From a 1991 Busch Series win and a Cup debut in 1992 to two Truck Series championships and a 2022 farewell run that took him to his 800th career start.
Todd Bodine is a former stock car driver who won Truck Series titles in 2006 and 2010. He raced in the Busch, Cup and Truck series and finished his career with his 800th start.
Todd Bodine is a former American stock car driver who raced across NASCAR's Busch, Cup and Truck series. He won two Truck Series championships, in 2006 and 2010, and reached his 800th career start in a farewell run that was billed as The Onion's Last Ride, a nickname that came from his bald head.
How did Bodine's Busch Series career begin?
Bodine made his Busch Series debut at Martinsville in 1986 for Pistone Racing. He qualified and finished 27th in a thirty-car field, but an engine problem ended his race early.
His results improved steadily after that. In 1990 he drove eight races for Highline Racing in an Ames-sponsored Pontiac, eighth at Martinsville, then seventh at Orange County and a Dover Downs podium.
The breakthrough came in 1991, when he drove for Frank Cicci. He won his first career Busch race, collected fifteen top-ten finishes and claimed his first two poles, at Dublin and South Boston, before finishing the season seventh in the points.
Two Truck Series titles, a Busch Series career and an 800th start make Todd Bodine a driver defined by steady work.
When did Bodine make his Cup debut?
On August 9, 1992 he made his Cup debut at Watkins Glen International, at the age of 28. He drove the No. 34 Diet Pepsi Ford for Cicci-Welliver Racing and finished 37th.
The car's ownership later became a talking point. A 2022 podcast revealed that, with Cicci-Welliver as the listed owner, the car belonged to Junie Donlavey's team at Donlavey Racing, which had re-numbered its car as a team rental to give Bodine's Busch effort more attention.
How did his first full-time seasons go?
Bodine's first full-time Cup season came in 1994 with Butch Mock Motorsports, driving the No. 75 Factory Stores Ford. He recorded two top-fives and seven top-tens and finished 20th in the points.
The 1995 season was harder. He finished 33rd in the points, with one top-five and three top-tens, and he was released by the team after that year.
In 1996 he stood in for Bill Elliott in four races, with a tenth at Pocono. Three starts apiece came with David Blair Motorsports and Andy Petree Racing, and he went back to the Busch Series full-time with ProTech Motorsports, where he won at South Boston and finished third in the points.
What was Bodine's 1997 season like?
The 1997 season was a busy one. Bodine raced for five different teams. He relieved Ricky Craven at Hendrick Motorsports for the race at Texas and his brother Geoff at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A pole at Watkins Glen for Cicci-Welliver came in a single-race arrangement, though engine trouble left him 35th. At Loudon Jeff Burton's ailment, an inner ear problem, meant Bodine took over, and he retired after 68 laps.
Back in the Busch Series full-time with Team 34 in the No. 36 Pontiac, he won at Fontana and finished second in the points. It remained his best points result in the series.
How did the 1998 and 1999 seasons compare?
In 1998 Bodine signed with ISM Racing. ISM's results were poor, so he was swapped out for a race and then let go before New Hampshire. He then returned to Cicci-Welliver's No. 30 Slim Jim car, finished 33rd in the points and posted five straight top-fives.
In Cup he also made part-time starts for LJ Racing that year, with a fifth at Atlanta.
In 1999 the Cicci-Welliver team signed Phillips 66 as sponsor and switched to the No. 66. Bodine posted ten top-fives and a fourth-place points finish in the Busch Series, while running seven Cup races for Eel River Racing. His top Cup finish that season was fifteenth at Bristol.
The year 2000 gave him a Talladega pole and a Michigan victory.
What happened during his lean Cup years?
Bodine returned to full-time Cup racing in 2001 in the No. 66 Kmart Ford for Haas-Carter Motorsports. Three poles came his way, yet two top-fives were all he managed, the Daytona 500 slipped away and twelve DNFs followed, leaving him 29th in the points.
That season he won the exhibition No-Bull Sprint, which earned a place in the Winston at Lowe's Motor Speedway. In the Busch Series he took part in around half of the races, winning two of the first three with Buckshot Racing.
Kmart's bankruptcy ended his ride with the No. 66 in 2002. He moved to Herzog Motorsports, won the Kroger 300 at Kentucky and finished 23rd in the points. Later that year he rejoined Haas-Carter, which had gained Discover Card as its main sponsor, and he finished fifth at Richmond and 38th in the points.
In 2003 the Carter team ran a United States National Guard Ford for him. His best result that year was eighth at Pocono, and he finished 31st. The team then closed for lack of sponsorship, though he also took a Darlington win for Herzog and topped the Busch points table before that operation shut as well.
In 2004 he split his Cup schedule across three teams, Mach 1, Arnold and R&J, with a best of 23rd at Bristol.
How did the Truck Series change his career?
Bodine's Truck Series debut came in 1995, when he drove five races for Roush Racing in the No. 61 Ford. Third on the grid for the road course at Heartland Park Topeka, he crossed the line fourth.
In 2004 he took the wheel for Fiddleback at Charlotte and came home 20th, then drove HT Motorsports' No. 59 Dodge at Kansas for a 15th. Next came Germain-Arnold Racing, a new outfit, and he was fourth on debut at Richmond. Back-to-back wins at Fontana and Texas gave him his first Truck victories.
That team relationship soured over contract issues and team leadership, and Bodine went back to Fiddleback for 2005. He earned four top-tens in ten starts there, but inconsistency left him eighth in the points, and the team was disbanded after a ninth at Michigan.
What did the 2005 and 2006 seasons bring?
Germain-Arnold signed him back for 2005. He won at Kansas in his second race with the team and went on to win four more races, including three in a row to close the season.
That run carried him to third in the standings, finishing 73 points behind Ted Musgrave.
In 2006 he drove the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota and won at Atlanta, Gateway and Texas. He secured the 2006 title on November 17 with a 122-point margin over Johnny Benson Jr., and his season included twelve top-fives, sixteen top-tens and an average finish of 8.4.
It was the first championship for Toyota in any division.
How did Bodine win the 2010 Truck title?
In 2010 Bodine stayed consistent all season with Germain Racing. He won four races, scored seventeen top-fives and twenty top-tens, and took two poles, at Nashville and Chicagoland.
His average finish that year was 6.4, and he clinched the championship with one race still to run. It was his second Truck title.
What were his later Truck years like?
The 2011 season brought sponsorship trouble. Germain was unable to send the No. 30 to Iowa without a sponsor, so Randy Moss Motorsports put Bodine in its No. 5 truck for the rest of the year. He went winless, with a best finish of third at Bristol.
In 2012 he drove a full schedule for Red Horse Racing and won the rain-shortened race at Dover. In 2013 he raced for ThorSport Racing and finished eleventh at both Daytona and Martinsville.
His final Truck start for nine years came at Pocono that year, where he drove the No. 30 for Turner Scott Motorsports and finished eleventh.
How did his Nationwide and final Cup-era races go?
From 2014 to 2017 he made eight Nationwide starts with SS-Green Light and DGM. Nineteenth at Watkins Glen in 2015 was his top result.
He closed out that series at Charlotte in 2017, ending 30th. Five years out of the car followed, until he returned in 2022 when Camping World chief executive Marcus Lemonis offered a sponsorship for six Truck Series races, which would take him to his 800th career start.
What was the 2022 farewell run?
In those six starts he was at the wheel of Halmar Friesen Racing's No. 62 Toyota Tundra. The run was billed as The Onion's Last Ride, and it was intended as a farewell tour.
In July he made his 800th career start across NASCAR's top three series at Pocono, in the CRC Brakleen 150.
What does Bodine do now?
Bodine works as a colour analyst for Fox Sports 1 on select Truck Series races, stepping in when Michael Waltrip cannot appear. He is also a pit reporter for the series.
What is Bodine's legacy?
Bodine is remembered for two Truck Series championships and for a career that took him across the Busch, Cup and Truck series. His nickname, The Onion, came from his bald head and became part of his public identity.
His career, from a 1986 debut to his 800th start in 2022 across NASCAR's top three series, reflects steady work rather than a single peak.
