Bodine bumps Busch for Dega Truck win

NCTS Recap: Bodine Bests Busch In Talladega Tussle

Todd Bodine celebrates his third consecutive restrictor-plate race, taking the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Mountain Dew 250 fueled by Winn-Dixie at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. (CIA Stock Photo)
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 4, 2008) — With a brilliant last-lap move through the tri-oval at Talladega Superspeedway, Todd Bodine won Saturday’s Mountain Dew 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race with a much-needed assist from new points leader Ron Hornaday Jr.

Bodine was pushing Kyle Busch through the final corner, but contact from Bodine’s No. 30 Toyota loosened Busch’s No. 51 Tundra enough for Bodine to dodge to the outside and pick up a push from Hornaday, who crossed the finish line second, .075 seconds behind the race winner.

Busch came home third, followed by rookie Colin Braun and Mike Wallace. Landon Cassill, Brian Scott, T.J. Bell, Mike Skinner and Chad McCumbee completed the top 10.

“I knew if we could get ourselves position at the right spot at the end of the race, we’d have a chance,” said Bodine, who picked up his second victory of the season, the 14th of his career and his third straight on a restrictor-plate speedway, dating to the Talladega event last October.

“I went with Kyle (on the last lap), and at that point, I’d conceded the win, and I was going to push him. . . But I knocked him sideways and went on to the win. That’s not what I was trying to do. It’s a good thing he’s a great driver, because he was able to save it.”

Hornaday recovered from a pit road speeding penalty he incurred after a stop on Lap 20. The runner-up finish propelled the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet to a 39-point lead over 11th-place finisher Johnny Benson in the championship standings.

Hornaday had a ringside seat for Bodine’s last-lap heroics.

“It looked like Todd had him (Busch) picked up a bit coming off of (Turn) 4,” Hornaday said. “I was just trying to get out of the wreck, because it looked like they were going to wreck. Then Todd got straightened out and got in front of me somehow—I don’t how he did it.”

Notes: In his truck series debut, Joey Logano lost four laps while his crew replaced the passenger-side window (a requirement at restrictor-plate tracks) on his No. 59 Toyota. Logano finished 26th, five laps down. . . Polesitter Erik Darnell led 48 of the first 49 laps but had little drafting help in the closing stages of the race and came home 12th.