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Daytona International Speedway – NextEra Energy Resources 250
Date: February 22, 2013 Race: 1 of 22 Location: Daytona International Speedway Track Details: 2.5 Miles Race Length: 100 laps/ 250 Miles
Broadcast Information: SPEED TV – Live @ 7:00 PM ET MRN Radio – Live @ 7:00 PM ET
Team Facts: Current Point Standings: N/A Crew Chief: Jeriod Prince Engines: Triad Racing Technologies
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2013) — Todd Bodine’s got plenty of history at Daytona International Speedway, but the two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion has never come to Speedweeks with as strong an array of teammates as he does in 2013 with ThorSport Racing.
Bodine, who won the 2008 and 2009 NCWTS season openers while driving for Germain Racing — the same organization with which Bodine won Truck Series championships in 2006 and 2010 — debuts this weekend in ThorSport’s No. 13 Mattei Air Compressors Toyota. And Bodine knows all too well how valuable committed veteran teammates can be.
So Bodine is anxious to see just how effective his two veteran teammates, Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Slim Jim / Menards Toyota and Johnny Sauter in the No. 98 Carolina Nut Co. / Curb Records Toyota, can be when aligned with Bodine, who in eight Daytona Truck Series starts has an average start of ninth and an average finish of fifth.
“Having three trucks ups your odds at winning,” Bodine said. “And when you have three experienced drivers and three experienced teams and three good Toyota trucks you’ve got a shot to win the race. That’s what we have at ThorSport.”
And what ThorSport has, for the first time at Daytona at least, is a three-man crew of proven winners — even if Bodine is the only win with a trip to Daytona’s Victory Lane. Bodine, like Crafton and Sauter, knows the 807 laps he’s raced at Daytona in a truck might not make a difference if another driver makes a mistake. But all those laps could be what sets him apart from the rest.
“Just the experience itself that I have, gives me the most optimism for this weekend,” Bodine said. “The more drafting that you do, the more you understand it and that’s where experience is key. Experience doesn’t always pay off, because there’s a lot of luck involved, also. But with more experience comes better luck.”
There’s no question winning a third Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona would put Bodine — the youngest of three racing brothers from Chemung, N.Y. — in select all-time company at Daytona. As it is, in the 14 previous editions of the race, Bodine is the only two-time winner.
“That brings me a lot of pride, but I’m honored to be a part of that Daytona legacy,” Bodine said. “I’ve been coming here my whole life — I had my first seven birthdays (Feb. 27) right here in the infield at the Daytona 500.
“So to me, Daytona is something like the Holy Grail — it’s the Stanley Cup, World Series and the Super Bowl all rolled into one. It’s what you do as a driver and what you strive to accomplish. If you can retire with a Daytona win, that’s a pretty large statement.”
Bodine’s already made some knowledgeable statements to the media about ThorSport and Bodine’s newest partner, a first time NASCAR team sponsor in Mattei Air Compressors, a global company with 180 distributors in North America that offers the most energy-efficient air and gas compressors on the market.
“When you can bring a new company to the sport it feels like you’re giving back to the sport and that you’re helping the sport to survive,” Bodine said. “When you have a company like Mattei Air Compressors, which has so much enthusiasm about being involved, it makes it that much better.”
The NextEra Energy Resources 250 is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on Friday. Live television coverage is on SPEED Channel and MRN Radio has the live radio broadcast.
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ABOUT THE MATTEI AIR COMPRESSORS, INC.: Mattei Compressors, Inc., a global company with 180 distributors in North America is the largest Rotary Vane compressor company in the world. Offering a variety of air and gas compressors, from 5 HP to 250 HP Mattei’s unique Rotary Vane technology, marked by the slogan “No Vane, No Gain” makes Mattei compressors the most energy-efficient on the market, producing clean, dry air that’s ideal for body shops and industrial air applications. |
| ABOUT THORSPORT RACING:
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured active NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. Thorsport, which has run full-season Truck Series schedules annually beginning in 1998, in 2013 will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by Matt Crafton, the No, 98 Carolina Nut Co./Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter and the No. 13 Mattei Air Compressors Toyota Tundra driven by Todd Bodine in the Truck Series and the No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota Camry driven by Frank Kimmel in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
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