Rain cancels truck qualifying in Texas

Persistent rain prompted NASCAR officials to cancel Keystone Light Pole Qualifying early Thursday afternoon for the WinStar World Casino 400k at Texas Motor Speedway, giving Todd and Janet Bodine time to ramp up their sponsor search.

Justin Lofton, driver of the No. 6 CollegeComplete.com Chevrolet Silverado, will start the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on-pole here Friday night via 2012 owner points. Timothy Peters, who trails Lofton by one point (235-234), will start alongside in the No. 17 Toyota Tundra, with the remainder of the 35-truck field also set by points.

Four-time series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 9 SWM/AM/FM Energy Chevrolet, is defending event champion. Hornaday, winless in 2012, will start ninth.

Bodine, winner of last Friday’s rain-shortened Lucas Oil 200 at Dover International Speedway, will roll off seventh in a bid to add to his record six series victories on TMS’ 1.5-mile quadoval.

“I love Texas,” said Bodine, a two-time series champion and driver of the No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra fielded by Red Horse Racing. “I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of very good race trucks here and you’ve got to have luck to go with all of that. Got a lot of cowboy hats (that go to the winner) and look forward to getting another one.”

Another victory by “The Onion” would give team-owner Tom DeLoach added ammunition in his search to put a corporate backer on the refrigerator-white No. 11. “We didn’t have a sponsor last week,” said Bodine, who has an average finish of 8.5 in 15 series starts at TMS. “We had Toyota Care on the quarter panels and that was kind of a ‘thank you’ for Toyota. They didn’t actually pay for the race, but Toyota is so good to us and they did support us for four races.

“It’s kind of the same deal here. We don’t have a sponsor for this race; Tom’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart and his pocket. We’ve got a lot of really good things happening. My wife, Janet, is working really hard on getting a sponsorship, and she’s actually having some success. The win definitely helps. There’s three different corporations we’re talking to, and they all three called up and said, ‘Man, we wish we were on (the truck) last week.’ I can’t speak for Tom saying we’re going to continue without sponsorship, but I think Tom knows this is a great opportunity for this race team, not only for right now but also for the future.”

RHR parked the No. 7 Toyota of Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender John King, winner of the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, on May 29 because of a lack of funding. “That really hurt Tom, to not be able to do that,” Bodine said. “All I can say is stay tuned. We’ve got a lot of great things happening at Red Horse Racing.”