From The Inside
by Todd Bodine-Staff Writer and Winston Cup Driver
03/28/2003

Hi Race Fans –

The NASCAR Winston Cup Series headed off to our first short track event of the 2003 season, Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol, otherwise known as “Thunder Valley” has been a good track in the past for me. I have scored a couple of victories in the NASCAR Busch Series and I was hoping to extend that to the BelCar Racing team.

When we unloaded the National Guard Ford, we were absolutely terrible. We couldn’t figure out what was going on. It was then we knew that we had our work cut out for us. The main obstacle that we were fighting was that the No. 54 just would not turn.

The goal heading into qualifying was that we wanted to improve on our practice time and hopefully start the race on time. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get in on time. Our times were better, just not good enough. We were just that slow and that forced to use a provisional to get into the race.

Throughout the rest of the weekend in Cup practice, our times were improving and our speeds had increased and we were catching up to the leaders. The team changed the shocks and springs in the Ford Taurus and it seemed to help us. We were definitely optimistic heading into the race on Sunday.

We ran well in the No. 92 Herzog-Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday, but we were unable to roll anything into the No. 54, as the car was a complete opposite from BGN Happy Hour on Friday.

On Sunday, we were pretty decent and we were moving towards the front as we had picked up nine positions early. It would be another tough weekend for the National Guard Team as we were bitten once again early in the race. Everyone checked up in front of me, and when I checked up John Andretti didn’t as much and turned me around. We were actually okay, but I was down on the apron putting it in 2nd gear when Casey Mears blasted me.

I have never been hit so hard from behind, I had an instant headache and it bent the rear clip down to three inches off the ground.

After the lengthy repairs in the garage, we came back out as fast as the leaders until the last 50 laps, as I was once again hit from the back on another restart and busted the back end up again and my spoiler was no longer catching any air.

Needless to say, the results were not what we were looking for, as we crossed the line 40th behind race winner Kurt Busch.

The series heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. I can only hope our luck will turn around at Texas. Everyone on this team is working really hard and we want to run well and have good finishes for the National Guard and our forces as well as ourselves. I like Texas Motor Speedway because it’s a track that suites my style, and I am only hoping that it continues this weekend.

The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 is scheduled to get underway this Sunday from Texas Motor Speedway. The race will take the green flag shortly after 1pm EST, but coverage begins live on FOX at 12:30pm EST, with PRN on the airwaves beginning at 12:15pm 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