Todd Bodine, the defending Camping World Truck Series champion, likely will miss next week’s race at Iowa Speedway and several others this year because of a lack of sponsorship. It has already been a frustrating year for Bodine, who is 13th in the series standings. “To have a great race team and know that you can go out there every week and win the race to not be able to go and have that opportunity, it’s frustrating,” Bodine said Thursday. “But this is also a business and you have to treat it as a business. If we don’t have the funding and it doesn’t make business sense to do it, we need to not go. The 30 truck has been Germain’s signature vehicle as it has been to every race since the start of 2004. Germain expanded from one full-time truck and one part-time truck to four full-time trucks at the start of this year, with the additions of Max Papis, Brendan Gaughan and Justin Lofton. Lofton and the team parted ways prior to this weekend at Kentucky Speedway, and that truck is no longer running. Hillman said having multiple programs has allowed him to keep engineering staff that might have been in jeopardy if the team relied on one truck. But the team won’t race unless it thinks it can win and run well, not only because that is the goal but also because strong performance is key in attracting sponsorship for 2012. ine could run some Nationwide Series races as Germain has three cars in its shop and some interested sponsors. As far as driving for another team, Bodine didn’t sound like a man searching for a ride. “I’m a Germain Racing driver and to drive for somebody else in the Truck Series wouldn’t be right,” Bodine said. “But if someone in a Toyota gave me a chance to run, we’d talk to it.”(SceneDaily.com)(7-7-2011)
UPDATE We are hearing today that Germain Racing and reigning Truck Series champion Todd Bodine have secured sponsorship for this weekend at Iowa from International Trucks. Bodine will race on Saturday with Mike Hillman Jr. crew chiefing, but some details have yet to be worked out, including the truck’s number. After last Friday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway, Bodine told reporters that unless a deal was in place early this week, his team wouldn’t be racing in Iowa. The team has struggled to put together regular sponsorship for Bodine since Lumber Liquidators left following the 2008 season, and they were facing the reality of parking their #30 for multiple races through the end of this season. There is no word on if this deal with International is for the remainder of the season, or what it means for Randy Moss Motorsports, who’ve had the International sponsorship since last season.(TheNASCARInsiders.com)(7-13-2011)
UPDATE 2: SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody has learned that Randy Moss Motorsports and Germain Racing will join forces to put reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Todd Bodine in the #5 Toyota Tundra for the remainder of the 2011 season. Germain Racing owner Bob Germain confirmed the move today, saying, “We began talking with (RMM co-owner) David Dollar last weekend, and met this week about the possibility of combining their #5 and our #30 trucks for an unknown period of time; possibly the rest of the season. We compared sponsor commitments, and with 15 races left in the season, that’s about what we had in combined sponsorship. It made sense to talk, and while the deal is not completely done, we knew we had to make a decision on Iowa right away. We’ve told Todd that he will go to Iowa this weekend and drive the #5 Toyota with Mike Hillman, Jr. as crew chief and our pit crew. The move will leave former series champion Travis Kvapil without a ride, after he replaced Mike Skinner as driver of the #5 during the offseason. Kvapil currently stands 18th in Truck Series points, with a pair of tenth-place finishes the highlight of his year. It’s been a surprise to all of us that (Randy Moss Motorsports) hasn’t been more competitive this season,” said Germain. “The upside for them is better performance for the #5 truck and their sponsors.” He said it was “fair to assume” that Bodine will pilot trucks from the Germain Racing stable for the remainder of the season, re-numbered with RMM’s #5 and prepared and crewed by Germain. “I think we’re a little bit ahead of them on the superspeedways and 1.5-mile tracks,” he said, “so we will probably end up using our trucks.(Siriur Speedway PR)(7-13-2011)
UPDATE 3: Randy Moss Motorsports and Germain Racing today announced a collaborative effort that will have Todd Bodine as the driver of the No. 5 International Trucks/Monaco RVs Toyota Tundra for this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway. Bodine, the two-time and defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, will pilot the No. 5 International Trucks/Monaco RVs Tundra for this weekend’s Coca-Cola 200 presented by Hy-Vee with Germain Racing’s veteran crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., leading the collaborative effort between fellow Toyota teams. Details of the driver lineup for the remainder of the season will be announced at a later date.(Germain Racing PR)(7-14-2011)
