Todd Bodine on top in Happy Hour.

With a performance that will sooth some of his detractors, Todd Bodine was fastest in Happy Hour practice at the North Carolina Speedway on Saturday as team owner Travis Carter once again showcased the potential of his soon to be sponsor less #26 team.

After qualifying third fastest for Sunday's Pop Secret 400 at the 1.017-mile North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, Todd Bodine placed his #26 Discover Card Ford on top of the pile in Saturday's Happy Hour session as the Winston Cup teams made their final preparations for the 34th round of the 2002 season.

Bodine, who is currently on probation until the end of the year for what NASCAR has viewed as careless driving during the course of the year, is also looking to secure his own Winston Cup future aswell as that of Carter's #26 team. The younger brother of Geoffrey and Brett set a best time of 24.280secs early in Happy Hour and could not be beaten despite a marathon run by veteran Mark Martin.

Martin, who ran more than 60 laps in his #6 Roush Racing Ford, could only manage a best lap of 24.351secs to finish second overall as Ford maintained their 100 per cent record through practice and qualifying this weekend.

Andy Petree Racing's Bobby Hamilton, who has crept up the order session by session so far this weekend, was third fastest in the #55 Square D Chevrolet with Jimmie Johnson a consistent fourth in the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet.

Jeff Burton and Mike Skinner were fifth and sixth quickest with Jeff Green seventh, Greg Biffle eight, Dale Earnhardt Jr ninth and Kenny Wallace tenth.

Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman, who finished 1-2 in Saturday morning's practice session, took a far more cautious approach to the final practice session as just one incident with the outside wall could well have sent them to the back of the field for Sunday's race in their spare cars. Newman was only 35th fastest while Wallace was 42nd.

Surprisingly Dale Jarrett was 43rd and slowest of all although John Andretti, Casey Atwood and Terry Labonte continued their weekend-long struggles towards the tail of the timesheets.