Nelson Piquet Jr. believes Todd Bodine made a boneheaded move, and Bodine believes Piquet had a boneheaded reaction which led to Bodine crashing hard into the Pocono Raceway inside wall during Saturday afternoon's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
The result? Bodine exited his crumpled truck and whipped his helmet at Piquet’s truck in frustration afterward.
The result? Bodine exited his crumpled truck and whipped his helmet at Piquet’s truck in frustration afterward.
About 10 minutes after the helmet toss, Bodine exited the track’s medical center with no injuries but the same anger from the accident, in which Bodine tried to cut in front of Piquet for second place behind leader James Buescher, hoping that the former Formula One driver from Brazil would move further inside the track rather than clipping Bodine.
“I’ll take the blame for that whole thing just because I should have known better than to trust an idiot to do the right thing,” Bodine said. “I pulled down to draft off of James and I should have known that Nelson wasn’t smart enough to pull over with me and side draft with me.
“If it was the last lap of the race, I could see that.”
A veteran of 767 NASCAR races, Bodine felt Piquet was delivering payback for a wreck earlier this year at Kansas.
“That was just ignorance,” Bodine said. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have pulled over behind James.’ “Even if the guy (like me) is dumb enough to make the mistake, you pull over with him. You don’t turn him around in the middle of the straightway running 150 miles an hour.”
Piquet, who has driven in 44 NASCAR races and won the Nationwide race at Road America earlier this year, scoffed at that idea and said he had no clue Bodine would make such a move.
“The move he did was a bit inexperienced,” Piquet said. “You would expect somebody like me to do something like that—moving without knowing where he’s going.”
When he heard of Bodine’s explanation that he should have moved down, Piquet reacted incredulously. “I had no idea he was going to turn on me,” Piquet said. “I didn’t have enough time to react to move to the left. That would have put us three-wide.
“There’s nothing I could have done. I’m sure about that. That kind of driving—it’s his kind. He didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just the way he is. He’s aggressive.”
Bodine hit a new inside SAFER barrier that replaced a guard rail less than two years ago. He was very thankful for that. And the helmet? He never got it back and would have to ask NASCAR for it. Considering he could face discipline (a fine or points penalty) from NASCAR for throwing the helmet, it’s likely he won’t be making that request.
“They can have it,” Bodine said. “I don’t care. I don’t normally do that. I do apologize about that.
“That’s not me. But, damn, you don’t wreck somebody like that. It’s just totally ridiculous that happened.”
“I’ll take the blame for that whole thing just because I should have known better than to trust an idiot to do the right thing,” Bodine said. “I pulled down to draft off of James and I should have known that Nelson wasn’t smart enough to pull over with me and side draft with me.
“If it was the last lap of the race, I could see that.”
A veteran of 767 NASCAR races, Bodine felt Piquet was delivering payback for a wreck earlier this year at Kansas.
“That was just ignorance,” Bodine said. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have pulled over behind James.’ “Even if the guy (like me) is dumb enough to make the mistake, you pull over with him. You don’t turn him around in the middle of the straightway running 150 miles an hour.”
Piquet, who has driven in 44 NASCAR races and won the Nationwide race at Road America earlier this year, scoffed at that idea and said he had no clue Bodine would make such a move.
“The move he did was a bit inexperienced,” Piquet said. “You would expect somebody like me to do something like that—moving without knowing where he’s going.”
When he heard of Bodine’s explanation that he should have moved down, Piquet reacted incredulously. “I had no idea he was going to turn on me,” Piquet said. “I didn’t have enough time to react to move to the left. That would have put us three-wide.
“There’s nothing I could have done. I’m sure about that. That kind of driving—it’s his kind. He didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just the way he is. He’s aggressive.”
Bodine hit a new inside SAFER barrier that replaced a guard rail less than two years ago. He was very thankful for that. And the helmet? He never got it back and would have to ask NASCAR for it. Considering he could face discipline (a fine or points penalty) from NASCAR for throwing the helmet, it’s likely he won’t be making that request.
“They can have it,” Bodine said. “I don’t care. I don’t normally do that. I do apologize about that.
“That’s not me. But, damn, you don’t wreck somebody like that. It’s just totally ridiculous that happened.”