Bodine working to catch up to rest of series

'We need some positive things to happen for this race team'

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Never has two tenths of a second given a NASCAR Winston Cup driver so much hope.

Brett Bodine  Driver Page  Bio

Owner/driver Brett Bodine knew the 2003 season was bound to be one of dodging cavernous potholes in the road -- but after a successful test last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway he's hoping the March 9 Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 can provide a turnaround.

Bodine ended a two-day test at the fast, 1.54-mile oval only two-tenths off the week's fastest unofficial time, set Wednesday by Elliott Sadler in another Ford.

On Tuesday, Bodine's No. 11 Hooters Taurus posted a lap of 29.56 seconds, an average speed of 187.551 mph and fastest of the five teams that tested. Even though Bodine's lap was six tenths of a second off Bill Elliott's March 2002 Bud Pole speed, the hope is different car specs might account for much of that.

	Brett Bodine has toiled as an owner-driver in the Winston Cup Series since 1996. Credit: Autostock

For Bodine, though, returning to his sponsor hometown and running well is all that matters, and if confidence counts he's got a truckload of that.

"We're going to run good here in Atlanta -- we're going to qualify good and run good," Bodine said. "There's a lot of pressure on all of us. We've got to prove to Hooters that we are worthy of their sponsorship."

Bodine's career has literally reached ground zero. Its low point snuck by a lot of people two weeks ago when he declined to enter an event for the first time since 1987 -- the last year in which the middle of three racing Bodine brothers did not attempt the full schedule.

While it wasn't a surprise, as Bodine had acknowledged earlier this year that while battling personal issues and a sponsorship shortfall he would have to cut back to less than a full schedule of races -- it was still a horrendously difficult fact to accept.

Missing Daytona 500 was a bitter pill for tiny team

He has battled to keep his team on a straight course through a couple crew chief changes already this season, and the bitter disappointment of failing to make the Daytona 500.

	Credit: Autostock

Bodine had raced up to seventh in his Gatorade 125 qualifying race but in the latter stages lost the draft and fell back. When Daytona's complicated qualifying process shook out, Bodine had to shoulder all the expense of being there without earning the most lucrative payoff of the season.

After missing the Daytona 500, Bodine has not run a points race since the 2002 Winston Cup finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, last November.

"We need some positive things to happen for this race team," Bodine said last week.

In January, he acknowledged that the 2003 season would be a tough one for his team. He had been in discussions with Hooters' Bob Brooks to become a partner in his race team, and a team spokesperson at Daytona said that was not a dead issue.

"The main thing is we're sponsored and we're here and we're gonna race," Bodine said. "The rule changes and all those things is what really hurt us. We got a late start building cars because of the templates and uncertainty of the templates and being a smaller team has put us in a more compromised position."

Bodine serving as PRN analyst at Las Vegas

Bodine will make his latest move to diversify his career when he serves as an analyst for the Performance Racing Network's coverage of Saturday's Sam's Town 300 Busch Series race and Sunday's UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 Winston Cup event.

"I'm looking forward to working with Doug Rice and Mark Garrow up in the booth -- that will be a lot of fun," Bodine said. "The three of us have been friends for years so it's just going to be a lot of fun to work with them and I think I can bring added insights from both a driver and owner's perspective and relay that to the listening audience."

"We're excited about working with Brett in the booth," said Rice, vice president and general manager of PRN and its broadcasts' co-anchor, with Garrow. "Brett brings an intimate knowledge of NASCAR that will be an asset to the broadcasts."

Bodine has a limited amount of TV work in his background and may eventually end up in the broadcast booth, but he definitely isn't ready to leave the driver's seat, even after suffering through missing four races last season.

"Last year was the real down point," Bodine said. "That was the most races we had ever missed. The thing is we're still in business (and) I guess there's a lot to be said for that.

"We're not in business the way we want to be, but we can find a place here and compete and, hopefully, we can compete at a higher level than we did last year."

And whatever happens, in the end there's always the radio.

"If I can improve my broadcasting skills, it may be something I can pursue when I hang up my helmet," Bodine said.