Bodine Slingshots Way to Sportsman Win

Geoff Bodine, using a classic last-lap slingshot maneuver, outran four challengers Saturday to win the Goody’s 300 Late Model Sportsman race at Daytona International Speedway.

Bodine’s Pontiac beat the second-place Pontiac of Bobby Allison across the finish line of the 300-mile race by about one car-length.

The 120-lap race on the 2.5-mile, high-banked oval was hotly contested throughout, with 27 lead changes among eight drivers.

Rusty Wallace, in a Pontiac, charged from fifth to first on the 110th lap, taking the top spot away from Bodine, who held onto second. Allison was right behind, followed closely by Darrell Waltrip’s Oldsmobile and Morgan Shepherd’s Pontiac.

That’s the way it stayed until the leaders, all NASCAR Grand National stock-car regulars and running in a tight draft, began to move down the 3,000-foot backstretch on the last lap.

Bodine charged past Wallace on the high side, pulling Allison and Waltrip behind him into the third turn. That’s the way they finished, with Wallace winding up fourth and Shepherd fifth.