From The Inside
by Todd Bodine-Staff Writer and Winston Cup Driver
03/20/2003

Hi Race Fans –

The NASCAR Winston Cup series headed to Darlington Raceway last weekend for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. Darlington, otherwise known as “The Track To Tough To Tame,” is a very unique track. It is a very tight track, with close competition and filled with close calls.

When we unloaded the No. 54 National Guard Ford, we decided to start off in race practice, as we assumed that Happy Hour was going to be rained out on Saturday. When we switched to qualifying trim we only had time for two runs and the car was extremely loose.

We made some pretty significant changes before qualifying which improved the handling a lot and we ended up 10th on the starting grid. It was our second top ten start of the year thus far.

In Happy Hour, we never get a good handle on the National Guard machine. The car was loose off and we didn’t fix it. Heading into the race, we made some more minor adjustments but never really got to see how the car was going to be.

We took the green flag shortly after 1:00pm EST, and the car was a little loose into the corners and we adjusted on that during the course of the pit stop. When Sterling Marlin got into the wall, I thought that I had the accident avoided, but when I hit the brakes and tried to slow down, we ran over some debris, which cut the tire down and ended our day. The accident relegated us to a 43rd place finish.

On Monday, I was able to score a victory for the Herzog-Jackson Motorsports entry in the NASCAR Busch Series. I had a wild finish with Jamie McMurray as we both crashed coming to the checkered flag. Talk about going from the outhouse to the penthouse, but that's how racing goes.

The series heads off to our first short track of the 2003 season, Bristol Motor Speedway. I love to run at Bristol so I am hoping we can put together a good effort for both qualifying and the race. Qualifying is so crucial there because of track position and pit position so we are going to give it our best shot.

The Food City 500 is scheduled to get underway this Sunday from Bristol Motor Speedway. The race will take the green flag shortly after 1pm EST, but coverage begins live on FOX at 12:30pm EST, with MRN on the airwaves beginning at 12:30pm EST.

I am hoping for a great race on Sunday and hope that you will be keeping an eye on the National Guard Ford along with your favorite driver(s).

I'll talk to you next week and thanks for reading!

Todd Bodine

You can reach Todd Bodine at: tbodine@catchfence.com