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NASCAR BGN: Todd Bodine looks for top-five finish at Richmond

3 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

"We should be able to leave Richmond with at least a top-five finish if not a win. Richmond was one of the first tracks I ever competed at in a Busch Series car. I've run a lot of races at Richmond and it seems each time we go there, we get just a little bit better. We might have scored a win there last fall, but we got caught up in an accident pretty early on in the race. Richmond is a track that requires patience and if you have a good race car on top of that, a top-five finish is an attainable goal."
-- Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 66 Phillips 66 Chevrolet

Todd's Thoughts On Richmond . . . "Richmond is a tough track for teams and drivers. It's tough on teams because our last practice during the day on Friday is right after lunch and we don't race until that night. It's almost a gamble on set up because track conditions can change so dramatically. It's tough for drivers because it's the only small D-shaped track. A driver can drive in real deep to turn one because it's pretty wide but turn two narrows considerably and a lot of drivers can end up in the wall real easy. Last year during the spring race we took a provisional but had a real good race car. We avoided a lot of the accidents and ended up with a fourth-place finish. We've come a long way with our qualifying program so that shouldn't be the case this year. If we don't spot them too many positions in qualifying we should be able to get our first win of the season."

* During the 1999 Hardee's 250, Bodine picked up 33 positions to score the fourth-place finish.

* Bodine's fifth-place finish last weekend at California brought his season total of top-five finishes to six and top-10 finishes to eight. Bodine leads all NASCAR Busch Series, drivers in the top-10 finish category.

* Bodine improved his lap completion record for the 2000 season to 94 percent after completing all 150 laps of the Auto Club 300. Bodine has finished on the lead lap at each of the last eight races.

The Equipment . . . "Fido" is the car the Phillips 66 team competes with this weekend at Richmond International Raceway. "Fido" has a stellar record as part of the Phillips 66 team's stable. It is the same car Bodine finished fourth with at Richmond one year ago, third at Pikes Peak and in 2000, "Fido" finished ninth at Nashville Speedway.

Last Week in California . . . "When the race started, the Phillips 66 Chevy was real good and I thought we had a chance at winning. We didn't make any adjustments during the first pit stop and the car started to push through the turns during the next run. We made air pressure adjustments and track bar adjustments to free the car up and it started handling better toward the end of the race. We had a shot at grabbing fourth place until that last caution came out. The No. 15 car had been coming and I didn't want to risk losing a top five during the last four laps so we settled for a fifth-place finish."

Text provided by Penny Copen

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