Chicagoland: Todd Bodine preview

Bodine Takes Ventrilo Tundra to Chicagoland Debut

* Bodine has earned Two Pole awards in Two First-time visits to Chicagoland

* Bodine's First Pole was in NASCAR's first Cup Series race at Chicagoland

* Bodine's Second Pole at Chicagoland was in his first NNS race at the track

August 24, 2009 (Mooresville, N.C.) - Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., is a new stop for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a great chance for Todd Bodine and Germain Racing to showcase Ventrilo in its home state. Though the Truck Series has never raced at Chicagoland, the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra has logged countless laps at the 1.5-mile oval. Before testing was banned on NASCAR-sanctioned tracks, Chicagoland was a very popular test track for Truck Series teams.

"For the inaugural NASCAR race in the Cup Series, I got the pole at Chicagoland, so I like the track. I've always enjoyed it. Germain Racing's No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra team has done a lot of testing at Chicagoland. We've run really well. We ought to be able to unload our No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra and be competitive," said Bodine, who adds that he's looking forward to racing in the "Windy City" again. "Chicago is a great town. I'm definitely looking forward to racing at the track again."

Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr. has been a part of many Germain Racing test sessions at Chicagoland. He believes his team will be very prepared for the Truck Series debut.

"Our No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra has won many testing sessions at Chicagoland and we hope to transfer that into a race win," said Hillman Jr. with a smile. "We've always enjoyed going to Chicagoland. We think this should be a strong track for our team."

Hillman has prepared Germain Racing chassis TRD-124 for Chicagoland. It's a truck that the driver says he could drive anywhere, which is half of the battle.

"Driver confidence is important. When Germain Racing unloads the No. 30 Ventrilo Tundra at Chicagoland, we will have put a lot of pressure on ourselves. It's the first race at that track, but our mile and a half program has a strong history of being competitive. We're taking our Texas winner, Chassis TRD --124. It is just about the best truck we have and what might be better than all of the data on the truck is that it's Todd's favorite truck which can be worth a lot on the time charts," said Hillman.

-credit: gr