Race Weekend Central

By Beth Lunkenheimer

Truckin’ Thursdays: Peeling Back The Onion – Inside Todd Bodine’s 200th Start

As the Camping World Truck Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for a companion weekend with the Nationwide Series, Todd Bodine will make his 200th career start. While there have been other drivers that have reached this milestone–and others, including David Starr, who will make his 300th start this weekend–Bodine will become the only driver to have made at least 200 starts in each of NASCAR’s top three series.

The 48-year old made his debut during the series’ inaugural 1995 season at Heartland Park Topeka, a 1.8-mile road course in Topeka, Kansas. Piloting the No. 61 Roush Performance Products Ford, Bodine qualified third and finished fourth behind race winner Ron Hornaday, Jr., Joe Ruttman and Terry Labonte. Though he only ran five races that season, his worst finish came when he finished eighth at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California.

Tearing Apart the Trucks: A Halfway Checkup & a Veteran’s Return

After what was an agonizingly slow start to season–as usual–suddenly the Camping World Truck Series has already hit the halfway point of the season. With just 12 races remaining, the 2011 campaign has already shaped up to be one of the more competitive ones in a few years.

Following the Lucas Deep Clean 200 at Nashville Superspeedway two weeks ago, Johnny Sauter held a 42 point lead over third place James Buescher, but that lead closed up considerably after last week’s visit to Lucas Oil Raceway. After waiting too long to change out a tire going flat, the driver of the No. 13 Chevrolet broke a swaybar and was forced to limp his way around the track to a disappointing 23rd-place finish. As a result, the top 7 are now separated by just 46 points with 12 races remaining.