Bodine, Wallace plan double-duty weekend

LONG POND, Pa. -- With cooperation from NASCAR officials at two venues, Todd Bodine and Mike Wallace will use helicopters and a private jet to maintain a presence this weekend in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series.

Bodine, the Busch Series point leader, and Wallace are both expected to be at Pocono Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn., for their respective events.

	Mike Wallace

Winston Cup director John Darby allowed Wallace and Bodine to qualify first and second, respectively, in Friday afternoon's Bud Pole Qualifying session for Sunday's Pocono 500.

At Nashville, Mike McLaughlin will practice Bodine's No. 92 Monster.com Chevrolet and Mark Green will shake down Wallace's No. 4 GEICO Chevrolet.

Busch Series director Brian DeHart informed Bodine and Wallace they could qualify at the end of the 44-car field, giving them plenty of time to reach the Busch venue. The drivers want to qualify their cars so they do not have to forfeit their starting positions Saturday evening.

After qualifying at Pocono Wallace, Bodine and his spotter, Cal Lawson will jump in a helicopter to fly to Scranton-Wilkes Barre Airport. Rusty Wallace's jet will fly them to Nashville, where another helicopter will take them to the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

Friday evening the pair will practice their cars in the final Happy Hour session for Saturday night's Trace Adkins Chrome 300. They will then drive to the airport, where Wallace's jet will ferry them back to Pennsylvania.

	Todd Bodine

Saturday morning, Bodine will practice his No. 54 National Guard Ford and Wallace will do the same in the No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac in which he continues to substitute for Jerry Nadeau. Following practice they will fly back to Nashville for the 15th race of the Busch Series season and then return to Pennsylvania, they hope, by early Sunday morning.

"That's the toughest thing about it, being up late for two consecutive nights getting from Nashville back to Pocono," Bodine said. "Fortunately for Mike and I, Pocono is a track that is not particularly taxing, physically, so we should be OK."

Both regular drivers are looking at similar programs next weekend, when Winston Cup races Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway and the Busch Series Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.