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The stage is set for Todd Bodine’s return to the Camping World Truck Series. The Onion has provided the first look at the No. 62 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro that he will drive while trying to reach 800 career starts.
Bodine tweeted out a video featuring the blue and yellow truck with its Camping World scheme. He walked all around the Toyota while thanking the supporters that made his NASCAR return possible. Bodine then added that he and the Halmar Friesen Racing team were getting ready for Las Vegas.
The fifth-annual Victoria’s Voice 200 on Friday, March 4 (9 p.m. ET, FS1), will serve as Bodine’s first start in the Truck Series since the 2013 season. He will try to make the final 36-truck field during qualifying, and then he will pursue another strong finish in a career that features 22 wins and 124 top-10 finishes.
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Bodine Has a Solid Opportunity To Qualify
While The Onion hasn’t competed in the Camping World Truck Series since the 2013 season, he should have a solid opportunity to qualify for the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The reason is that he only has to beat one driver during single-truck qualifying.
The initial entry list for the Truck Series race features 37 total names fighting for 36 spots on the starting grid. There are several drivers making one of their limited starts, including Ryan Preece with David Gilliland Racing, Kyle Busch with Kyle Busch Motorsports, Matt Mills with Young’s Motorsports, and Brennan Poole with G2G Racing.
Bodine will have to shake off some rust during practice, but he will do so at a track where he has a history of success. He has made nine total starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he has only finished outside of the top 10 twice. Bodine’s average finish at the 1.5-mile track is 7.8, and he has a victory on his stat sheet from the 2005 season.
Bodine’s Schedule Features Ovals & a Road Course
The race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be the first of six events on Bodine’s 2022 schedule that will take him to 800 career starts. He will also take on multiple other ovals and a California road course.
Following the return to the desert, Bodine will join Halmar Friesen Racing for trips to Darlington Raceway (May 6), Texas Motor Speedway (May 20), Sonoma Raceway (June 11), Nashville Superspeedway (June 24), and Pocono Raceway (July 23).
This schedule features one of the longer tracks on the schedule in Pocono Raceway (2.5 miles), a road course in Sonoma Raceway, and four intermediates. One, in particular, made its return to the series in 2021 with a packed race weekend, but it is familiar to Bodine.
Nashville Superspeedway, the 1.33-mile concrete oval outside of Lebanon, Tenn., was a mainstay on the Truck Series and Xfinity Series schedules from 2001 until 2011. However, the two series moved on to other tracks after Carl Edwards (Xfinity Series) and Austin Dillon (Truck Series) reached Victory Lane. NASCAR stayed away from Nashville Superspeedway until the 2021 season when all three series competed once again for the Middle Tennessee fans.
While Bodine was not part of the 2021 race weekend, he has considerable experience at the 1.33-mile oval. He made nine starts at the track during his Truck Series career and posted an average finish of 7.0. His stats include five top-five finishes and a win in 2010 when he started on the pole. 2022 will provide him with another opportunity to add to his history of success.
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