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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Q&A – Todd Bodine, No. 30 Toyota
Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway is familiar territory for Todd Bodine....
Media Release  |  Posted October 28, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Todd Bodine driver of the #30 Copart.com Toyota has four wins in a row at Talladega. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway is familiar territory for Todd Bodine (No. 30 Copart Toyota).

Bodine is heading for a fifth consecutive superspeedway victory at the 2.66-mile Alabama facility, including a third straight at Talladega. Bodine has won two of the three contested NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Talladega – in 2007 from the pole position and 2008 from the fifth-place starting position.

In the 2006 inaugural race, Bodine was penalized for dipping under the yellow line while battling Mark Martin for the win.

Bodine’s victories, however, have not been blowouts, so to speak. Neither has been won by more than seven hundredths of-a-second. He has won by leading the most laps (46, 2007) and the fewest (10, 2008).

In addition, his Germain Racing team has shown brightly at the biggest tracks, winning four in succession and a pole position at Talladega. Here Bodine discusses the draft, achieving a good finish at the track and what winning there would mean this season:

Q: How important is experience in the draft?

"Experience is everything, especially in the draft. Knowing what you want to do and how you can accomplish it. The draft is a tricky thing and you can just as easily make a mistake as make the right move."

Q: Is there a particular driver who "taught" you the drafting strategy?

"I learned drafting from watching Dale Earnhardt Sr. and my brothers. I watched what they would do and tried to learn from moves they would make and how they approached it."

Q: Do you "see" the air?

"You don't see the air but you feel the air and you have to understand what the air is doing. It's like fluid dynamics, just with air."

Q: Is having experience in earlier cars (nearly 20 years ago) at Talladega important to driving the trucks?

"Any experience drafting is important. Really, that's part of getting experience is having time on the track and getting the laps in the draft. That's how you learn it and understand it better."

Q: Is being savvy more important than having luck in getting a good finish at Talladega or Daytona?

"Being smart is more important than luck, and so is understanding how to use the draft to your advantage instead of your disadvantage. Talladega is a lot about using patience in the draft and understanding you're not just going to pull out and pass, you have to use other trucks to make your passes."

Q: How do you control your destiny in a race like Talladega?

"Well, you have to be smart when you race at Talladega. If you get too anxious or rambunctious, you end up getting in trouble."
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