Bodine

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Geoffrey Bodine won the 1986 Daytona 500, but his third-place finish Sunday probably was a tougher feat.

Driving a car with limited sponsorship, a car that he plans to run just three more times, Bodine nearly pulled off one of the greatest upsets in NASCAR history. He was second on a restart with three laps to go, lost the spot to Elliott Sadler, then rallied to hold off Kurt Busch and defending 500 champ Michael Waltrip for third.

"I really don't know how incredible it is," Bodine said. "This team only runs a few races, and it has only two cars. We had them both here."

Bodine hadn't been in the race since 1999, and survived a horrible accident in a truck series race in February 2000. His truck flew into the catch fence by the finish line, then barrel-rolled down the track before catching fire.

Amazingly, his most serious injuries from the crash were a broken wrist and a stiff back.

"Two years ago I was in the hospital listening to this race," he said. "I watched TV when I was awake. It was a little tough there, I had a lot of morphine in me back then."

When he came back, he soon lost his ride, and he hasn't driven full-time since.

"I still haven't lost my nerve, I still want to run up front and I think I proved that today," he said. "I'm not going to ride around out there just to be here. I'm too proud for that, I'm too proud of a person and I think today I stood up for being a proud guy."

There was evidence earlier in Speedweeks the Bodine would be competitive. In the first three drafting practice sessions at Daytona International Speedway, he turned the fastest lap.

"We've had a good car all week," said team manager Mark Reno. "We knew that we could run well in the race, if we could put it all together."

Bodine's race didn't start out too well. He dropped all the way to 39th, and didn't climb back into the top 20 until an 18-car crash on lap 149. He missed the wreck, and stayed in the lead pack for the final 50 laps.

"In the beginning, it was senseless to try to race in the middle of all that junk," Bodine said. "We might have been in one of those wrecks, so we just rode in the back and kept adjusting on the car."

But he wasn't planning to settle for third. During the red flag for a wreck with six laps to go, Bodine was plotting strategy to overtake Burton. Unfortunately, the front end of Bodine's Ford was damaged slightly in the accident.

"I was thinking of a way, but we hit some debris in that last incident and knocked our nose a little bit," he said. "The car wasn't quite as fast after that, but still good enough to get third."

Sunday also was the first time since 1995 that three Bodine brothers were in the Daytona 500. Brett finished 16th, and Todd was 31st.

"It's good to see Geoffrey back out front, where he belongs," Brett said of his older brother. "Those guys were fast all week down here, and they finally got a chance to show it. I'm tickled to death for him."