh tires on his Toyota and Bodine's Toyota was “really loose.”

“I was fighting it pretty hard those last few laps,” Bodine said. “Kyle is pretty notorious for driving hard and you always worry about him driving hard, but we've become pretty good friends. I knew he wasn't going to turn me or anything like that. If he couldn't get a run on me on the outside and have Johnny (Benson) go with him, I knew I was OK. It turned out great!

“Geoff has been here before, Brett deserves to be here, and finally I got here.”

Bodine's oldest brother, Geoff, won the Daytona 500 in 1986, driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Brett, the middle Bodine brother, drove Cup cars for several years and owned a team before retiring. He is now the director of cost research for NASCAR and drives the pace car.

Busch said he probably shouldn't have let Bodine get so far ahead of him in the final laps.

“He was a little too far ahead when I started building my run back up,” Busch explained. “Johnny was anxious to get going too and try to make a move and pass, so I didn't have a push to get all the way past the 30 [Bodine].”

Earlier in the race, Busch escaped a 10-truck melee on the backstretch after triggering it when he and Mike Skinner collided. The incident sent Skinner careening into the wall along with Brendan Gaughan. Also involved were Jon Wood, P.J. Jones, Chad Chaffin, Ted Musgrave, Andy Lally, Jack Sprague, and Matt Crafton. All of the drivers escaped injury in the massive crash that stopped the race on lap 19 for 17 minutes 23 seconds.

“I'm not sure what happened,” Busch said about the incident. “I know we were three wide there for a moment, but I tried getting underneath the 8 truck, which was a little bit too loose to be following. I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to hang on to it or not. My truck was really bouncing over the bumps all night, so when I tried turning it down the race track it bit with the front end and turned down a little bit too quick for what I expected and came across the front of those guys.”

Gaughan, however, was a little more agitated about the accident.

“Anybody that watched it that understands anything about racing can understand that Kyle will say, 'I'll just race tomorrow.' He doesn't care about this. This is his fun time,” Gaughan said. “Skinner was loose and Skinner is one of the best drivers we've got. Kyle had all of the outside and just decided to stay right down the center and cut down in front of him. Skinner had nowhere (to go). He tapped him and I tapped Skinner and the whole thing happened. His truck's running and my Ford's in the pits. They had to tow my truck in, so I'm not really happy about that.”

Musgrave noted that a lot of the trucks were out of control in the event.

“Maybe I can take the tape out and show it to Wayne (Auton, Truck series director) and show him what I was looking at out there,” Musgrave continued.

Six caution flags slowed the race for 25 laps leaving Bodine with an average speed of 127.551 mph. There were eight lead changes among six drivers in the season opener.

Finishing fourth was David Starr, also in a Toyota, giving that manufacturer a sweep of the first four positions. Rick Crawford placed fifth in a Ford.

The truck series now travels to California Speedway for a Feb. 23 race.

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