Herzog Jackson still has Winston Cup in mind

FONTANA, Calif. -- Herzog Jackson Motorsports has been successful in every motorsports series in which it has competed.

They wrote the latest chapter Saturday in the 1-800-pitshop.com 300 at California Speedway, as driver Todd Bodine fought back into the top 10 late in the race and ended up with a fifth-place finish behind fellow Winston Cup drivers Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip and Kevin Harvick.

	Randy Herzog

At one point in the race's closing stages, Bodine's chief rivals were ahead of him, but in the end he beat them all -- continuing the unlikely saga of a sponsorless car leading NASCAR's No. 2 national series.

Co-owner Randy Herzog set aside his feelings about a fruitless to this point sponsorhip search Friday, outside his team's transporter. Despite the ongoing weekly uncertainty, Herzog said the team would realize its goal of ultimately competing in the Winston Cup Series.

"That would be an accurate statement," Herzog said. "Everything we've ever done in motorsports -- back to when we started in 1987 -- was with the expectation and the ultimate goal that we would eventually end up in the Winston Cup Series.

"Since then we've moved through the various off-road series, Pikes Peak hill climb stuff, into the ASA Series. Everything we've done has been on a very definite time schedule.

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"We're about to go off of that schedule by maybe a year if this thing doesn't work out the way we expect, but we do expect to go to the Winston Cup Series. It's more a question of the timing of when rather than whether. It's all sponsorship related.

"Some of the people we are talking to now definitely want to do something on the Cup side, so we're entertaining any and all sponsors and all possibilities and scenarios they want to discuss.

"But we do need to get something taken care of with this Busch team before we do anything else."

Saturday's race was not a microcosm of HJM's season, but it certainly was a statement of why the team is excelling in the face of steep odds.

"We kept adjusting it and making it better," Bodine said of his plain white-and-black No. 92 Chevrolet. "You do it when it counts and we got lucky when Jason (Keller) and Ron (Hornaday) about wrecked. That gave me two spots and I got underneath the 48 (Shane Hmiel) and he slipped and that gave me another one.

"You know, things work out. If you put yourself in the right position you get the best finish that you can. That's how you keep the points lead."

Bodine started the day only 78 points clear of Hornaday, but he ended it unofficially up by 99.

	Todd Bodine

"Now, hopefully we'll be at Richmond," Bodine said. "This group is incredible. They all do their jobs and they have good attitudes (even though) they know what could happen.

"They know what they want to happen and the only way that can happen is if they keep digging and that's what they're doing -- they haven't given up a bit."

"It's been a difficult season," Herzog said, "but this whole team has handled the situation extremely well and I couldn't be more proud of the way the guys are working.

"I think our performance on the track shows you that they haven't lost their focus and how committed they are to being the best they can be."

Herzog wouldn't say how close his team came to not going to California.

"That's a difficult question, really, to quantify," he said. "Every Monday we assess the situation, not only the prior week's performance but more so where we're at right at that point in time with prospective sponsors that we're talking to.

"If we don't feel that we have a fairly high degree of expectation that we're going to get something put together, then we're going to have some hard decisions to make -- and that will include not going to the next race.

"I can't really answer how close we are (to signing a sponsor) -- but if we didn't feel like we were gaining on it, you wouldn't see us here right now."

Herzog said despite his feelings, the Busch Series probably hadn't seen the last of his team, led by crew chief Tony Liberati.

"I'd say more than anything it would be frustration," Herzog said of his mood. "We hold world records in all type of off-road stuff and the Pikes Peak stuff. We've won races and championships in every series of every type we've ever been in.

"We've won a race every year we've been in the Busch Grand National Series. We're leading the points right now and we expect to be contending in that area all the time.

"To be running as well as we are and not being able to get the team funded the way it needs to be is extremely disappointing and frustrating. But you know, if it was easy there'd be a lot more people doing it.

"We'll work our way through this thing and get it taken care of."