Bodine set for NASCAR milestone

Todd Bodine, driver of the #11 Toyota Care Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASACAR Camping World Truck Series SFP 250 at Kansas Speedway on April 20, 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Tyler Barrick/Getty Images)
Todd Bodine, driver of the #11 Toyota Care Toyota, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASACAR Camping World Truck Series SFP 250 at Kansas Speedway on April 20, 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo by Tyler Barrick/Getty Images)

There’s something to be said for longevity. In Todd Bodine’s case, being competitive counts for even more.

Bodine will make his 200th start in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition in Saturday’s American Ethanol 225 (8 p.m. ET, SPEED) at Chicagoland Speedway. The milestone will make the 48-year-old veteran the first driver to make at least 200 starts in all three NASCAR national series.

“It’s a great stat, a great place to be in my career,” said Bodine, the 2006 and 2010 truck series champ. “When I got started, I never dreamed of getting to this point. I didn’t know as a kid where it was going to go or what it was going to lead to, I just know I wanted to go fast and go in circles. I’ve been very fortunate to have a long, successful career in a sport that I love. And to be able to do it in three different series, it’s a pretty neat deal.”

Bodine — who’s mired in 11th place in the standings — hasn’t had the most stellar season thus far, but he did return to Victory Lane for the first time since September 2010 with a rain-shortened win last month at Dover International Speedway. After splitting a shaky 2011 between Germain Racing and the former Randy Moss-owned team, Bodine has found a comfortable landing place this year with Red Horse Racing’s team owner Tom DeLoach and crew chief Rick Gay Jr.

“Rick and myself have been running well, but we’ve just had some bad luck,” Bodine said, “but everything is there (for us) to do this and run up front, and I really believe we can.”

Red Horse teammate Timothy Peters broke into the win column last week at Iowa Speedway, stretching his points lead and becoming the truck series’ eighth different winner in nine events. Peters leads second-place Justin Lofton, the winner earlier this season at Charlotte, by 12 points and sits 14 points ahead of top rookie Ty Dillon, who ranks third.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.