Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
2011 proved to be a return of sorts for Chemung, New York's Geoffrey Bodine to NASCAR's premiere series, the Sprint Cup Series. While Bodine had started one event in 2010, he had not raced for six years prior in 2004. The 1985 Daytona 500 winner attempted to start eight races in 2011 for Tommy Baldwin's team, qualifying for four of them.
Bodine was able to qualify for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona in July driving a second car for Baldwin. Unfortunately, his next four attempts to qualify the 35 were futile as Bodine did not make those races. With his 36 car firmly in the top 35 in points, Baldwin moved Bodine to that car and moved his regular driver, Dave Blaney to the 35. It proved beneficial to the team as Blaney had no problems qualifying the 35 while Bodine was able to make the final three events of the season thanks to the top 35 rule. Bodine's best finish of the year came in the final event of the season at Homestead in the Ford 400.
Bodine showed signs of rust when it came to maintaining pit road speed. Of his four starts, Bodine was caught speeding in two. Baldwin's pit crew had no problems as they were not penalized in Bodine's four events in 2011.
2011 Statistics For Geoffrey Bodine
44th in Sprint Cup standings
0 top 5s
0 top 10s
Best Finish: 30th in the Ford 400
0 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For Geoffrey Bodine
Race 17 - Speed-Exiting pits, tail end
Race 34 - Speed-Exiting pits, Pass Thru; Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
Race 35 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end, garage