NASCAR Camping World Truck Series fans may feel a bit of déjà vu on Friday night when SPEED broadcasts race number two of the 2011 season at Phoenix International Raceway. The Arizona one-mile circuit last hosted the Truck Series in November as the second-to-last race in 2010. Todd Bodine returns with the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra. He and the Germain Racing crew have a new game plan for racing at this desert venue.
"We are going to Phoenix with a little bit different plan. We tested at Disney World in the off season. The track isn't close enough that we learned anything specifically for Phoenix International Raceway, but we learned some things that should help us in general," explained Bodine. "We've run well at Phoenix in the past. We have one win there. Over the last couple years, we haven't run really well. We've kind of gone away from our setup and we aren't sure what's happened. This time, we're going there with a different philosophy and our best Germain.com Tundra hoping to see if we can make that work."
Mike Hillman Jr. had the No. 30 Germain Racing team prepare chassis TRD-131 for Phoenix. The Tundra debuted last year and earned wins at Texas, Kentucky and Nashville. The chassis has finished 5th or better in all of its appearances.
"Phoenix has been a track that's frustrated us for a few seasons. Once you win at a track, you definitely want to keep winning there. But, we have had a hard time putting ourselves in position to win at Phoenix. We're sending our best truck with a fresh new setup and we have very high expectations for the Germain.com Tundra," said Hillman.
Bodine says the one quality that he and the No. 30 team are looking for from the Germain.com Tundra this week sounds very simple.
"Balance. We haven't found a good balance there in two years, so we are really looking for balance out of our setup for the Germain.com Tundra," said Bodine.
Bodine has raced seven Truck Series races at Phoenix International Raceway. All have been behind the wheel of the No. 30 with Germain Racing and the pairing has produced one win, three top-five and four top-ten finishes. This Friday night, he'll compete in his 167th Truck Series race when he fires up the Germain.com Tundra for the 2nd race of the 2011 season. Bodine has 729 NASCAR career starts to date.
Watch Bodine in the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra on Friday, February 25th, at Phoenix International Raceway. Watch PIR excitement on SPEED starting with practice at 11:00 AM ET on Friday followed at 5 PM with qualifying and racing action at 8 PM. Or, tune your radio to your local MRN affiliate. Follow Germain Racing on Twitter @GermainRacing or on the web at Germainracing.com or become a fan on Facebook: Facebook.com/pages/Germain-Racing/198863890135.
Germain Racing is only the second team in Truck Series history to earn multiple wins in seven consecutive seasons Germain Racing has 22 wins, nine pole awards and two championships
Bodine became the third driver in Truck Series history to clinch a championship title before season's end when he clinched last year's title at PIR
Both Bodine's 2006 and 2010 championship titles set new records. In 2006, his 21-race lock on the points leading was record-setting. In 2010, he held record-breaking leads over is competitors for much of the season
Chassis TRD-131 will race at Phoenix this week. The truck went to Victory Lane for the first time last June, sporting a Valvoline-themed paint scheme. The chassis has also been to the winner's circle at Kentucky and Nashville and has not finished outside the top-five since it debuted last spring at Nashville
Bodine has earned 21 wins and seven pole awards of Germain Racing's Truck Series total of 22 wins and nine pole awards
In six full-time seasons in the Truck Series, Bodine has scored championship finishes of fourth or better, including two championship titles (2006, 2010)
Germain Racing competes in NASCAR's three national series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment