Bodine wins Darlington truck race
DARLINGTON, S.C.—In a season where seemingly nothing can go wrong, good fortune smiled on Todd Bodine once again in Saturday night’s Camping World Truck Series Too Tough to Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway.
The series leader by 174 points coming into the race, Bodine cruised to his second straight win and third this season in the first truck race at Darlington since 2004.
“We love this place,” Bodine crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. said after watching his driver cross the finish line.
The key moment of the race occurred with 47 laps to go when Austin Dillon elected to give up the lead and pit for tires under caution. Expecting Bodine and others to follow suit before the finish, Dillon dropped outside the top 10 in the running order and never challenged for the lead again as a flurry of late cautions allowed the leaders to remain on track without needing to stop for tires or fuel.
Timothy Peters finished second after starting from the pole and having the dominant truck early. Ron Hornaday Jr. came home third after leading briefly when he beat Peters off pit road under the third of nine cautions.
Johnny Sauter finished fourth followed by Dillon.
On a night that featured plenty of spins and general mayhem, Darlington lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR.
Brian Ickler, Mike Skinner and Ricky Carmichael were among the contenders eliminated in accidents. Carmichael took the hardest hit, slamming the Turn 4 wall head-on after being clipped in the right-rear quarter panel by the spinning truck of Mario Gosselin.
“That’s typical RC luck right there,” Carmichael said. “I just can’t do anything.”
