Just who is this Todd Bodine?

After a career that saw him make more stops than a bus trip from New York to Florida, Bodine joined Travis Carter's NASCAR Winston Cup team, where he took over the ride vacated by Darrell Waltrip's retirement. The two-car team also includes driver Jimmy Spencer.

Bodine is also driving in NASCAR's second-level Busch Series for team owners Billy and Buckshot Jones and has won two races for them so far this season. Last week in Las Vegas, Bodine won both the Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race and finished fifth the following day in the Dura Lube 400 Winston Cup event.

He continued his hot streak in Friday's qualifying for the Cracker Barrel 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, winding up third on the grid.

And, to make the Bodine story even more interesting, he missed the season-opening Daytona 500 when he was shuffled from fifth place out of the top 15 in the final lap of one of the 125-mile qualifying races.

"We missed Daytona, not because of our own doing," Bodine said. "We did everything right and just got taken out. But at Las Vegas we went and tested, so we knew we were going to be good. We knew coming here we were going to be good. There are certain tracks that we know that we're going to be good at, but then there are certain tracks that we're going to stumble again.

"We still consider ourselves a new team because with a new driver you have to start over, so in a way I am surprised and in a way I'm not because we have everything it takes to do it. Now it's just up to us to do it."

Bodine is doing a pretty good job in the Busch Series too, as he finished fifth in Saturday's Busch Series race at Atlanta which was won by Joe Nemechek.

"The Busch situation is a pleasant surprise," Bodine said. "We didn't even plan to run Busch races this year, so to do what we've done is pretty neat. I knew when I got called up and Buckshot's team told me they wanted to run Daytona and Las Vegas, it was a good situation to be in. But to go out and do what we've done I never would have dreamed it. This shows what the right combination can do."

Bodine is the younger brother of current NASCAR Winston Cup driver Brett and former NASCAR racer Geoffrey. He joined the NASCAR Winston Cup Series full time in 1994 for team owner Butch Mock, but after two seasons, he was out of the ride.

Since that time, Bodine has driven for 12 different team owners, including an ill-fated attempt as the driver of the 'Tabasco Fiasco' with team owner Bob Hancher in 1998.

"I just have never been that consistent because of the situations I was in, but anytime I've got the opportunity in Winston Cup I've been able to show that I belong here," Bodine said. "Now with a full time ride which is a good ride, we have to prove we can be consistently good.

"I never doubted myself. I knew that eventually I would get another shot, but I had to basically start over again. That whole (Tabasco) situation, whether it be my fault or not, a lot of people look at the driver and make him the fall guy. I took a majority of the blame and had to rebuild the confidence or image of being able to drive these cars and be successful."

Nothing would prove the doubters more wrong than if Bodine wins in Atlanta. It would be his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory and would give the driver from Chemung, New York a tremendous boost.

"We all come here to win, but we have to be realistic in our goals," Bodine said. "I set a goal at the beginning of the year to run in the top 15 every week. This week I feel like we should be top 10 without a problem, but to say we're going to go out and win the race, we don't want to get cocky about it. We want to just go out and do the best we can and learn some more. I think we've got just as good a shot as anybody else in the top 10, but we do have to be realistic.

"Realistic is top 10 and for this team a top-10 run is almost as good as winning right now and that's what we've got to do."