June 16, 2003

Bill Lester, No. 8 Dodge Racing Pre-Race Notes: Memphis

O'Reilly 200
June 21, 2003
Memphis Motorsports Park
TV: SPEED (Live) 3:00 PM-Eastern Time
Radio: MRN (Live) 3:00 PM-Eastern Time

2003 points standing after 7 of 25 races
Position Driver Points
1st Bobby Hamilton 1152
2nd Rick Crawford 1079
3rd Brendan Gaughan 1053
4th Travis Kvapil 1044
5th Ted Musgrave 1000
9th Chad Chaffin 905
12th Bill Lester 841

Bill Lester Profile
Birthdate - February 6, 1961
Wife - Cheryl
Children - Alex
Residence - Atlanta, Georgia
Education - BS in E.E./C.S.
U.C. Berkeley

NASCAR Truck Series Career Statistics Year-By-Year
Years Starts Wins Top 5's Top 10's Money
2000 1 0 0 0 $ 7,770
2001 5 0 0 0 35,700
2002 22 0 0 0 264,766
2003 7 0 0 0 80,940
Totals 35 0 0 0 $389,176

Career Best Start: 1st @ Lowes Motor Speedway 5-16-03
Best Finish: 11th twice @ Texas Motor Speedway 6-7-02 and Dover Intl. Speedway 5-30-03
Biggest Purse: $ 15,165 @ Daytona Intl. Speedway 3-14-03

Career Highlights (1985-2003)
1. 1985 SCCA Northern California Region Rookie of the Year
2. 1986 SCCA GT-3 Regional Road Racing Champion
3. Entered three Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona between 1998 and 2000
4. One NASCAR Busch Series start at Watkins Glen Intl. Speedway in 1999

Topics of Interest

Performance Record: Memphis Motorsports Park
Date Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
6-22-02 31 17 200 of 200 Running $ 12,065
Totals 200 of 200(100%) $ 12,065

No. 8 Team History: Year Start Finish Driver
2002 31 17 Bill Lester
2001 20 17 Willy T. Ribbs

Crew Chief Change: Beginning at the Memphis Motorsports Park event, Randy Seals will be on the pit box calling the shots for Bill Lester and the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge team. Seals takes over as crew chief after BHR swapped crew chief positions around during the week off. Former No. 8 Crew Chief Danny Rollins will take over the No. 18 Dickies Dodge crew chief position.

"Bill has tested a few of my trucks in the past and always given me some great feedback, so I don't expect there to be too much of a getting-to-know each other period," said Randy Seals. "I think we'll be on the same page when we get to Memphis."

The No. 8 Dodge truck enters the O'Reilly 200 event at Memphis Motorsports Park in the 12th position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings, just 44 points out of tenth place. The team has had a solid season to date, by completing 1248 of 1261 laps run or 98.9%. They also sat on the pole for the inaugural Truck Series event at Lowe's Motor Speedway last month.

"So far this year, we've been pretty consistent," said Lester. "Anytime you go to a short track like this, anything can happen, so the big thing for us is to finish every lap. I think this was the first short track that I finished every lap last year so if we can get to the end of the race and be on the lead lap, then we will try and race for positions at the end. That's what Bobby (Hamilton) has been doing all year, and it's been paying off for him."

Earnings: Lester needs to earn $ 10,824 to surpass the $ 400,000 mark in career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series earnings.

Appearance: Lester is scheduled to be at the Dodge Merchandise trailer at the speedway on Saturday morning at 11:00 AM to sign autographs for the fans.

Coastal Unilube: Memphis is the home track for one of BHR's longest running sponsors, Coastal Unilube. They have been an associate sponsor on all of BHR's entries since the team's inception in December of 1998. Coastal Unilube provides most of the cleaners and truck care products for the team.

Lester's 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Event Results
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money
Daytona 8 18 97 of 106 Accident $ 15,165
Darlington 15 12 144 of 147 Running 9,465
Bakersfield 23 13 255 of 255 Running   8,190
Martinsville 17 19 250 of 250 Running 9,315
Charlotte 1 15 135 of 136 Running 11,890
Dover 15 11 198 of 200 Running 13,750
Texas 13 12 146 of 146 Running 13,165
Memphis (Next Event)

2003 Totals
Starts - 7
Poles - 1
Wins - 0
Top fives - 0
Top tens - 0
Earnings - $ 80,940
Laps Completed - 1248 of 1261 (98.9%)
Laps Led - 0 of 1261
Races Led - 0 of 7
DNF's - 1

This Week's Truck: Lester and the No. 8 team will be racing the same truck that they ran with at Texas two weeks ago. Curley has raced nine previous events, with a 12th place finish at Texas and Darlington, both being its best showing. It also started on the outside front row at Phoenix International Raceway.

Performance Chart: Curley
DATE RACE START/FINISH DRIVER
5-5-02 St. Louis 12 17 Bill Lester
5-19-02 Pikes Peak 9 15 Bill Lester
6-29-02 Milwaukee 16 18 Bill Lester
9-21-02 South Boston 31 17 Bill Lester
11-8-02 Phoenix 2 14 Bill Lester
3-14-03 Darlington 14 12 Bill Lester
3-23-03 Bakersfield 23 13 Bill Lester
4-12-03 Martinsville 17 19 Bill Lester
6-6-03 Texas 13 12 Bill Lester

Lester Quotes

"My job is to get behind the wheel of the No. 8 truck and race as hard as I can," said Lester. "If everything goes well with this change, it will help us get that elusive top ten finish. The bottom line is we're paid to work as hard as we can together, and if changes are made, they are made to help us run better. I trust that Bobby knows what is best for the No. 8 team and in Memphis, I'm going to get everything out of the No. 8 Dodge that it has to offer."

"We may not get a chance to test together in the week leading up to the race in Memphis, but I don't think getting up to speed with Randy (Seals) will be an issue. We've all been on the same team all year at BHR, so we've all talked before. It's not like we've just been thrown together in a week and are expected to win the first time out. Mind you, that would be pretty awesome."

For More Information see www.bobbyhamiltonracing.com