Bodine wins 2nd straight truck race

Todd Bodine celebrates
Rhonda McCole/AR1.con

When it comes to racing at a track called “Too Tough To Tame", experience makes all the difference.

Todd Bodine drew on everything he’d learned in 38 career starts at Darlington Raceway and rolled home to his second straight victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series “Too Tough To Tame" 200.

Bodine inherited the lead after rookie Austin Dillon gave up the lead to pit on lap 101 and ran the final 71 laps on a single tank of fuel, passing up two more chances to pit over the last 47 laps to beat out Timothy Peters by 0.531 seconds for his 20th career victory.

Ron Hornaday finished third, followed by Johnny Sauter and Dillon.

The victory was Bodine’s third of the season second in two weeks, padding his points lead over Aric Almirola.

“The history behind Darlington and the great drivers that have raced here and walked the garage area and got their Darlington stripes – the list of those driver is incredible and to be part of that, to be in victory lane at Darlington is incredible," said Bodine. “It’s a great feeling to be able to win at Darlington.

“It’s nice to be to get in the truck and drive this way. I wasn’t on no Sunday drive – I knew I had to go with Timmy (Peters) behind me. I knew he was going to be tough, but we enough for him.

“We had a lot of fun at Darlington, I always have. Like I was saying earlier, I have a lot of laps around here, and it pays off. Experience pays off."

Indeed it did.

The only driver in the field with a previous victory – in a Nationwide Series race in 2003 – Bodine started eighth in the field and managed to avoid the pit falls that claimed several of the veteran contenders.

It took only five laps for the Lady In Black to reach out and grab her first victim, as Dennis Setzer spun in turn one, collecting mike Skinner in the mix.

Just five laps later, Jason White found the wall with Austin Dillon getting a piece as well.

In all nine caution flags waved for 37 laps, with 16 trucks going to the garage including Skinner, Ricky Carmichael, Brian Ickler and Mario Gosselin.

At the front of the field, Peters led the first 47 laps from the pole and ran close to the front all night. After Dillon surrendered the lead he had held for 23 laps, Peters snuck back into the second position, hoping to either catch Bodine or be in a position to pounce if Bodine’s fuel didn’t hold out.

After the final caution flag flew on lap 124 for Ickler’s crash, Peters chased Bodine for the next 20 laps but could never close the gap as the 2006 series champion easily dodged the final lapped trucks.

“We finally made our last adjustment on the final stop and took sticker (tires) but we were back in traffic and used up our tires really early to get back to the front," said Peters. “After the wreck between the 12 (Gosselin) and the 4 (Carmichael), I was conserving all (the fuel) I could because we were committed to running all the way to the end. We did everything we could, but all in all it was a great night."

Matt Crafton, James Buescher, Stacy Compton, Almirola and Ken Schrader rounded out the top ten.

Almirola dropped 57 points to Bodine and now trails the points leader by 231 points.

Results

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 8 30 Todd Bodine Toyota Germain.com 195/10 147 Running
2 1 17 Timothy Peters Toyota Apex Tool Group 180/10 147 Running
3 5 33 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet E-Z-Go Street Legal Vehicle 170/5 147 Running
4 13 13 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet In Country Television / Curb Records 160/0 147 Running
5 9 3 Austin Dillon * Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Remington Arms / Tracker 160/5 147 Running
6 15 88 Matt Crafton Chevrolet Ideal Door / Menards 150/0 147 Running
7 2 31 James Buescher Chevrolet Wolfpack Rentals 146/0 147 Running
8 7 60 Stacy Compton Chevrolet SafeAuto Insurance Company 142/0 147 Running
9 4 51 Aric Almirola Toyota Zyclara by Graceway Pharmaceuticals 138/0 147 Running
10 6 2 Ken Schrader Chevrolet Stubb's Legendary Bar-B-Q / Kroger 134/0 147 Running
11 19 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet S&W Services 130/0 147 Running
12 14 81 David Starr Toyota Zachry 127/0 146 Running
13 22 46 J C Stout Dodge Team Gill Racing 124/0 146 Running
14 21 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb * Ford drivenmale.com / DriverBoutique.com 121/0 146 Running
15 24 89 Mike Harmon Ford Lafferty Performance 118/0 145 Running
16 20 192 Dennis Setzer Chevrolet fleetHQ.com / BTS Tire & Wheel Distributors 115/0 145 Running
17 30 01 Jeremy Petty Chevrolet Koma Unwind Chillaxation Drink 112/0 143 Running
18 32 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet Norm Benning Racing 109/0 137 Running
19 33 47 Lance Fenton Chevrolet FuelDoctorUSA.com 106/0 136 Running
20 3 7 Justin Lofton * Toyota VisitPIT.com 103/0 134 Running
21 10 18 Brian Ickler Toyota Toyota Tundra 100/0 123 Accident
22 12 5 Mike Skinner Toyota International Trucks / Monaco RV 97/0 106 Accident
23 23 12 Mario Gosselin Chevrolet TireMonkey.com / James Carter Attorney 99/5 95 Accident
24 16 4 Ricky Carmichael Chevrolet Monster Energy 91/0 95 Accident
25 17 07 Donny Lia Chevrolet SS Green Light Racing 88/0 91 Accident
26 18 150 T.J. Bell Chevrolet Liberty Tire Recycling 85/0 73 Accident
27 11 23 Jason White Dodge GunBroker.com / Outdoor Channel Outfitters 82/0 56 Engine
28 28 85 Brent Raymer Ford Ford. Drive one. 79/0 24 Ignition
29 25 6 Brett Butler * Chevrolet Rick Ware Racing 73/0 19 Handling
30 27 21 Butch Miller Dodge SS Green Light Racing 73/0 17 Clutch
31 31 124 Chris Lafferty Chevrolet Blue Ox / Lafferty Performance 70/0 16 Over Heating
32 29 93 Mike Garvey Chevrolet S&W Towing 67/0 12 Handling
33 26 187 Chris Jones Chevrolet Copy Wizard 64/0 11 Rear Gear
34 35 216 Justin Hobgood Chevrolet FuelDoctorUSA.com 61/0 7 Over Heating
35 34 172 John Jackson Chevrolet DGM Racing 58/0 2 Brakes
36 36 95 Dillon Oliver Dodge Team Gill Racing 55/0 2 Engine