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Racing briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

Bodine's jump leads to win

LAS VEGAS -- Todd Bodine outdueled rookie Greg Biffle on a late restart Saturday, winning the Sam's Town 300 for his second straight NASCAR Busch Grand National victory.

Bodine lost ground during a mid-race pit stop when a lugnut fell off his left front tire as he pulled away.

"The guys told me to stop and pushed me back into the pit," he said. "That was the right thing to do. Luckily, we didn't lose a lap. I thought, "We're just going to cool it and wait for a yellow.' We had a lot of problems that we overcame, but that's the sign of a good team and a good car."

The winner averaged 142.161 mph and led five times for a race-high 103 laps.

Bodine's Chevrolet took the lead for good on Lap 188 and was fighting off Biffle's Ford on Lap 192 when Larry Foyt, Tim Fedewa and Ashton Lewis Jr. crashed on the front straightaway. NASCAR halted the race with a red flag on the 196th lap to give safety workers a chance to clean up the accident scene, allowing the race to end under green.

On the restart, Bodine drove away from Biffle, but last year's NASCAR Craftsman Trucks champion made one last run on the final lap. The challenge ended when the cars banged. Bodine won by 1.085-seconds, about 10 car-lengths.

FLORIDA DODGE DEALERS 200: Scott Riggs won the pole for today's Craftsman Trucks race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Riggs lapped the 11/2-mile track at 146.017 mph. Ricky Hendrick, the son of NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, lines up second.

NEXTEL 250: James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger led from start to finish in the Grand American Prototype race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for their first victory of the season.

CART: Chris Kneifel, a former Champ Car driver and part of the winning team at this year's 24 Hours of Daytona, was named chief steward.

Changes for Waltrip: HANS, winning ways

When he starts fourth in today's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Michael Waltrip will be wearing the HANS head-restraint device, which was among the safety issues that came to the forefront after the death of his car owner, Dale Earnhardt.

While other NASCAR drivers have struggled to make the device comfortable, Waltrip found ease and comfort at first fitting.

Only six other drivers had definite plans to wear the device today: Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Robert Pressley, Terry Labonte, Hut Stricklin and Brett Bodine.

The others in the 43-car field are experimenting, trying to adjust their seating and safety-harness configurations and their movements in the driving process to accommodate the device.

But in a test session at Atlanta days after Daytona, "I put it on and I loved it," Waltrip said. "And I've had it on every time I've been in the car since. "I like it better than without it. "When you pull down your harness belts as tight as we do, and you're wearing the HANS, you're not just pulling them down on your shoulders (which often pinches drivers uncomfortably), you're pulling them down over a wider-spread area."

His about-face on wearing the device, which he said he wasn't comfortable with the idea of a week and a half earlier at his first news conference after Earnhardt's death, isn't the only change for Waltrip. The blueprint for his newfound success at Dale Earnhardt Inc. came from Dale Jarrett.

Waltrip broke through for the first victory of his Winston Cup career at Daytona, finally winning in his 463rd start and at the beginning of his 16th Winston Cup season.

After two weeks of dealing with Earnhardt's death, Waltrip heads into the third race of the season third in the standings and is able to look forward to this race.

"I knew that with Dale Earnhardt and his team, I had a real chance to win races," Waltrip said. "Dale told me I was going to win. He made it very clear that's what he expected."

The precedent was set by Jarrett in 1996, when he won the Daytona 500 in his first race after switching to the No. 88 Ford of Robert Yates Racing and working for the first time with crew chief Todd Parrott.

Jarrett starts from the pole today, with Waltrip fourth. Johnny Benson starts second and Jerry Nadeau third.

TODAY ON TV: Trucks, FDD 400, noon, ESPN; NASCAR, Daimler Chrysler 400, 2, Ch. 13; American Le Mans series, 2, Speedvision.

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