Bodine scratching to carve out unusual deal

LONG POND, Pa. -- Even as he revels in a minor re-birth of his NASCAR Winston Cup driving career, Geoffrey Bodine is working hard on securing a unique deal to continue his career in 2003.

It's unique, the 53-year-old veteran said Saturday at Pocono Raceway, because he's not trying to ace someone out of his current ride, or take advantage of anyone getting released.

Bodine is substituting for younger brother Todd in the No. 26 Ford while Todd competes in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series NetZero 250 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. He'll make his sixth start of the season from the 24th position.

He's one of four active drivers with three career Winston Cup wins at Pocono but says, "So what?"

"Whether it's racing or life, you can't look back at what you've done," Bodine said. "Those wins are great and, at the time, they were really great, but we're looking at now and things have changed so much in the last five or six years -- people look at what you're doing now and not what you did."

For the short term, Bodine's doing just fine working with crew chief Donnie Wingo and Haas Carter Motorsports. He was 16th in Saturday's first practice and moved up to 13th in Happy Hour.

"I look to race with the guys up front and get the car up front," he said. "That's what all this race practice is about -- you put the right setup in the car so you can keep up with the front cars or even pass them and lead them around."

Bodine said as much as he'd like to reacquaint himself with Pocono's Victory Lane, he has a couple other purposes.

"This is a great opportunity to get tuned up for Indy, which we're going to be in the 09 car for that race," Bodine said. "So this is a great opportunity to get the feel for these tires and just to be in a racing mode."

Bodine's primary program for this season is with owner James Finch's Phoenix Racing. He's already scored a third place finish in the Daytona 500 and had a 10th in the Pepsi 400.

"When you sit out weeks and weeks and then you go try to race like it did here, it takes you a little while to get warmed up," he said. "So that's how I'm looking at this. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have anything to prove to anybody.

"Results are proof enough (and) we've had some good ones this year already in the limited schedule that we've run."

With all the drivers currently involved in Silly Season discussions, including Elliott Sadler, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Jerry Nadeau, Bobby Hamilton, Steve Park and Hut Stricklin, Bodine is pleased to not be part of that.

"The kind of program I'm trying to put together for next year really doesn't include anyone out here," he said. "It includes the folks that are helping me put the sponsorship together, possibly with James Finch and possibly with Travis Carter's other team.

"I'm not trying to get any ride that's sitting out here today. I'm not trying to knock anyone out of their seat or influence any owner that's here. We have our own program that we're working on.

"Now, if somebody comes along and says, 'Hey, we'd like to have you drive the car,' I'd have to talk to them -- but, hopefully, I won't have to do that. We'd like to put our own situation together."