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NASCAR BGN: Todd Bodine Looks To Tame The Monster Mile

31 May 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

DOVER, DEL. --- It is the site of his first career NASCAR Busch Series win and featured one of his best performances in the 1999 season. Dover Downs International Speedway is special to Todd Bodine for a number of reasons - not the least of which is that he is still the driver with the most Busch Series wins at the one-mile high-banked oval. His third-place finish during the 1999 spring run at the one-mile oval catapulted his career performance at the track to six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 14 starts. Among those six top-five finishes are three wins, including the sweep of both the spring and fall events in 1993.

"Dover is, and has always been, a good track for me," Bodine said. "I scored my first top-five finish and first win there. It's a physically demanding race track. The track is concrete and it just seems to be real hot when we race there in June and September. Plus, the track has a lot of bumps so it tends to bounce the car around pretty good. With the heat and the track, it's just an exhausting event.

"Even though it will wear you out, Dover is still one of my favorite places to race."

Bodine has even greater cause to celebrate Dover as it was the track where he was officially discovered by car owners Frank Cicci and Scott and Jeff Welliver.

Bodine picked up 14 positions to score a third-place finish at Dover one year ago. That third-place finish improved his statistics at Dover to six top-five and eight top-10 finishes. Aside from a few hiccups, Bodine has completed 98.4 percent of the event laps in which he has competed. And Bodine's best performances at Dover have taken place during the spring event with his only finish outside the top-10 being an 18th-place finish during the 1996 MBNA 200.

"The track will change a lot through the day," Bodine said. "That's what happened during the race at Dover last spring. We bounced between being too loose and then too tight all day there last year. Dover is usually a tough place to figure out when it comes to the set-up of the race car because you can't predict what the track will do.

"Regardless, Dover is a good place to race if the team's been in a rut or if we're needing a good finish to lift team spirits," Bodine added. "Providing that we can avoid the accidents, we usually leave Dover with pretty decent finishes."

Bodine's partner in taming the Monster Mile during the MBNA 200 will be "Hillbilly." "Hillbilly" is the same car Bodine finished third with one year ago at Dover. During the 2000 season "Hillbilly" has scored a third-place finish at Bristol, a fifth-place finish at Darlington and an eighth-place finish at Rockingham.

"'Hillbilly' is a real good car for us," Bodine said. "It's always been at least a top-10 car for us. We finished third with it at Dover last year and fifth with it a couple of times at Bristol, so I have a lot of faith in that car and the work the Phillips 66 team puts into it."

While Bodine's three wins at the one-mile oval leads all NASCAR Busch Series competitors in wins at the track, a handful of drivers have the possibility of at least tying Bodine's record. Among the drivers with two wins at Dover are Randy LaJoie and Michael and Darrell Waltrip.

"It's a pretty nice distinction to be the Busch Series driver with the most wins at a race track," Bodine said. "Going in, people are going to be looking at us as contenders for the win. I'd like to get a fourth win there and put a little distance between myself and the guys with two wins at Dover. Plus, it'd be a big boost for us in the championship chase.

"This team has been capable of winning for more than a year now. We've been together almost two years and we are ready for a win."

Text provided by Penny Copen

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