BODINE: High Hopes For Kentucky 225
08-31-2010 4:15 pm

Germain Racing and Todd Bodine are in rare form. After 17 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, Bodine and the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra have collected two pole awards, three victories, 12 top-five, 14 top-ten finishes and lead the championship standings by a record-setting 236 points. With any luck, there will be more of the same when the team rolls into Kentucky Speedway for Friday's Kentucky 225.

"We had a real good truck last year at Kentucky Speedway so we're going back with a lot of expectations. We were leading last year and the rear end gear burned up. This Germain Racing team, our game is real good right now. We definitely feel like we can go back to Kentucky and get our Germain.com Tundra out front again," said Bodine.

The counter play of good trucks and rotten luck for the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra team at Kentucky is part of the reason why no other driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has passed more race trucks under the green flag at Kentucky than Todd Bodine. NASCAR's Loop Data Statistics credit this season's points leader with 189 green flag passes at Kentucky Speedway. Bodine leads the green flag passing category overall and on the backstretch.

"All that proves is that when we've gotten into trouble at Kentucky, we've always had a Toyota Tundra that was capable of coming back through the field. The truck has always handled well at Kentucky and that's where it shows up," explained Bodine, who has a win at Kentucky in the Nationwide Series and has led 53 laps in the home state of team sponsor, Valvoline, in the Truck Series.

Mark Hillman, Rob Hunley, Chris Petit, Tom Ackerman, Mike Leitner, Justin Gardner, "PJ" Briody, Mark Kincaid, Darrell Bechy, Tony Nicholson and crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. make up the core of the crew that travels with the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra. It's the hard work of faces like these, teamed with the guys back at Germain Racing that make it possible for the No. 30 team to race their best race truck in Kentucky.

"We get to take our best race truck to Kentucky Speedway because we have some of the best guys in the world working for Germain Racing. We raced on Friday night in Chicago and our truck had damage. On Saturday afternoon, we had TRD-131 torn down and in the fab shop for repairs. By Monday morning it was out of the body shop and we were putting decals back onto the truck. This teamwork is what makes it possible for us to bring our best truck to Kentucky, but it's also the backbone of our ability to turn in consistent performances at the race track," said Hillman Jr., crew chief for Bodine and the No. 30 Germain.com Tundra for all five of the full-time seasons.

Chassis TRD-131 has raced eight times this season, scored two wins and finished no worse than fifth. Watch Bodine drive this Germain.com Tundra chassis on Friday, September 3rd at Kentucky Speedway. Qualifying will be on SPEED at 6:00 PM ET, with race coverage starting at 7:30 PM. Follow Germain Racing on Twitter @GermainRacing or on the web at Germainracing.com or become a Facebook fan.

Notes: Bodine, No. 30 Germain.com Tundra

Kentucky Speedway

• Germain Racing is only the second team in Truck Series history to earn multiple wins in seven consecutive season

• Germain Racing has 21 wins, eight pole awards and one championship

• Bodine has owned the lead in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship points since Charlotte and his margin is 236 points over second-place

• Chassis TRD-131 debuted at Nashville in the Spring. The truck has eight races to its credit: Nashville, 5th, Kansas, 3rd, Charlotte, 2nd, Texas, Win, Michigan, 2nd, Gateway 4th, Nashville #2, Win, Chicagoland, 2nd. The truck is the newest in the Germain Racing Tundra fleet

• Bodine won his first race at Kentucky Speedway in the NNS

• Bodine has earned 20 wins and six pole awards of Germain Racing's Truck Series total of 21 wins and eight pole awards

• In five full-time seasons in the Truck Series, Bodine has scored championship finishes of fourth or better, including one championship title in 2006

• Germain Racing competes in NASCAR's three premier, national series, has earned top-ten finishes in each and consecutive top-ten points finishes in the NNS division. In 2010, Germain Racing expanded its competition portfolio to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East

• Follow Germain Racing @GermainRacing on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook