2002 Ford Taurus NASCAR

Brett Bodine Racing had a very successful season in 2001, but its primary sponsorship, RedCell Batteries, backed out mid-season. Still, the team was able to make every raced and finished in the top ten on two occasions. They found themselves in the top twenty in nine occasions. For 2002, they had difficulties securing sponsorship. The team entered 2002 with only associates Timberland Pro and Wells Fargo Financial. Dura Lube became sponsors early in the season which helped keep the team together.

By the 4th race of the season, the team had secured sponsorship with Hooters. The team would finish the season with only four top 20s, and found themselves 36th in the final standings. Missing four races did not help their cause.

Hooters remained as sponsors for the following year, though they did not offer nearly as much money as in 2002. The team responded by only running a limited schedule. Geoffrey Bodine drove the car in the Bud Shootout at Daytona and Brett Bodine raced in five races early in the season. Part way through the season, Hooters backed out as sponsors, leaving the team without primary sponsorship. To make matters worse, Brett was involved in an accident the same weekend that Hooters canceled their sponsorship. Brett was sidelined for several weeks and his brother Geoffery drove the #11 Brett Bodine Racing Ford in his absence.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2007

NEWMAN LOOKING FOR SECOND WIN IN SUNDAY'S POP SECRET 400

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 ALLTEL Taurus, will start from the pole in Sunday's Pop Secret 400. He held another Q&A session in the North Carolina Speedway infield media center prior to Saturday's practice sessions.

RYAN NEWMAN --12-- ALLTEL Taurus -- WHAT IS THE TECHNICAL DIFFICÚLTY OF THIS RACE TRACK VERSÚS OTHER RACE TRACKS? 'The only difference between this track and basically all the other race tracks is the difference in bumps. All of the same principles apply with how to get the car to work and how to get the tires to work evenly so that the tire wear is the best, but the bottom line is the bumps make a difference in how the tires wear. So we do the best we can with our shocks and everything else to make sure that we can make the car work the best for the longest.'

HAVE YOÚ BEEN ROOKIE OF THE YEAR IN EVERY SERIES YOÚ'VE RACED AND WAS THERE ANY POINT WHERE YOÚ DOÚBTED YOÚRSELF IN WINSTON CÚP? 'The first part is true. The second part -- two things -- looking back at last year in the seven races we ran, it opened my eyes quite a bit when we ran second at Kansas and got the pole at Charlotte. We had another good top-five finish at Michigan. That opened my eyes to know that I was capable of doing good and winning in the sport, but this season the only question I ever had was on the reliability part of things -- when we were losing a lot of motors. Even when we were losing the motors, we were third at Texas, third at Talladega, I think we were fourth at someplace else, we were third at Michigan when we dropped down. Our performances were there, we just didn't quite have the finishes. But, overall, I've just got so much confidence in the team that I've never really doubted anything. I just go out there and do the best job I can and whatever we get as a result is what we get.'

WHAT ARE YOÚR POST-SEASON PLANS? 'I don't know -- just figure out what my bed actually feels like at the house. I don't have anything planned, other than Thanksgiving and Christmas. I told my parents that Christmas is gonna be at my house this year, so they're coming down just so I can be at home for a little bit. That's probably a little bit selfish of me, but I don't have anything big planned. There's no cruise trips. I'd like to go to Colorado for a week or something like that just for the snow because I miss the snow, but, other than that, that's about it.'

HOW DO YOÚ GO FORWARD NEXT YEAR BECAÚSE YOÚ'VE RAISED THE BAR FOR ROOKIES? 'That's tough. That's something I said last week. If Jimmie and I have the same year next year as we have this year, people won't look at us the same way because we're supposed to do better. Obviously, there's always room to do better but as rookies now and so-called experienced drivers next year, we're not gonna be night-and-day smarter, we're just gonna be a little bit more experienced at different race tracks and different situations and working with the cars and the drivers and the traffic. Hopefully, we can just do better. I don't know how much better, but I didn't know how good we were gonna do this year. We'll just have to see how things play out.'

DOES YOÚR INEXPERIENCE IN THIS SERIES PÚT LESS PRESSÚRE ON YOÚ? 'I don't feel any pressure. I get nervous every once in a while just like anybody else, but for the most part, no pressure at all. I've said this before, I don't think pressure is ever a good thing. Pressure is what you put on somebody else, you don't put pressure on yourself.'

DO YOÚ EVER FEEL GÚILT THAT YOÚ'VE WON AND RÚSTY HASN'T THIS YEAR AND HOW MÚCH DO YOÚ INTERACT WITH RÚSTY? 'No guilt, without a doubt. Just to think about it, it seems like a lot of times things come in streaks. If you look at Gordon and the streak he had, and then all of a sudden he spanked our butts two weeks in a row. Rusty's time is coming and Rusty knows that. You can't just win that many races that many years in a row and just not win anymore. I guess you can, but I doubt he will because he's still very competitive. Personally, we don't interact very much, but with the cars and the teams quite a bit. I think that the things that we do with the ALLTEL Ford have helped the performances of the Miller Lite Ford and vice versa. I think Rusty has taught me a lot about short tracks and how to drive them and I think a lot of our success this year should be given to Rusty as far as things I've learned at places like Loudon and, hopefully, Phoenix.'

HOW DO YOÚ FEEL ABOÚT THE PIT CREW CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY? 'They're definitely into it 110 percent. Like I said yesterday, if there's an award out there we go for it and this is definitely a big award. It's something that's big for the guys. We talk all year about momentum and chemistry and doing good things and everybody is picking their chin up. This is something that definitely at the end of the season is good to close out on and if we can do good or win, hopefully, that will help our performances the rest of the year.'

IS THERE PRESSÚRE ON YOÚ TO PÚLL INTO THE PITS JÚST RIGHT? 'No pressure, but if I don't do it right I'll get pressure.'

IS IT A BAD THING TO POINTS RACE OR RACE CONSERVATIVELY? TONY STEWART HAS SAID HE'S RACING TO WIN? 'I guess there's a difference between racing conservatively and racing out of control. I think what Tony is talking about is that he's not gonna go out of control, he's not gonna go wild, he's not gonna pull out of the draft with one lap to go. He's not gonna go up and just beat on somebody until they move out of his way. He's gonna race the race track and the competitors a little more generously maybe. I've said it before, the bottom line is we go out here and we do our best every week. The championship is just the performance based on every week. To me, that's the way it is. We just go out there and do it the best we can and as hard as we can and where we end up on Sunday is where we end up and those are the points that we get.'



HOW DID YOÚ TÚRN IT AROÚND? 'I think it's just a lot of hard work from the engine company. We found some really crazy things that were happening and I think they went back and refined the process of how they were doing things with some of the parts and, knock on wood, we haven't had the same situations again.'

WHAT MAKES YOÚ NERVOÚS? 'To me, like when you go out to qualify and you're the only one on the race track and everybody is watching you and you have to focus so hard on what you have to do -- hit your marks and everything else. You're not necessarily getting nervous, it's just that you mentally start to fry yourself and you just need to take a deep breath and say, 'OK, I'm just gonna go out and drive these two laps like I did in practice.' That's the kind of nervousness I'm talking about. It's not like, 'Oh my God, I'm gonna crash' nervous or 'Oh my God, what's gonna happen?' It's just focusing so hard that sometimes you've got to settle down and take a deep breath.'

Source - Ford

TEAMMATES MATT KENSETH AND CARL EDWARDS RETURN TO DAYTONA

MATT KENSETH – No. 17 R+L Carriers Ford Fusion – WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RACING HERE BETWEEN THE DAYTONA 500 IN FEBRÚARY AND THE PEPSI 400 IN JÚLY? 'The races aren't a lot different, it's more slick, it's a lot hotter at the track. The harder tire that we ran in February was pretty slick as well, so handling is probably a little bit more important here, so other than that, the race is the same.'

WHO ARE THE GÚYS TO BEAT? 'Probably the same guys you always look to beat at these restrictor-plate races; the Childress cars run all right. I think the Hendrick cars have been really strong lately, and Dale Junior is always strong here, so, you know, at Daytona or Talladega anybody can really get it, it all depends on how the race goes. I think handling will be really important unless you get a real short run at the end. You can have a car that's not real fast and handles good, and if you get enough green-flag laps you've got a chance at it, too.'

ON THIS BEING THE LAST RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACE WITH THE CÚRRENT CAR. 'I don't know. It's hard to compare it to what the COT car is going to be because I haven't run it at a superspeedway yet; we haven't done any racing. So, we'll have to see. If anywhere the COT doesn't make much difference it should be Daytona and Talladega. These cars are pretty close to same, anyway. So, we'll have to see what it's like.'

BACK IN FEBRÚARY, WHEN THE SEASON OPENED HERE, IF SOMEONE WOÚLD'VE TOLD YOÚ THAT YOÚ'D BE THIRD IN THE STANDINGS AND COMFORTABLE IN THE CHASE WHEN THE SERIES RETÚRNED IN JÚLY, WOÚLD YOÚ HAVE BEEN COMFORTABLE WITH THAT PREDICTION? 'You mean like how the year's gone? Well, yeah. Obviously, we're happy with where we are in the standings – it's the third-best spot to be, I guess – but, certainly, we'd like to be running just a little bit better. But, so far, the year's been pretty good.'

HAS THE YEAR GONE THE WAY YOÚ EXPECTED IT TO, OR HAS THERE BEEN ANYTHING OÚT OF THE ORDINARY? 'This year, especially, I don't think you ever really know exactly what to expect – especially this year with the COT cars, and some of the different stuff going on.'

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion – CAN THE TWO RACES AT DAYTONA – THE 500 IN FEBRÚARY AND THE PEPSI 400 IN JÚLY – BE COMPARED? 'Any time you race on the same race track with the same type of car it's going to be pretty similar, but right now, the way the restrictor-plate racing is here, you're very close here at Daytona to being able to hold it wide open. So, if it's a little cooler, and in the July race you're racing at night, it get a little more racy, it kind of changes the way this race works out just because you don't need quite as much downforce, the cars don't get spread out quite as much.'

SHOÚLD THE BÚSCH SERIES BE CHANGED TO THE CARL EDWARDS SERIES WITH THE WAY THINGS HAVE GONE FOR YOÚ THIS YEAR? 'The Busch Series is going great. It's a lot of fun, and I'm trying to enjoy it while I can, because this is the third full season where I've run the Busch Series and we haven't had a season like this yet. So, I'll definitely enjoy it.'

WHAT'S YOÚR SECRET? 'The secret right now to our success in the Busch Series is just great people, great race cars and a lot of really, really great luck, that's been the key. I don't want to jinx it or anything, we just have to keep doing what we've been doing, and hopefully it'll turn out like it should.'

LATELY, THAT SÚCCESS SEEMS TO BE SPILLING OVER INTO THE CÚP SERIES, TOO. 'The Cup car has been great. This Office Depot team has been doing a great job. Last week was really frustrating to be right there racing the leader and have the car fall off the jack, but we still rebounded and finished 13th. We've got a strong team, and if we can maintain that kind of perseverance through the Chase, it's going to awesome.'

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK AT DAYTONA FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON? 'I don't know if this is one of the most exciting places to come to as a driver, because, really, there's not a lot you can do. You come out here and do the best you can, and you're going to end up either in a big wreck or you're going to have a blast and it's going to be fine. So, to me, I try to just enjoy it and put all the stress aside, and I'm pretty excited about this weekend.'





YOÚ WERE IN THE TOP 12 BEFORE THE WIN AT MICHIGAN. DID THAT VICTORY CHANGE ANYTHING AS FAR AS THIS TEAM IS CONCERNED? 'I don't think that win changed anything except for it's just a huge burden, a huge relief – it's a burden that's gone now. You carry around that losing streak, it kind of wears everybody down, so it's great to get a win and move on.'

HOW DID THAT DROÚGHT SPECIFICALLY AFFECT YOÚ? 'Just like everybody, I love winning. You know, to win the races, that's what it's all about. It's the greatest feeling in the world to win in Nextel Cup. To not win for so long, it's frustrating. The hard part is to go to every race with the same mentality that we did in 2005 when we were winning, it seemed like, often. So, that was the hard part – to just really truly believe that we could win every weekend when you're not winning. That's tough, but that's what it takes.'

HOW DO YOÚ DO THAT? HOW DO YOÚ CONVINCE YOÚRSELF EACH AND EVERY WEEKEND? 'The trick for me is to make sure that I have good people around me. My crew chief, Bob Osborne, knowing that I have a crew chief and a team that can win. And as long as you have good people around you and you have everything that you know that your need to win, then you just have to ignore anything negative – and that's the key, it's just to do everything you can, know that you've done everything you can and accept whatever comes.'

Source - Ford

KVAPIL WINS O'REILLY 200 AT MEMPHIS

TRAVIS KVAPIL – No. 6 K&N Filters Ford F-150 – (finished 1st, qualified 10th) THIS IS HIS SECOND WIN OF THE SEASON AND SEVENTH OF HIS CAREER, TAKE ÚS THROÚGH YOÚR RÚN. 'Well, right off the truck we were P1 in practice and slid back a little bit as the day went on. We never made a qualifying run in practice and qualified 10th. I knew it wasn't what I thought we should be doing or as good as we thought we'd be. Then we started the race, and it was not bad. We just worked our way up through. Then our first pit stop, I think we came in fifth, told the guys what the truck was doing, Mike Beam crew chief and Hal Ralston, engineer knocked out an awesome stop and on top of that made adjustments. We came in fifth and out third. Hornaday and Skinner and those guys, they're just crazy. You get those guys on a restart and they're out for blood and they started banging into each other. I got around Skinner and a few laps later got around Ron. The truck was really good. On the second stop, we just made another minor adjustment in the same direction of the first stop. Then kind of drove away from there for a bit. I thought the 9 truck Brad Keselowski was the only one I had to race with and he was really good in the long run. Then later in the long run, my truck started coming back. With lapped track, we diced back and forth a few times. It was a great race. I'm a big, big Brad Keselowski fan. I told him in Daytona pre-season testing to keep digging and that he'd find something and I'm a believer in his talent. I told him before the race that this was his chance and definitely not how I race. I did not intend to spin him around, but getting down to it, his truck really was not getting through the middle of the corner at all. Really slowing down, almost to a stop in the middle of the corner to try and get pointed in the other direction to get going. Whereas my truck was still rolling really good. Getting down to it, I had to go, had to make something happen. I bumped him a little bit, just trying to get him to go up a lane, and get under him. I ended up turning him around. As soon as I hit him, I backed off and hoping he could get it gathered up and wasn't able to. I feel bad that I turned Brad around. That's definitely not the way I wanted to do it. And he owes me one down the road.'

HAVE YOÚ TALKED TO BRAD SINCE THE RACE ENDED? 'No, not at all. Just, obviously through our spotters, I apologized. That doesn't mean nothing, definitely. If not, as soon as I get out of here and he's still around, or I'll give him a call tomorrow or track him down. Like I said, I talked to him before the season started and I talk to him as much as I can this season just encouraging him because I believe in his talent. Again this afternoon, before driver intros, I told him he was doing an awesome job and get 200 laps in and this is a great opportunity for him. A few weeks ago in Texas, the Germain truck took me out there with a few laps to go. It's part of racing and especially in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.'

YOÚ REALLY STALKED BRAD FOR A BIT OF THE RACE. WAS IT PART OF YOÚR PLAN TO ÚSE HIS INEXPERIENCE A LITTLE BIT TO GET ÚP BEHIND HIM, HAVE HIM MAKE A MISTAKE AND GET AROÚND HIM THAT WAY? 'No, I definitely wasn't going to do that. I was going as hard as I could go. Anyway, it was so much fun. We were both coming off the corner sideways and I bounced mine off the wall once, just going as hard as I could go and keep pressure on him. I could roll in the corner better than he could, but he could point and drive off better than I could. It was kind of unique how our trucks were working a little bit differently. I knew, in the long run my truck, I thought would prevail. Anytime you can roll the middle of corner good, it's where you got to have the speed. He was really having to slow his truck down to get it to stop and point and go the other way, where mine would roll through there pretty good. So, I was hoping to keep the pressure on him and he would slip up. A couple of times, in the lapped traffic and stuff, we were racing pretty hard and side-by-side and we both were sliding around and he just did an awesome job all night. I'm really proud of him. I think it showed his talent. He did a really great job and I feel bad that's how his result was, but definitely not the plan.'

DO YOÚ THINK A YOÚNG GÚY LIKE THAT NEEDS TO BE IN A RACE LIKE THIS TO REALLY LEARN? 'Yes, I think, I mean, it's different. Brad's run a lot of Truck and Busch races in the past. But it's different when you're running, maybe in sub-par equipment running 20th and 25th to contending for the lead, contending for the win. It's a whole different mentality. You've got to be on the kill, almost. You can't be ‘Mr. Nice Guy' anymore. He was doing a great job. He was driving the heck out of his No. 9 truck and just doing a great job all night long. That's not how I want to race. I can apologize all I want, it don't mean nothing. He didn't get a good result. I was just really proud how he ran tonight.'

YOÚ SAID HE OWES YOÚ ONE. 'Yea, I think so. I don't know. What are you going to do? Like I said, I apologized to the kid and said I was sorry, but what are you going to do? That's racing. Like I said, a few weeks ago I thought I had one in the bag and that didn't work out for my favor either. So, you've kinda got to live with it and move on. I just hope something great will come out of this for him tonight. He definitely showed his ability and hopefully he'll get something full-time and be a contender winning for more.'

YOÚ WON TWO OÚT OF THE LAST THREE RACES. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOÚR TEAM OR FOR ANY CHAMPIONSHIP ASPIRATIONS YOÚ HAVE? 'Well, this is about the only thing we can do is win races. We're at a pretty big deficit right now from Skinner and Hornaday, I think, and Bodine. We're almost 300 points out going into it. Finishing like we did tonight, I don't think we can win the championship when these guys finish third and fourth. You're not going to gain 300 points in 10 races or whatever we have left on these guys. It's going to come down to these guys having a couple of bad days and we're just going to have to be there in the top-five to capitalize on it. Hopefully, these guys will have it coming. Skinner is having just an unbelievable season. I think his worst finish of the year has been seventh. So, our team has come a long way since races two, three and four of the season. We were not a contender at all. We were running 15th and 16th and kind of embarrassing Jack Roush. He did an awesome job and sitting us all down. He cut the trucks up for me and got them to the wind tunnel and changed the set-ups for me, adapted to what I needed, and what Erik Darnell needed and Kansas was a big turnaround, where my teammate won the race. Ever since then, we've been rolling.'

ERIK DARNELL – No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 9th, qualified 7th) – 'The Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 was running great especially at the early part of the race. So we were just cruising around in fourth, letting it role and not pushing anything too hard and the truck was good. We were fourth and finished the race in 14th or 15th. It is hard to pass here and track position means a lot, it's tough to overcome.'

DAVID STARR – No. 10 International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 – (finished 13th, qualified 14th) – 'I'm a little disappointed in our International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 today. We were too tight in the center and kept sliding. We made some adjustments, but we just couldn't fix it. It seems like it stopped in the center of the corner instead of rolling through the center. They were right in front of me all night and I just couldn't do anything with it. I'm disappointed, but we're getting better as a whole racing team and I'm excited about that. It's just unfortunate; I thought we'd get out of here with a little better finish than that. We'll keep working and keep making this International MaxxForce Diesel team better and better. We're learning and we're getting there.'

PETER SHEPHERD – No. 50 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford F-150 – (finished 15th, qualified 15th) – 'I'm pretty pleased with the run. We qualified 15th and we finished 15th. I think a lot of it was good track position. I was as good as everybody else. I guess I slacked off a little bit in qualifying. We were running good and had a 12th to 15th place car. We'll take the momentum and come back bettering in two weeks.'

KEVEN WOOD – No. 21 Ravenswood Ford F-150 – (finished 27th, qualified 19th) – 'I don't know what to say. This is a whole different world out here. We started off tight and got the truck running better there near the end. There were times when I could have been in the top-10, but being my first time, I gave plenty of room to let the others go by. I was running hard, but also trying to get some respect out there and not get labeled as a ‘weapon' or anything. I wanted to finish the race and that's what we did.'



JOEY CLANTON – No. 09 Zaxby's Ford F-150 – (finished 30th, qualified 27th) – 'I don't know if we blew a tire out or broke a tire rod. I think we broke a tire rod. We didn't get in it with anybody, just something failed. We just rode the rest of the race because I wanted to see if we could run laps as fast as the leaders. Our Zaxby's Ford F-150 was running with the leaders, so it was as fast as I thought it was. The truck was awesome; it was a third place truck, we just wanted to see if I could run speeds with the leaders and I could. It's frustrating, but we knew we had a good truck and that's the main thing.'

KEVIN 'COWBOY' STARLAND – No. 14 – Crew Chief – 'I guess Rick and Johnny Benson were racing pretty hard and I imagine Johnny got a little loose and got into Rick's left rear tire and blew it out and backed Rick into the wall from there. It was survival after that.' YOÚ WERE PÚSHING THE CREW HARD TO GET AS MÚCH FIXED AS YOÚ COÚLD SO CRAWFORD WOÚLDN'T GO A LAP DOWN. 'I think we would have stayed on the lead lap if the battery didn't explode when the tire went down. When the tire went down, it destroyed the battery. We had nothing to attach it to; NASCAR wouldn't let us out of the pits until we properly attached it. We lost a couple of laps in the pits trying to reattach the battery. But overall, I think we could have stayed on the lead lap all night. We were just surviving after that incident. It was Built Ford Tough – it just kept running.'

Source - Ford