Nemechek blames T. Bodine for wreck

DOVER, Del. -- For the second straight day at Dover International Speedway, driver Todd Bodine was castigated for a wreck that eliminated another competitor's car.

In Sunday's MBNA Platinum 400 Winston Cup race, Joe Nemechek accused Bodine of wrecking his No. 25 UAW-Delphi Chevrolet, bringing out the race's second caution period at about lap 47 -- less than 20 percent of the way into the 400-lap event on the high-banked one-mile oval.

"I'm pretty frustrated right now," Nemechek said. "I don't know what was with Todd Bodine. He got into me on the backstretch.

"I'd been on the outside of him -- he knew I was there, but evidently he thought he had more room than he did and got me turned on the backstretch. He just kind of held me along into Turn 3. This shouldn't be happening this early -- he needs to pay attention to where the hell he is on the race track."

Nemechek's car was flattened virtually up to the rear window after backing into the outside wall. He attempted to drive back to the garage area but had to stop on pit road when the dragging tail section caused a fire to break out.

Track firemen extinguished the fire and Nemechek emerged uninjured.

"There is a lot of fuel cell damage," Nemechek said. "You can't go anywhere without gas (so) I think we're pretty much done."

Bodine lost a lap while repairing his car, which spun in Turn 3 without making contact with anything else. He finished 18th, one lap down. Bodine did not discuss the incident with Ford's representative.

"We had a top-five car, but that mishap with Joe set us back," Bodine said. "It's great to be back. The longer we ran under green, the tighter we got. I'm just proud of how we kept digging. We'll take it -- our day will come."

Bodine and Nemechek started the season as teammates at Haas Carter Motorsports.

Nemechek was chosen to drive HCM's lone No. 26 entry when the team had to close down Bodine's No. 66 Ford operation. Bodine subsequently secured a ride for the balance of the Busch Series schedule with Herzog Jackson Motorsports.

Later, Nemechek and Bodine were both under consideration for the Hendrick Motorsports ride in the No. 25. Nemechek was named to drive the car, after Jerry Nadeau was released, on an interim basis for the rest of this season.

Bodine made his first start for HCM since he won the Bud Pole for the season's third race, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after the team secured a six-race sponsorship with Discover Card. He started the race 43rd after taking a provisional while Nemechek started 28th.

In Saturday's Busch Series MBNA Platinum 200, Jimmy Spencer accused Bodine of causing his No. 1 Yellow Chevrolet to hit the wall in Turn 3. Bodine went on to finish 12th on Saturday.