Kevin Harvick started on the pole for the race and began to show his dominance early. After only a few laps, Harvick was able to jump out to a one second lead ahead of Johnny Sauter. On lap 13, the first caution came out due to Jason White blowing an engine coming into turn 1. Jennifer Jo Cobb, who finished 26th, received the lucky dog. After a six lap green flag run, the second caution of the evening came out. John Wes Townley spun out in turn 2, but received no damage. Norm Benning, who finished 25th, recived the lucky dog. On the first lap after the restart, the third caution of the race came out and it involved a total of 5 cars.
As the trucks came into turn 3, Jeb Burton got loose and spun Cale Gale. Gale was able to spin and receive no damage, but Burton backed into the wall and received a lot of damage. Parker Kligerman, who was trying to avoid the wreck, barely hit Burton as he passed by Burton's truck that was sliding across the outside wall. In front of those incidents, Brian Scott, who had made it through the wreck, was spun by Max Gresham, who could not see where he was going due to the smoke and cars trying to get by.. Neither driver received any damage and no driver received the lucky dog.
After the longest green flag run of the race, 36 laps, Todd Bodine got loose in turn 3 and spun out in turn 4 on lap 69. It was the fourth caution of the race. David Starr, who received two lucky dogs in the race, recived his first lucky dog of the race. After the second longest green flag run of the race, 24 laps, Ryan Sieg got loose coming out of turn 4 and hit the inside wall on the frontstretch on lap 97. It was the fifth caution of the race. David Starr, who finished 14th, received his secong lucky dog of the race. After a short eleven lap green flag run, Wes Burton got loose in turn 3 and spun out, resulting in a very hard hit into the inside wall on lap 112. It was the fifth caution of the race. John Wes Townley, who spun out earlier in the race, received the lucky dog. This caution led to the first red flag of the day.
On lap 120, NASCAR decided that the rain coming down at the track was too much for the trucks to continue racing. The first red flag of the race was waved and the pace car pulled the trucks onto pit road. The rain began to diminish and NASCAR told the drivers to put their helmets on. After about a ten minute delay, the trucks began to roll off of pit road. Some trucks decided to pit before the restart, but Todd Bodine, among other drivers, decided to stay out since they had newer tires on their trucks and more fuel. As Robert Frost said, “I have taken the road less traveled and it has made all the difference for me.” and for Todd Bodine and the other drivers, this reigned true.
When the green flag waved once again, trucks that had not been out front for the entire race were now in contention for the victory. After a short 5 lap green flag run, Max Gresham came out of turn 4 and slapped the outside wall on the frontstretch on lap 129. It was the seventh caution of the race. Paulie Harraka, who finished 17th, received the lucky dog. After a very short green flag run, 2 laps, Ron Hornaday got loose coming out of turn 2 and almost wrecked Justin Lofton, but Hornaday was able to avoid hitting Lofton and spin towards the inside wall and tap the wall, resulting in a crushed front end. It was the eighth caution of the race. Caleb Holman, who finished 18th, received the lucky dog. After the final green flag run of the race, rain began to fall on the racetrack on lap 144. It was the ninth caution of the race. NASCAR once again felt that the rain was too much for the drivers to continue racing.
The second red flag of the race was waved and the pace car once again pulled the cars onto pit road. The rain began to pour and NASCAR was forced to end the race after only 147 laps of the 200 laps. Todd Bodine was declared the winner of the race because he had stayed out after the first red flag and passed the rest of the cars that hadn't stopped either. Other drivers that stayed out and earned great finishes were Parker Kligerman, Nelson Piquet Jr., and Cale Gale. For Kevin Harvick, Mother Nature managed to rip a win out of his hands after he dominated the entire race.
Once again, Todd Bodine won the 2012 Lucas Oil 200 at Dover thanks to Mother Nature. He led 20 of the 147 laps, which was third to Justin Lofton's 22 laps led and Kevin Harvick's 96 laps led. It was his 22nd win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which is the 5th most all-time. The rest of the top 5 were Parker Kligerman in 2nd, Kevin Harvick in 3rd, Nelson Piquet Jr. in 4th, and Cale Gale in 5th. The Camping World Truck Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next week for the seventh race of the season, the 2012 Winstar World Casino 400. Ron Hornaday Jr. won the 2011 Winstar World Casino 400 after Johnny Sauter was black-flagged on the final restart of the race. Will Hornaday be able to repeat, will a new driver win this season, or will Johnny Sauter get his revenge? Tune to SPEED on June 8th at 8:30 P.M. to see if these questions will be answered.
Credits:
-My own notes
-Statistics:
http://racing-reference.info/race/2012_Lucas_Oil_200/C
-Race Videos (Crashes and Finish):
http://www.youtube.com/user/mkwrockers0099/videos
-Todd Bodine Statistics:
http://racing-reference.info/driver/Todd_Bodine
-Photo:
http://www.nascar.com/news/120601/tbodine-wins-dover/index.html
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