Friday, February 15 Daytona Int'l Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida

Todd Bodine crosses the finish line ahead of Kyle Busch to win the Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway

Bodine Wins At Daytona
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 15, 2008) -- Todd Bodine held off Kyle Busch and Johnny Benson during a nine-lap run to the finish to win the Chevy Silverado 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.

The 2006 series champion picked up his 13th career win in the 2008 season opener. Busch edged Benson for second place, while David Starr and Rick Crawford completed the top five.

The trucks were running for the first time with 17.75-gallon fuel cells instead of the 22-gallon cells in use last year, but that didn't become an issue until late in the race, when the leaders had to come to the pits for fuel on Lap 85. A caution two laps later involving two of the race's strongest trucks set up Bodine's winning run.

"I tell you, this is my 20th year coming to this speedway -- three as a crew member and 17 as a driver," said Bodine, who claimed his first victory at the 2.5-mile speedway. "Seventeen years, and we finally got there."

His winnings of $96,850 were a single-race record in the series eclipsing Jack Sprague's Daytona winnings of $93,375 a year ago

On Lap 19, contact between the trucks of Kyle Busch and last year's series runner-up, Mike Skinner, ignited an 11-truck pile-up near the exit to Turn 2 that eliminated Skinner and left the Ford of P.J. Jones sliding along the backstretch, engulfed in flames.

Jones escaped unharmed from his burning truck, with his firesuit singed, but the accident left a string of crippled race machines in its wake -- those of Skinner, Jones, Brendan Gaughan, Jon Wood, Matt Crafton and Ted Musgrave. Busch escaped major harm and returned to contention as the race developed.

"It was way too early in the race for people to be jumping all over the track like that," Skinner said, referring to the wild racing that preceded the contact.

The race resumed after a stoppage of 17 minutes, 23 seconds to clear the track of debris, but before the field could complete one lap under green, a melee through Turns 3 and 4 damaged the trucks of Roush Fenway Racing teammates Joey Clanton and Colin Braun, as well as those of veterans Mike Bliss and Terry Cook.

Mechanical problems took the measure of defending truck series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., who brought his no. 33 Chevrolet to the garage on Lap 44 after losing a rear-end gear.

After holding onto the lead with a two-tire stop on Lap 85, polesitter Erik Darnell felt a vibration in his No. 99 Ford and slowed in Turn 4 on Lap 87, only to be collected by Justin Marks, who was running third. That handed the lead to Bodine for a restart with nine laps remaining.

Complete Chevy Silverado 250 Race Results click here

Point Standings click here

Broadcast Times

• Practice: Wednesday, February 13 (SPEED at 5:30 p.m./AT)
• Practice: Thursday, February 14 (SPEED at Noon p.m./AT)
• Pre-Race Show: Friday, February 15 (SPEED at 8:30 p.m./AT)
• Race: Friday, February 15 (SPEED at 9 p.m. AT)

Event Stats PDF files unless noted otherwise

Wednesday Practice - click here

Qualifying Order - click here

Qualifying Results - click here Darnell on the pole

Starting Lineup - click here

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Chevy Silverado 250
The Place: Daytona International Speedway
The Date: Feb. 15, 2008
The Green Flag: 9 p.m./AT, 8 p.m./ET
Race Distance: 250 miles/100 laps
TV: SPEED, 8:30 p.m./AT, 7:30 p.m./ET
Track Layout: 2.5-mile tri-oval
Race Purse: $875,448
2007 Winner: Jack Sprague
2007 Pole: Jack Sprague
Schedule: (local track time/ET) Wednesday – Practice, 4:30–5:30 p.m. Thursday – Final Practice, 11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. Qualifying, 7 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: n/a, first race of 08

Track Map




Erik Darnell will won the pole for the Chevy Silverado 250. See the complete starting lineup here.



Pre-Race Pit Stops

• At Daytona, Everybody Stands On The Final Lap...It’s pretty much a given that nobody will be seated when the final lap of Friday’s Chevy Silverado 250 is run at Daytona International Speedway. That’s because every one of the previous eight races has been decided by split seconds. One – the late Bobby Hamilton’s 2004 victory – was decided by a matter of inches. And that was the only lap the 36th-place starting Hamilton led. The track’s first series race in 2000 saw Mike Wallace overtake Andy Houston between turns three and four of the final lap. Travis Kvapil was last year’s victim of the slingshot exiting Turn 4 with the lead and finishing third to Jack Sprague (No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevrolet) and Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota). The Chevy Silverado 250 has produced not one but two three-wide finishes. Rick Crawford (No. 14 Circle Bar Racing Ford) edged Kvapil in 2003 with Robert Pressley finishing third.
• Winning Isn’t Everything But ...A competitor doesn’t have to win the Chevy Silverado 250 to capture the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. In fact, none ever has. Travis Kvapil (2003) and Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota, 2006) came the closest finishing in the runner-up position. A driver will tell you that a win would be nice but a solid finish and a good point total will suffice. A cliché, perhaps, but history confirms it. The champion in each of the past three seasons has finished seventh or higher. Last year’s titleholder, Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) was seventh – the Palmdale, Calif., competitor’s first top-10 finish in four trips to the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Mike Bliss (No. 71 TRG Chevrolet), whose team was undecided about running the full, 2000 season proved to be the exception to the rule. He suffered engine failure, finished 33rd and trailed winner Pressley by a whopping 121 points, a margin he ultimately overcame with 21 consecutive races without a DNF. The next largest post-Daytona deficit for a past champion is the 55 points by which Hamilton trailed in 2004. Ironically, Hamilton came back to win the race the following year.
• Roush Fenway Organization To Run 300th Consecutive Race...A rival now, Todd Bodine began a run of 299 consecutive starts by trucks owned by Jack Roush that dates to his eighth-place finish on Oct. 15, 1995 at the old Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif. The streak reaches a record 300 races with the running of Friday’s Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Along the way, Roush Fenway Racing drivers have amassed one championship, 48 victories and five rookie of the year crowns. One – Kurt Busch – won the NASCAR Sprint Cup title in 2004. “The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a great series to develop a driver and get him ready for the Nationwide Series or the Sprint Cup Series,” said Roush, who is looking for his third Daytona winner. Roush Fenway is fielding three teams in 2008.
• Chevy 250 Sponsor Yet To Win … Daytona’s race is sponsored by Chevrolet, however, a Silverado truck has yet to win on the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Ford has been the dominant brand winning four – 50 percent – of the races held. Dodge has three wins while Toyota, the 2006-07 series manufacturers’ champion, won last year’s race.
• Smaller Fuel Cells … The 22-gallon fuel cell is history. The Chevy Silverado 250 is the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race to utilize a 17.75-gallon cell that’s now standard in all three of NASCAR’s national series. It is anticipated the change will result in shorter fuel windows and more pit stops.
• Same Spacer Rule In Effect … As in 2007, a one-inch tapered spacer (1-11/16th inch to 1-1/16th inch) between carburetor and intake manifold is required.
• Keystone New Pole Sponsor … Keystone Light beer is the series’ pole sponsor in 2008 posting a $1,900 award to the driver with the fastest qualifying time eligible to participate in the program. Pole winners have won the Chevy Silverado 250 three times including the past two events.
• Age Does Make A Difference At Daytona … Only one previous winner, Carl Edwards, 26, has failed to celebrate his 40th birthday before winning the Chevy Silverado 250. Joe Ruttman was age 56 years three months when he won the race in 2001.
• Three Wins For BHR-VA … While no driver has won at Daytona more than once, one team – Bobby Hamilton Racing-VA – has three victories, the most by any one team. Current drivers Dennis Setzer and Stacy Compton hope to convert best finishes of sixth and 17th into win No. 4.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.