Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
SPARTA, Ky. — Todd Bodine is rolling toward his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, but he didn’t drive like it Friday night in winning the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway. And his team didn’t act like it, either.
Bodine spun while battling Kyle Busch for the lead on Lap 81, but that trouble helped set up a fuel-mileage gamble for the No. 30 Germain Racing team.
“Our misfortune turned into our fortune because that’s what gave us a little extra fuel that we needed to get to the end,” Bodine said.
Johnny Sauter finished a distant second, with Aric Almirola third, Jason White fourth and Ricky Carmichael fifth. Timothy Peters, Busch, Ryan Sieg, polesitter Austin Dillon and Matt Crafton completed the top 10.
After a restart on Lap 80 of the 150-lap race, Busch and Bodine raced side by side for the lead in Turn 3 when Busch charged around on the outside lane. Bodine’s Toyota snapped sideways and spun in front of the field, though he didn’t hit anything.
A panel in the truck’s bed flew off, and Bodine made a couple of extra stops under that caution for his team to repair the damage. He restarted 25th.
The yellow flag waved again on Lap 91, and crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. brought Bodine to pit road again to top off the fuel tank as nine drivers stayed on the track.
Busch was one of them, and he pulled away to a 3-second lead before pitting on Lap 127. After rookies Austin Dillon and Justin Lofton also pitted under green, Bodine assumed the lead.
Conserving fuel, Bodine raced the final 55 laps under green on one tank of fuel.
“I pedaled pretty hard with about 20 laps to go,” Bodine said of saving fuel. “About the last 10 laps, I went around here about half-throttle.”
After taking the checkered flag, Bodine chastised Busch for “dirty driving,” claiming Busch intentionally pushed Bodine low on the track to cause him to spin. Busch also came to victory lane to have words with Bodine.
“It was the weather, how good the track is,” Bodine said jokingly of their conversation. “It’s two drivers who didn’t care what the other said or the other did, and we had words about it. That’s good, hard racing. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kyle. Slowly but surely I’m, losing it. That’s a shame.”
Bodine led twice for 18 laps, far short of Busch’s race-high 73 laps. Bodine, though, extended his points lead to 261 over Almirola.
“We were two laps short (on fuel),” Hillman said. “That proves that we’re not points racing. If we were points racing, being two laps short we would’ve come in and splashed a couple gallons of gas and finished seventh or eighth.”
Built Ford Tough 225 results:
1. Todd Bodine
2. Johnny Sauter
3. Aric Almirola
4. Jason White
5. Ricky Carmichael
6. Timothy Peters
7. Kyle Busch
8. Ryan Sieg
9. Austin Dillon
10. Matt Crafton
11. Justin Lofton
12. Stacy Compton
13. Mike Skinner
14. David Starr
15. Dennis Setzer
16. Mario Gosselin
17. Brent Raymer
18. Donny Lia
19. Shelby Howard
20. Miguel Paludo
21. Will Kimmel III
22. James Buescher
23. Jennifer Jo Cobb
24. Clay Greenfield
25. Steve Park
26. Carl Long
27. John Jackson
28. Jeffrey Earnhardt
29. Ron Hornaday
30. Chris Lafferty
31. Norm Benning
32. Paddy Rodenbeck
33. Chris Jones
34. Mike Garvey
35. Butch Miller
36. Tim Andrews
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