#99-Michael Waltrip helped himself pull away from #92-Todd Bodine in the pivotal moments and then ran away to victory in Saturday’s Cabela’s 250. Waltrip had changed just two tires on his final pit stop while Bodine had taken four new tires. Bodine charged up through traffic and began to challenge Waltrip for the lead with less than 25 laps to go. “They talk about how wide this place is and how much groove it has,” Waltrip said of contact between his Chevrolet and Bodine’s on Lap 101 at the 2-mile Michigan track. “I’m leading the race and he runs into me. I just thought, ‘Well, that’s kind of rude. So when I saw him perfectly beside me I turned into him to pay him back. And I did a nice job, by the way.” Bodine said Waltrip “just body-slammed me” and that the contact damaged the fender on his car, hurting its performance. Over the final 20 laps, Waltrip pulled away to nearly a four-second cushion while Bodine fell into a frantic battle for second eventually won by #9-Jeff Burton. Bodine faded to fourth behind #21-Jeff Green. It was Waltrip’s ninth BGN win and first since Charlotte in October 1999. He’s the 14th driver to win a Grand National race this season. #60-Greg Biffle, who came into the race with an 86-point edge on #57-Jason Keller, lost the engine in his Ford after completing just 18 laps and finished 42nd. Keller’s late engine problem left him with a 35th-place finish, however, and he gained only 30 points on the leader. Biffle now leads Keller by 56 points and #24-Jack Sprague, who finished 15th Saturday, by 206 points.(ThatsRacin.com)
See results at ThatsRacin.com or BGNRacing.com.(8-17-2002)
