New Team Leads Toyota Richmond Efforts

Richmond Photos
Courtesy of Toyota Motorsports  (10-10-04)
         

    

RICHMOND, VA, (Sept. 9, 2004) - Todd Bodine gave the Germain/Arnold Racing Team a dramatic entry into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series with a fourth place and was the top finishing Toyota in the Kroger 200 tonight at Richmond International Raceway. Ted Musgrave ran up front most of the night for the victory.

It was the first race for Bodine and the Germain/Arnold team, which announced their plans to form a team and enter a Toyota Tundra at Richmond less than a month ago.  "It was awesome to come out of the box and run so well in our first race," Bodine said. "Even though it's our first truck race, it's not our first race. Arnold Motorsports is an experienced team and they've made their team stronger by combining with the Germain family. Mike Hillman is a veteran crew chief and it shows. We built this truck in four days and went and tested in Chicago. The truck was just a little off. It wasn't perfect. But for our first race - our first truck race - we got pretty close."

"Toyota has obviously come a long way in a short time. This motor is awesome. We're looking forward to a lot more races like this and trying to help the Toyota effort. We're excited about the rest of the year."

Robert Huffman finished sixth for his best-ever NCTS finish and fourth top-10 finish of the year. Huffman also was the top finishing rookie and earned the Raybestos Rookie of the Race award.  "We went to Milwaukee last week and tested and it really helped us here," Huffman said. "Look out for us at Loudon next week, we're really going to be good up there."

It was a heartbreak finish for Hank Parker, Jr., in the AirVest Toyota. He ran in the top-10 for much of the race, before suffering two flat tires during a caution period prior to the green-white-checker finish. "It's a disappointing finish because we had a great truck," Parker said. "We ran in the top-10 most of the night and we should have had a better finish."

Mike Skinner moved up from his 23rd starting position to finish 10th and Johnny Benson was 25th. Bill Lester (29), David Reutimann (30) and Travis Kvapil (31) were all involved in on-track incidents.

Toyota Finishing Positions - Richmond International Raceway:

4th - Todd Bodine - Germain/Arnold Racing Toyota - No. 30 Toyota Tundra
6th - Robert Huffman - Innovative Motorsport - No. 12 Toyota Tundra
10th - Mike Skinner - Bill Davis Racing - No. 42 Toyota Tundra
20th - Hank Parker Jr. - Innovative Motorsports - No. 21 AirVest Toyota Tundra
25th - Johnny Benson - Bill Davis Racing - No. 23 TRD Toyota Tundra
29th - Bill Lester - Bill Davis Racing - No. 22 Hire-A-Hero Toyota Tundra
30th - David Reutimann - Darrell Waltrip Motorsports - No. 17 NTN Bearings Toyota Tundra
31st - Travis Kvapil - Bang Racing - No. 24 Buckle Up For Safety Toyota Tundra