Todd Bodine, the current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point’s leader won the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers Friday night at Kentucky Speedway but his victory lane celebration didn’t conclude without a visit from fellow truck competitor Kyle Busch.
Bodine, driver of the No. 30 Germain.com Toyota Tundra thanked Busch, owner and driver of the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra for being a “dirty driver” after Bodine’s Tundra was sucked around and spun while going for the lead on lap 81.
The 2006 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion escaped the incident with minimal damage but forced a trip to pit road for damage control, tires and fuel.
Restarting 25th, Bodine soldiered back towards the front and positioned himself back into the top-10 when the yellow flag flew on lap 91 when Paddy Rodenbeck lost control of his truck and brought what would be the final caution of the event. Crew chief and crew member Mike Hillman Jr., opted to make a bold move and bring his Chemung, New York native back down pit lane to refill his white and black Japanese nameplate.
Busch, who dominated the race and led a race-high 73 laps, was one of nine trucks that stayed out on lap 92 but as the field continued to circle the 1.5-mile speedway under green, Busch eventually had to pit under race conditions on lap 127. Bodine, who already notched three wins at Texas Motor Speedway, Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway and Darlington (S.C.) Raceway before Friday night waited on fellow competitors Austin Dillon and Justin Lofton to pit before surging into the lead.
Despite running half-throttle the final 10 laps of the event, Bodine would barely have enough Sunoco fuel to take his fourth win of the year and first at Kentucky Speedway; adding the Sparta, Kentucky-based track to an already impressive speedway (mile-and-a-half) victory platform for the Germain Racing organization.
Bodine denied Busch, the Las Vegas, Nevada native’s chance for five consecutive wins in NASCAR’s three national stock-car series, after Busch swept Bristol in all three divisions (NASCAR Camping World Truck, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) and out-dueled Bodine for the checkered flag at Chicagoland Speedway on August 27.
Bodine in victory lane though was vocal about his attempted pass on Busch, who had to settle for seventh. “The first person I’ve got to thank is Kyle Busch for driving dirty, sucking me down and getting me spun out and giving us the gas. (We) got sucked around, got some fuel and here we are in victory lane,” Bodine said in his SPEED post-race television interview.
Busch who was changing clothes in his Kyle Busch Motorsports hauler was preparing to leave the track and board a plane to Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series activities on Saturday, however, when he heard Bodine’s comments, Busch made a detour and visited Bodine in victory lane. The two drivers had a lively discussion with Busch finally leaving the scene annoyed.
Was Bodine wrong? Maybe, but personally I don’t think so. You can argue that it could have been handled differently, but Bodine, who himself has been known to be an aggressive driver from time-to-time is entitled to his own opinion whether the race fans or media agree with it or not. Respect one’s opinion, even if you don’t agree with it.
“It’s two drivers that didn’t care what the other said or the other did, and we had words about it,” Bodine said in a post race news conference. “That’s good, hard racing. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kyle (Busch) and slowly but surely I’m, losing it. And that’s a shame.”
If the cards had been flipped and Busch, who hasn’t been shy in the past to be outspoken about disagreements with other drivers or situations more than likely would have let Bodine know how he felt about him on national television as well.
Nonetheless, Bodine recovered from a spin; used pit strategy to his advantage and increased his championship lead in a bid for a second NCWS title to win over Johnny Sauter, Aric Almirola, Jason White and Ricky Carmichael.
On Saturday, Busch from Atlanta adamantly argued about Bodine’s opinion and tried to blame Bodine, nicknamed “The Onion” for the spin. “I thought that was kind of low, but that’s how Bodine is. … It was just a matter of hard racing, I thought,” Busch said in an article that appeared on SceneDaily.com. If he doesn’t want me racing him that hard, maybe next time I’ll lift.”
“I don’t feel like I’m a dirty racer,” Busch went onto say. “I feel like I’m a hard racer and aggressive one. I wouldn’t call it dirty. Dirty is when you run into the back of somebody down the straightaway and put them in the fence.”
Wait…..
Rewind that, what did Kyle Busch say in the last sentence? “Dirty is when you run into the back of somebody down the straightaway and put them in the fence.”
Jennifer Jo Cobb needs to roll out the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series footage from Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and send it to Busch as a video Christmas card. When Busch forcefully and intentionally dumped the No. 10 Driven Male / DriverBoutique.com Ford F-150 of Cobb when he could not maneuver his way around her or a gaggle full of other trucks in the pack. Busch raised my eye brown then and did again with that statement.
That’s what I call folks, a pot call in the kettle black. And like Bodine, my respect for arguably one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR history is shrinking considerably.
NASCAR opened the doors for its drivers to “have at it” this year and the key to unlock the bumpers and opinions or some call expressions of others is starting to draw attention from other directions, but is it truly the kind of exposure that NASCAR is really looking for? Some say yes, some say no. The conclusion is time will only tell.
Busch, Bodine and the rest of the trucks and stars will go at it again next Saturday when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series invades New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) for the running of the RaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175 set to launch at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
