Upset by call, Bodine vows to re-earn respect

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Martinsville Speedway seems like the most difficult place for Todd Bodine to begin his NASCAR probation for careless driving.

The .526-mile track is the oldest and shortest on the Winston Cup circuit, and the beating and banging of cars in the Old Dominion 500 is as sure a thing as the track's famous hot dogs being eaten in bunches.

But Bodine doesn't plan to change a thing in today's race.

"I've got to put it out of my head and do what I normally do, and what I've been trying to do, and that's race clean and courteous," he said.

But NASCAR hasn't seen Bodine's season as a study in track etiquette, and a multicar crash he triggered last weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway prompted them to place the veteran on probation through Dec. 31.

The Chemung, N.Y., native thinks it's all unfair.

"You've got to have a punishment that fits the crime," he said. "If this was standard punishment for this crime, then I would understand it a little better. There isn't a driver on the track that hasn't made a mistake, and then there are some that have made big ones like I did."

The accident in the UAW-GM Quality 500 started when Bodine made a move to the inside of Ward Burton and Jeff Green, who were running side by side down the front stretch. Bodine's left-side tires touched the infield grass, his car careened out of control and more than 10 cars were damaged.

Bodine agrees that he made a mistake, but thinks the penalty is too harsh because he felt he was out of options when he crashed. He hit Burton, he said, because he got too far into the moist grass.

"I was trying to do the right thing and trying to do the right thing in this situation turned out to be the wrong thing," he said.

Bodine has been told that any additional actions deemed detrimental to the sport will lead to an indefinite suspension.

"He's here, he's allowed to compete, he's allowed to do everything he's been doing before," Winston Cup director John Darby said. "The only thing he needs to focus on is not making any mistakes. ... His destiny is in his own hands."

Jimmy Spencer, no stranger to controversy in his Winston Cup career, said there were many drivers who felt Bodine was at fault last week.

"You have to live by the rules and you have to abide by them," he said. The probation "was a good decision on NASCAR's part."

Bodine will start 32nd in today's race, which will be the first run on a track with newly milled turns at both ends.

Rookie Ryan Newman will start on the pole with Jeff Gordon to his outside. Winston Cup points leader Tony Stewart will start 31st, 24 spots behind rookie Jimmie Johnson. Johnson trails Stewart by 97 points.

Memphis Busch race postponed until today

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Jason Keller's children have given him what he hopes will be a great good-luck charm.

Joe and Jade Keller put their names and handprints on a white T-shirt with the words "Go Daddy 57," trying to cheer up the driver who trails Busch series leader Greg Biffle by 168 points with five races left this season.

Keller planned to wear the T-shirt for luck Saturday in the Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park. But nonstop rain postponed the race and the shirt's debut until today.

"They know I've been down here lately, so they made it for me," Keller said. "Win, lose or draw, it's going to be a good day."

Biffle has the pole, his fourth this season.

-- From wire reports