Look at those Tundras go! Toyota Wins at Kansas!

[tundrabrad]

Trucks - Bodine Avoids Chaos in Kansas

Written by: Jeff Olson
Kansas City, Kan. – 7/2/2005

Todd Bodine had no question about his truck. The only question was whether a mistake would allow Todd Kluever to get past him.

No mistakes were made, and Bodine celebrated his return to Germain/Arnold Racing by winning the crash-marred O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 on Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. He did it by staying ahead of Kluever and David Reutimann on a green-white-checkered finish for his third win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

“I could run wide open after a yellow,” Bodine said. “That’s just unheard of, but that’s how strong this truck was. Most of the time you dread a red or yellow flag, but I wasn’t concerned. I could run very fast right after a yellow.”

He had plenty of opportunities to test that theory. The race was stopped nine times for 35 laps, including a red flag after Kelly Sutton’s truck crashed and flipped onto its top with 15 laps left in the 170-lap race. Sutton was taken to the infield care center, but was not injured. Despite the rash of accidents, only five trucks were knocked out of the race because of damage.

After Matt Crafton’s truck crashed on the frontstretch with four laps remaining, Bodine faced a two-lap run to the finish. “I wasn’t too worried,” he said. “If they could have gotten up to me, they would have had trouble getting around me. That’s how strong this truck was.

Bodine raced for Germain/Arnold eight times last season, winning twice and finishing in the top five four times. He drove the No. 66 Fiddle Back Racing entry for the first 10 races this season, then rejoined Germain/Arnold last week at Milwaukee.

“I’m so glad to be back with this team,” Bodine said. “One of the biggest mistakes of my career was leaving this team. I’ve had to eat a lot of crow over that.”

Kluever finished second in the No. 50 Shell Rotella T Ford, followed by Reutimann, Mike Skinner, Bill Lester and Jimmy Spencer.

The truck series resumes July 9 at Kentucky Speedway.

O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 results:

1) Todd Bodine, Toyota Allman Brothers Band 170 Running
2) Todd Kluever, Ford Shell ROTELLA T 170 Running
3) David Reutimann Toyota NTN Bearings 170 Running
4) Mike Skinner Toyota Toyota Tundra 170 Running
5) Bill Lester Toyota U.S. Army 170 Running
6) Jimmy Spencer Dodge Team ASE 170 Running
7) Terry Cook Ford Power Stroke Diesel 170 Running
8) Brendan Gaughan Dodge Jasper Engines & Transmissions 12 170 Running
9) John Andretti Chevrolet Billy Ballew Motorsports 170 Running
10) Rick Crawford Ford Circle Bar Truck Corral 170 Running
11) Dennis Setzer Chevrolet Chevrolet Silverado 170 Running
12) Bobby Hamilton Dodge Bobby Hamilton Racing 170 Running
13) Ricky Craven Ford Superchips 170 Running
14) Ted Musgrave Dodge Mopar 170 Running
15) Chad Chaffin Toyota Jeff Wyler Automotive Family 170 Running
16) Brandon Whitt Toyota Cure Autism Now/McMillin Homes 170 Running
17) Ron Hornaday Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 170 Running
18) Robert Huffman Toyota Toyota Tundra 169 Running
19) Tracy Hines Chevrolet ThorSport Rcg/Zoriki Mtspts 169 Running
20) Chase Montgomery Dodge TracRac 169 Running
21) Brad Keselowski Ford Samson Stone 169 Running
22) Jimmy Kite * Chevrolet MRD Motorsports 169 Running
23) Kevin Hamlin Chevrolet Pavestone 169 Running
24) David Starr Chevrolet Spears Manufacturing 169 Running
25) Clay Rogers * Dodge Glynn Motorsports 168 Running
26) Deborah Renshaw Dodge Easy Care Service Contracts 167 Running
27) Matt Crafton Chevrolet Menards 164 Accident
28) Johnny Benson Toyota Toyota Certified Used Vehicles 161 Running
29) Chris Fontaine Dodge Bobby Hamilton Racing 152 Accident
30) Jack Sprague Chevrolet Chevy Trucks 150 Engine
31) Kelly Sutton Chevrolet Team Copaxone 147 Accident
32) Steve Park Dodge Orleans Hotel & Casino 136 Accident
33) Robert Pressley Dodge Edy's Ice Cream 69 Running
34) Wayne Edwards Chevrolet Mighty Motorsports 115 Overheating
35) Johnny Chapman Chevrolet Cheyenne/VFW Hidden Heroes Fund 73 Vibration
36) Justin Allgaier Ford Dave Porter Truck Sales 68 Accident
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http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/17976/

[tundrabrad]

Written by: Ben Blake
Kansas City, Kan. – 7/2/2005

Bill Lester led a Toyota sweep of the front row at Kansas Speedway, smashing the track Craftsman Truck qualifying record with a lap in 31.100sec/173.633mph Friday. The time trials set the grid for Saturday night's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250, preliminary to Sunday's IRL/IndyCar event.

Lester and Bill Davis Racing teammate Mike Skinner controlled the first two positions, with Skinner clocking in at 31.189. Rookie Todd Kluever, showing improved results the past couple of weeks, was third, followed by David Reutimann and three-time series champion Jack Sprague.

Even with the heat, 31 of the 36 drivers broke the former track record for the series. Lester beat Jon Wood's 2003 standard (32.467) by nearly four tenths of a second and 7mph.

Lester, a University of California graduate, Hewlett-Packard computer engineer and road racer, joined the Truck series in 2002 and is in his fourth full season. This is his second career pole, the first coming at Charlotte in 2003. He has one top-10 finish this season, that being a sixth at Charlotte in May.

Qualifying for the O'Reilly 250 (1.5mi oval):

1) Bill Lester, No. 22 U.S. Army Toyota, 31.100sec/173.633mph
2) Mike Skinner, No. 5 Tundra Toyota, 31.189/189.173
3) Todd Kluever, No. 50 Shell Ford, 31.274/172.667
4) David Reutimann, No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyota, 31.280/172.634
5) Jack Sprague, No. 16 Chevy Trucks Chevrolet, 31.399/171.980
6) Robert Huffman, No. 12 Tundra Toyota, 31.449/171.707
7) Jimmy Spencer, No. 2 Team ASE Dodge, 31.455/171.674
8) Brandon Whitt, No. 38 Cure Autism Toyota, 31.469/171.597
9) Ted Musgrave, No. 1 Mopar Dodge, 31.474/171.570
10) Todd Bodine, No. 30 Allman Brothers Toyota, 31.535/171.238
11) Ron Hornaday, No. 6 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 31.549/171.162
12) Dennis Setzer, No. 46 Silverado Chevrolet, 31.567/171.065
13) David Starr, No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet, 31.580/170.994
14) Steve Park, No. 62 Orleans Racing Dodge, 31.583/170.978
15) Johnny Benson, No. 23 Toyota Used Cars Toyota, 31.615/170.805
16) Rick Crawford, No. 14 Circle Bar Ford, 31.654/170.595
17) Chad Chaffin, No. 60 Jeff Wyler Toyota, 31.685/170.428
18) Clay Rogers, No. 65 Dodge, 31.711/170.288
19) Tracy Hines, No. 13 ThorSport Chevrolet, 31.713/170.277
20) Terry Cook, No. 10 Power Stroke Ford, 31.738/170.143
21) Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menard's Chevrolet, 31.915/169.199
22) Jimmy Kite, No. 06 Chevrolet, 31.915/169.199
23) John Andretti, No. 15 Chevrolet, 31.930/169.120
24) Kevin Hamlin, No. 07 Pavestone Chevrolet, 31.937/169.083
25) Bobby Hamilton, No. 04 Dodge, 31.995/168.776
26) Brad Keselowski, No. 29 Samson Stone Ford, 32.005/168.724
27) Brendan Gaughan, No. 77 Jasper Engines Dodge, 32.039/168.545
28) Chris Fontaine, No. 4 Dodge, 32.108.168.182
29) Johnny Chapman, No. 08 Cheyenne Chevrolet, 32.117/168.135
30) Chase Montgomery, No. 18 TracRac Dodge, 32.439/166.466
31) Ricky Craven, No. 99 Superchips Ford, 32.460/166.359
32) Kelly Sutton, No. 02 Copaxone Chevrolet, 32.501/166.149
33) Robert Pressley, No. 59 Edy's Dodge, 32.723/165.022
34) Deborah Renshaw, No. 8 EasyCare Dodge, 32.851/153.379
35) Justin Allgaier, No. 63 Dave Porter Truck Sales Ford, 33.413/161.614
36) Wayne Edwards, No. 24 Roof Check Chevrolet, 33.847/159.541
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http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/17960/