Bodine, Germain not looking to share spotlight

Even though Todd Bodine has a commanding lead on his way to what would be his second Truck Series title, the trophy presented to the championship owner is still way too close to call.

Because NASCAR keeps two sets of standings -- one for drivers and one for owners -- there is the possibility of a split championship. That's happened three times in the Nationwide Series since 2003, but never at the Truck level. However, Kyle Busch's No. 18 team is doing all it can to wrestle some of the glory away from Germain Racing by the time the tuxes are ordered for the end-of-the-season banquet.

"That's all we're racing for now is the owners' championship," said Rick Ren, director of motorsports for Kyle Busch Motorsports. "We want to win races, but the big deal is for a brand-new team, if we could come and win the owners' championship in the first season, that is a big nod and tip of the hat to us. That's what it's all about."

But over at the No. 30 hauler, the idea of sharing the stage with Busch doesn't sit well with the guy behind the wheel every week.

"Owners' points are important, for pride," Bodine said. "Our owners put a lot into this team and we want to give them that trophy, just like we get the drivers' trophy."

Bodine's fourth-place finish at Las Vegas on Saturday night, coupled with a seventh from Brian Ickler in Busch's truck, gives Steve Germain a 39-point advantage with five races remaining.

"[Beating the No. 18] is big any night," Bodine said. "Just because Kyle's not driving it, it doesn't mean those guys aren't going to run up front. They just didn't have it [Saturday night] and we beat them. It's good for our team."

Since Busch expects to run the final five races, Ickler's goal was to keep Bodine close enough to give the boss a chance. For Ren, mission accomplished.

"We didn't get quite the finish we would hope for here in Las Vegas but, all in all, in the big picture, we had a pretty good night," Ren said. "We lost a few points to [Bodine]. We didn't lose very many. I'm going to guess we're somewhere around 39 points out right now so it was a pretty good night."

Even though NASCAR has kept separate point standings for years, the idea of a split championship is a fairly recent invention, brought about mainly by teams going to a multiple-driver lineup of veterans and rookies. In 2003, Brian Vickers won the drivers' championship while Kevin Harvick and Johnny Sauter split seat time on the way to giving Richard Childress the owners' crown. Four years later, Carl Edwards and RCR shared the banquet stage, and in 2008, the championships were split between Clint Bowyer and Joe Gibbs Racing.

So what are the odds that Busch can complete the come-from-behind rally? In the 11 races in which the two have raced head-to-head, Busch has had the better finish in seven, including five victories. But because of a 22nd at Daytona and 16th at Dover, Busch's average points per race is just 5.5 points better than Bodine's.

So if past performance holds, Bodine should hang on for the owners' title by a scant 27 points by the time the checkered flag falls at Homestead. However, Bodine knows there's only one sure way to guarantee the title.

"Winning," Bodine said. "That's what we're here for. If we can't win, we've got to get the most points we can and stay consistent. Stay out of trouble and get it to the end of the races."