Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine were friends before Saturday's Toyota Tundra 200 and likely will remain thus in the future.

But after the checkered flag fell to conclude a wild, final-laps shootout at Nashville Superspeedway? Probably not.

Bodine nudged race leader Skinner aside on lap 150, putting his Lumber Liquidators Toyota into the lead - but only briefly. Skinner, whose mount merely slipped up the track before the 1995 champion regained control, chased down his adversary at the start-finish stripe with the white flag in the air.

Skinner literally pushed his rival into the first turn where both drivers lost control and handed the victory to an unassuming Johnny Benson.

Neither competitor was pleased with the other - although bump-and-run tactics are nothing new to NASCAR racing when the victory is on the line.

"I didn't take him out; I hit him," said Bodine. "He came down and I hit him. The difference was, he did wreck me - or he tried to for the win."

Here was Skinner's version of the 150 mph altercation. "I never dreamed in a million years that Todd would do that to me to win a race. He just got greedy. He stepped over the line."

The irony is that Skinner and Bodine, along with wife and partner, are scheduled to vacation together later this month. "It ought to be real interesting," said Bodine.

Observed Jack Sprague, who finished runnerup to Benson, "They're good friends, Todd and Mike - at least they were."