Chasing Number Seven: Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Care Toyota Tundra, is a six-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, including one victory each year from 2004-2007. He holds the record for the most NCWTS victories at Texas Motor Speedway, and has led over 300 laps at the 1.5-mile oval in 16 starts, with six wins, 10 top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. This near-flawless record has Bodine and the Red Horse Racing team optimistic they’ll have a fast Tundra and the confidence to pull into victory lane on Friday night.
“It’s nice to have a track that you’ve had some success at to go back to when times are tough like this, knowing you can go back and you have a chance to win. In the spring we were running fourth and blew the motor with a really good truck, hopefully we can go back and run just as well and have better luck. Our performance on track has been there, we just haven’t had the luck to go with it. The old adage I’d rather be lucky than good is true,” Bodine said.
Tundras in Texas: Prior to the weekend’s events, all three Red Horse Racing drivers and owner Tom DeLoach will visit Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas in San Antonio, Texas, for a visit with Toyota officials and team members on Wednesday, October 31. They will tour the facility to meet TMMTX team members, as well as see how production Tundras are assembled. The drivers will also take assembled Tundras to the TMMTX test track.
Arthritis Foundation On Board: All three Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundras will carry a special logo for the Arthritis Foundation at Texas Motor Speedway to help promote the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis. The Arthritis Foundation in the Texas Region will hold its Jingle Bell Run/Walk in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area surrounding the track on December 8, 2012. Arthritis affects one in every five adults and 300,000 children, and is the nation’s leading cause of disability. For more information, visit Arthritis.org.
Previous Race Recap: Making his 775th career NASCAR national series start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, two-time champion Todd Bodine was ready for short track battle in the No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra. After starting from the 12th position, Bodine made contact with the wall while battling inside the top-10 in the opening 20 laps of the event. A chain reaction on the following restart produced further damage to Bodine’s Tundra and ultimately left him with a 22nd place finish.
Todd Bodine on Texas Motor Speedway
What do you think has attributed to your success at Texas?
“You have to have good trucks and I have been fortunate to have Tundras that were fast down the straightaways and did everything I needed them to do. Texas is one of those tracks where it’s all momentum and you have to handle on the long run too. I’ve been fortunate to have those things, but also have the good luck to go with it.”
Will a shorter race this time around present more of a challenge than the longer race in the spring?
“I’ve always excelled on the long runs and longer races. With our Tundras, one thing we always concentrate on is making them handle well at the end of the run on old tires. If you can hold the throttle down 90% and everyone else is at 80%, you’re going to go faster. So that’s usually our strategy and it won’t change for the shorter races, because the track still lends itself to longer runs.”
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