Bodine has earned Two Pole awards in Two First-time visits to Chicagoland
Bodine's First Pole was in NASCAR's first Cup Series race at Chicagoland
Bodine's Second Pole at Chicagoland was in his first NNS race at the track
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., is a new stop for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a great chance for Todd Bodine and Germain Racing to showcase Ventrilo in its home state. Though the Truck Series has never raced at Chicagoland, the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra has logged countless laps at the 1.5-mile oval. Before testing was banned on NASCAR-sanctioned tracks, Chicagoland was a very popular test track for Truck Series teams.
"For the inaugural NASCAR race in the Cup Series, I got the pole at Chicagoland, so I like the track. I've always enjoyed it. Germain Racing's No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra team has done a lot of testing at Chicagoland. We've run really well. We ought to be able to unload our No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra and be competitive," said Bodine, who adds that he's looking forward to racing in the "Windy City" again. "Chicago is a great town. I'm definitely looking forward to racing at the track again."
Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. has been a part of many Germain Racing test sessions at Chicagoland. He believes his team will be very prepared for the Truck Series debut.
"Our No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra has won many testing sessions at Chicagoland and we hope to transfer that into a race win," said Hillman Jr. with a smile. "We've always enjoyed going to Chicagoland. We think this should be a strong track for our team."
Hillman has prepared Germain Racing chassis TRD-124 for Chicagoland. It's a truck that the driver says he could drive anywhere, which is half of the battle.
"Driver confidence is important. When Germain Racing unloads the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra at Chicagoland, we will have put a lot of pressure on ourselves. It's the first race at that track, but our mile and a half program has a strong history of being competitive. We're taking our Texas winner, Chassis TRD -124. It is just about the best truck we have and what might be better than all of the data on the truck is that it's Todd's favorite truck which can be worth a lot on the time charts," said Hillman.
Bodine races the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway.
Qualifying is at 4:10 P.M. Eastern on Friday. Tune into to SPEED, or MRN, for race coverage at 9:00 PM Eastern.
Todd Bodine enters Chicagoland ranked sixth in the Truck Series championship standings with two wins this season.
Notes on Chicagoland Speedway
Ventrilo has been the primary sponsor of the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra of Germain Racing at Kansas Speedway, O'Reilly Raceway Park, Nashville and Bristol. The No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra will race twice in Flagship Industries' home state of Illinois—Friday night in Chicagoland and again on September 12th at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill.
Bodine earned the first ever Pole award in NASCAR's inaugural Cup Series event at Chicagoland (2001)
Bodine repeated his Pole-winning ways when he returned to Chicagoland for his first NNS race at the track in 2002, winning the Pole
Bodine has three Cup Series and three NNS starts at Chicagoland
Bodine's best finish at Chicagoland is 2nd, in NNS, 2002. His best Cup Series finish is 14th, 2001, a race where he led six laps.
Truck Series in Chicago...is not new, but, Truck Series at Chicagoland IS new. Trucks last raced in Cicero, Ill., at Chicago Motor Speedway, in 2001. Trucks ran two races in Cicero.
Chassis TRD-124 was chosen for Chicagoland. The truck won at Texas following a dominating run at Dover that was cut short of great results by a persistent issue with tires. TRD-124 has also raced this year at Kentucky where it led 45 laps. The truck last raced at Nashville.
Germain Racing has won two or more races each year in the Truck Series since its first race in 2004. The team has 18 wins, six pole awards and one Truck Series championship
Bodine has earned 17 wins and four pole awards with Germain Racing
