Prior to joining upstart Germain Racing and Toyota Racing Development in 2004, Todd Bodine was proud but conceded there were missing elements to a generally healthy NASCAR career.
There were 15 Busch Grand National Series victories with the likes of Cicci-Welliver Racing and Parker Racing — with some championship caliber efforts throughout the ’90s but they never closed out.
In the Cup Series, Bodine has the 10th most laps led without a win and he was well aware of that, too.
“I was fortunate enough that I had a good career in Xfinity and the Cup Series,” Bodine said. “But I think, as a racer, and Denny (Hamlin) has made the opposite comment and I call BS on it to tell you the truth, that the ultimate satisfaction comes from winning a championship.
“When you win that championship, it means you were the best that one year and there was no one better. You can’t do any better. It doesn’t matter how many races you won, because when you win the championship, you’re king of the hill.”
So, there was Bodine, then a 40-year-old in the back half of his career, when he received the proposal from Bob Germain, crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. and then Toyota Racing Development president Lee White about the level of commitment this new team was going to have.
“Mike and I knew right away, this was going to be big, just because of their approach and thought processes and how they intended to make their teams better,” Bodine said, “and what you have to remember is that this was still new to them at this point.
“We knew right away that this was something we wanted to be involved with long-term because this was not a short-term commitment.”
They won in just their fourth and then fifth starts together partway through the 2004 season. Those were the first of 21 wins together over eight years. A 22nd with the manufacturer came at Red Horse Racing in 2012.
This decade served as his second act, a bonus career, and one that he agrees defines his entire lifetime in the sport.
“I had an okay career,” Bodine said. “We had some success in Cup and the Xfinity Series. But what Germain Racing, Toyota and TRD did, it defined mt whole legacy. I still drive a Toyota and Janet drives a Lexus. We’re as happy as we could be with this company and I’m really proud to be part of the family.”
Bodine points to the fact that his just as successful brothers Geoff and Brett never won a NASCAR championship and that he knows how much that opportunity would have meant to any of them.
“For me, it was about winning that championship, and not just for me but our family,” he said. “Our parents owned a race track (Chemung Speedrome) for 25 years in Upstate New York and racing is literally all we have ever done — all three of us boys and my parents.
“So to win one was very gratifying for my family but the second one was gratifying for me that the first wasn’t a fluke — that we were good enough to do it again.
“We won 22 races, that’s pretty good and satisfying to have done that, but the championships are what makes a legacy.”
If his time in the Truck Series was Bodine’s second act, what came over the following dozen years is his third as a television analyst for NASCAR on FOX.
There, both his passion for the sport and even the experience from his part-time comeback tour in 2022 shines through. Bodine is just as grateful for this career as his previous one.
“In the middle of 2013, I quit racing,” Bodine said. “I was driving for Thorsport and we were just struggling and Duke (Thorson) was paying for it out of pocket and I just told him, ‘let’s quit wasting your money and I’ll figure something out,’ but the time was right to move on.”
Two weeks later, FOX Sports producer Dan Shutte called and asked Bodine if he’d like to substitute for Michael Waltrip, who would miss Iowa, to go turn laps at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Sussex, England.
Bodine was a hit, both in the booth and on pit road where he spends most of his Fridays these days. For Bodine, it’s a way to continue to be part of a sport that has defined his entire life.
“I’m just fortunate,” Bodine said. “I’ve now worked for Dan for 11 years doing pre-race and pit road. I love every minute of this.
“What’s funny to me is that my whole life, I’ve been on a team,” Bldine said. “I’m driving for a team, working for a team, and then I stop racing and get to be on a team. There are some many great people at FOX Sports and I have incredible teammates and consider myself very proud to be in this position..
“I got really lucky.”
