Bodine scores Camping World Truck Series win
February 13th, 2009 by 
glm
DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Never before has a driver won multiple races at Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Until Friday, that is.
Todd Bodine scored his second-straight victory in the season-opener Friday night for the third-tier of NASCAR’s top three national touring divisions after holding off a last lap charge from NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Kyle Busch.
Busch, driving the No. 51 Toyota, trailed Bodine for the final 6 laps of green flag racing and tried to set him up for a pass going into turn 3 on the race’s final lap. Busch charged into Bodine’s rear bumper, hoping to upset the No. 30 Toyota Bodine was leading with. However, the move backfired as Bodine shot forward in the draft while Busch lost momentum while trying to avoid spinning out.
By the time the trucks neared the finish line, Busch ran out of time to make a comeback.
Two events stood out in the 100-lap race ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500 at the track. First, a 9-truck melee took out several of the race’s top contenders on lap 49 after Bodine got in the rear of rookie James Buescher while racing through the track’s frontstretch tri-oval.
Later, driver Brent Raymer got loose off of Turn 2 on lap 69, overcorrected, and slammed nearly head-on into the outside wall. His car ricocheted down the track out of control and thanks to a mashed up suspension, it made another hard right and slammed the outside wall again. Raymer was treated and released from the track’s infield hospital after the wreck that prompted a few drivers to call for additional SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers to be placed along the length of the straightaway.
Currently, only the track’s corners and several spots in the infield have the walls.
