First caution of race eliminates Bodine

By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
October 21, 2001
3:19 PM EDT (1919 GMT)

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- The first caution of Sunday’s EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway resulted in three junked cars but no injuries.

The day’s first hiccup came near the midway point of the 188-lap affair when Kevin Harvick, who was one lap down, got into the rear of Todd Bodine’s No. 66 Ford, shooting Bodine head-on into the outside retaining wall. Seconds later, Elliott Sadler coursed through Turn 2 and slammed into Bodine’s rear, followed by Casey Atwood.

“I’m okay,” Bodine said. “It’s pretty obvious, I got run into from behind. This is the second time Kevin’s done that to me. He did the same thing in the Busch race at Daytona. I was just biding my time, running around. I had a shot at a top-five. It’s a shame that one bonehead move takes three guys out.

“Kevin’s a good kid. I don’t know what we gotta do to calm him down.”

Sadler added, “It looked like somebody ran in the back of the 66. I think it was the 29 (Harvick) again. It's the same story every week -- knock 'em out as you get to 'em. I was just riding around trying to stay out of the wreck and ended up in it. Somebody got into the back of me.”