Bodine

This off-weekend will be the last respite for Winston Cup teams before next Saturday's Pepsi 400 begins a grueling streak of 20 consecutive weeks of racing. It's no wonder most drivers, crew chiefs and team members are enjoying one last hurrah with their families before crunch time kicks off.

But for at least one driver, he'd likely rather be racing this weekend. After all, Todd Bodine has had way too many weekends off this season -- 10, to be exact. After sponsorship from Kmart dried up, Bodine was forced to the sidelines before Discover Card gave him a new six-week license on his racing life earlier this month.

The deal between Discover, team owner Travis Carter and Bodine expires after the July 14 Tropicana 400 in Chicago. However, Bodine hopes his new sponsor will extend its support through the remainder of the season. And he will be doing everything possible on the track to prove the No. 26 car is a worthy bet to back.

Thus far, Bodine is doing a pretty good job of that. Earlier this season, Bodine won the pole at Las Vegas before he lost his sponsorship. Since Discover came on board at Dover, Del., Bodine has rejoined Carter-Haas Motorsports and has had fairly respectable finishes: 18th at both Dover and Pocono, Pa., and 26th last Sunday at Sonoma, Calif. He yielded his seat in the car at Brooklyn, Mich., to brother Geoffrey so he could finish -- and ultimately win -- a rain-delayed Busch race in Kentucky the same day.

"Things have gone not as well as we had hoped, but when you sit on the sidelines for awhile, you lose a little bit," Carter said. "Quite honestly, we've run relatively well to have been in the situation we've been up to this point. If you're not out there full-bore every week, it's just like a good athlete staying in shape, you've got to be a part of it every week to stay on top of things.

"We're gaining back on that. I think the morale of the team has improved a lot, and that's a big part of what's going on. It's all about people. These guys see a future, they're more motivated than in the past. When people don't know where they're going to be the next week or next month or what will happen, it takes a lot out of them, and it's taken a lot out of this team this year."

	Bodine climbed into the Discover car for the Dover race in June.

Whether Bodine and Carter will be able to continue to build on the moderate success they've had wearing the Discover colors in the next two races remains to be seen. But both are hoping that by the time the Chicago race is over, they and their team will have done enough to prove they have what it takes to mount a successful program -- not only for the rest of this season, but 2003 as well.

"We had high hopes coming into this season," Bodine said. "We felt like having a year under our belt and getting the team together and straightened out, that we could be competitive. We struggled a little bit at Rockingham, but came out at Las Vegas and got the pole and things were looking good, we had a good new teammate in Joe Nemechek and things were looking great. And, of course, we all know what happened with Kmart going bankrupt, and that left us high and dry with no sponsorship and Las Vegas wound up being our last race.

"Travis and Carl (Haas, team co-owner) have not given up. They kept searching for sponsors, keeping the 26 car going with Frank Kimmel driving. And, lo and behold, a deal came together with Discover Card for six races through Chicago. Hopefully we can show them that NASCAR Winston Cup racing is a good marketing tool that they can use and that they'll decide to stay on board for longer. But right now, it's through Chicago and we're still actively pursuing sponsors."

Added Carter, "I have some concerns, but I'm certainly far more positive than negative. We have a relative strong confidence that we'll be there. I think (Discover is) moving ahead. They're fired up and have a lot of great plans for the future. We just hope they include us and we're working toward that end right now ... If (Bodine) could win every race and win the championship, that would aleve a lot of that."

Having spent most of his career either as a Winston Cup fill-in or a full-time Busch driver, Bodine finished 29th for Carter-Haas last season. He was looking to build on that for an even more successful season in 2002 until Kmart's bankruptcy ruined that. Nemechek has since gone on to replace Jerry Nadeau in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 Chevrolet, but the Kmart fiasco remains a sore point for Bodine.

"When it first happened, my initial reaction was, 'Here we go again,'" he said. "It seems like every time I get myself into a good situation, something happens that's out of my control. That was kind of the first reaction, just unbelievable that this could happen again and not understanding why. But, I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Every time something has happened before, I've landed on my feet, either in Winston Cup or back in Busch. Sure enough, when the last race was up at Las Vegas, the Herzogs were looking for a driver and driver change, I stepped in and have a good situation."

That situation for Herzog Motorsports includes a recent Busch victory at Kentucky, as Bodine got by Greg Biffle to win the rain-delayed Kroger 300. And though he came to the team late, Bodine is already eighth in Busch earnings this season.

	“	(The sponsor is) fired up and have a lot of great plans for the future. We just hope they include us and we're working toward that end right now ... If (Bodine) could win every race and win the championship, that would aleve a lot of that. ”
		— Travis Carter

But next on the horizon for Bodine is next week's Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

"Daytona is a little bit of a special situation," Bodine said. "If you go down there and don't have a fast car, meaning aerodynamic-wise, and if you don't have the greatest of motors, you can only do so much until you get in the race. So, qualifying is pretty much at the mercy of the race car.

"When you get into the race, then it's kind of up to the driver to get the car to the front. Still, you've got to have a good race car to do it. You can't count your chickens before they hatch. You have to wait until you get there and see where you stack up in the lineup to know how well you're going to do."

With all the adversity he's faced this season, one would wonder how much more tension Bodine can take. But this member of the celebrated racing family from upstate New York thrives on pressure.

"I've always said there's no way a car owner, sponsor, crew or crew chief can put any more pressure on me than I put on myself," Bodine said. "My philosophy is that if you give 110 percent every lap, then you've got nothing to hang your head down if something happens. You've done your best and that's all you can do.

"I've been in situations that we felt like was going to be the right opportunity, with good people, and it just didn't work out for whatever reason.

"I really felt that when I had the opportunity with Travis Carter, it was the right opportunity. At the time, it wasn't a (Rick) Hendrick, (Jack) Roush or (Robert) Yates, but Travis is the type of car owner that gives you everything you need to go fast, whether it be good people, good equipment, whatever it takes he's going to do it to make you go fast. What's important to me is to be involved with good people. Travis is a great guy, and he's a lot of fun and a good car owner. Unfortunately, we've gone through some troubled time this year. Hopefully, we can get it turned around and secure the sponsor and go on down the road and have a great future together."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.