Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 9:53 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Shane Hmiel earned his first victory of the season and Steve Park climbed into the top 10 in points with his best finish of the year, but the most impressive performance in Saturday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was turned in by Todd Bodine.
Bodine, who won the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series race at LVMS, led 28 laps and finished second Saturday in the Germain/Arnold Racing Toyota Tundra. It was only the third race in the Truck Series for the first-year team.
"It was a great run," said Bodine, who was moved out of the way by Hmiel with two laps remaining. "A second-place finish is as good as first for this team, being so new to the series.
"The Toyota is an awesome machine and the guys gave me a great truck. I'm very proud of what we accomplished here today."
In the team's first Truck Series race, Sept. 9 at Richmond International Raceway, Bodine piloted the No. 30 Toyota to a fourth-place finish after qualifying third. A week later, at New Hampshire International Speedway, the truck developed an electrical problem and Bodine was relegated to a 34th-place finish but rebounded Saturday night with a runner-up effort in Las Vegas.
"For our third event, placing second is an amazing effort and the entire team, both here at the track and our personnel back at the shop, did an excellent job," team co-owner Bob Germain said. "I think we'll see victory circle before the 2004 season is over."
The series heads to California Speedway for Saturday's American Racing Wheels 200.
"That was a kind of goal that we set for ourselves -- to solidly put the Orleans Dodge team in the top 10 where it belongs," Park said. "We started out slow and have been rebuilding the team ever since Brendan (Gaughan) left and really just making strides to move forward.
"I think I told you guys last week, I said, 'I'd be surprised if we didn't win a race before the year is up.' And the goals are the same for us: to finish in the top 10 in points and win a race, because this team has certainly worked hard enough for that."
Park led a race-high 60 laps in the Las Vegas 350.
Busch is the only driver among the 10 eligible for the Nextel Cup Championship that has scored top-five finishes in each of the first two "Chase" races. It also was his eighth consecutive top-15 finish.
"It was a great run for us," Busch said of his finish at Dover. "It's just a good day for us to finish where we did and be second in points. It's a great start to our chase for the cup."
The Nextel Cup Series races at Talladega Superspeedway this Sunday, a track where Busch has four top-six finishes in seven career starts. He finished 36th in the spring race at Talladega after being involved in a multicar accident midway through the race.
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