June 24, 2003

Bill Lester, No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Pre-Race Notes: MILWAUKEE

GNC Live Well 200
June 28, 2003
The Milwaukee Mile
TV: SPEED (Live) 3:00 PM-Eastern Time
Radio: MRN (Live) 3:00 PM-Eastern Time

2003 points standing after 8 of 25 races
Position Driver Points
1st Bobby Hamilton 1303
2nd Travis Kvapil 1219
3rd Rick Crawford 1209
4th Brendan Gaughan 1195
5th Ted Musgrave 1185
11th Chad Chaffin 984
13th Bill Lester 926

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 8 0 0 0 89,930
Totals 36 0 0 0 $ 398,166

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: The Milwaukee Mile
Date Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
6-29-02 16 18 200 of 203 Running $ 9,665
Totals 200 of 203(98.5%) $ 9,665

No. 8 Team History: Year Start Finish Driver
2002 16 18 Bill Lester
2001 23 18 Willy T. Ribbs

Time to Bounce Back From the First Big Setback of the Year: Last week at Memphis Motorsports Park, a broken ball joint resulted in Bill Lester and the No. 8 BHR Dodge Motorsports team crashing and finishing outside of the top 20 for the first time all year.

"What do you say, 'It just broke and we crashed'," said Lester. "I will say the guys did a great job of fixing the truck to get us back out there. I just hope we can rebound this weekend. We had a solid year going before last week, so maybe that will be our only big setback."

The finish dropped Lester and the team back one position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings to 13th place. They now sit 68 points out of the top ten.

"It sure is easier to lose points than to gain them," said Lester. "With so few teams running all the races, it's hard to gain points on any of the top 15 or so in the standings. We just have to make sure we don't have another problem like last week."

Earnings: It has been a few weeks in the making, but when Lester takes the green flag for the GNC Live Well 200, he will surpass the $ 400,000 mark in career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series earnings.

No. 25 Marines Team to Help Out: While the No. 8 Team evaluates several new over-the-wall crewmembers, the No. 25 NASCAR Busch Series team driver, Bobby Hamilton Jr., will be helping the team out on pit stops at the Milwaukee Mile.

Randy Seals Birthday: On race day in Milwaukee, Randy Seals, Crew Chief for the No. 8 BHR Dodge Motorsports Dodge team, will be celebrating his 36th birthday, and one thing is for sure, he will be looking for a reason to celebrate.
 
"I don't really think about it, but if I had a request for my birthday, I think I'd like a top ten finish," said Seals. "I don't believe this team has ever gotten one, and I would love for it to come on my birthday. The only other thing that always happened on my birthday is the late Andy Kirby won every race we ever ran on that day."

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 14 26 125 of 200 Running 8,990
Milwaukee (Next Event)

2003 Totals
Starts - 8
Poles - 1
Wins - 0
Top fives - 0
Top tens - 0
Earnings - $ 89,930
Laps Completed - 1376 of 1461 (94.1%)
Laps Led - 0 of 1461
Races Led - 0 of 8
DNF's - 1

This Week's Truck: The No. 8 BHR Dodge Motorsports team will be racing "Rocket" at the Milwaukee Mile this weekend. Lester last raced Rocket to an 11th place finish at Dover earlier this year, tying a career best finish. In 2001, Willy T. Ribbs drove Rocket in nine races, with a best finish of 13th place at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

Performance Chart with Lester: Rocket
DATE RACE START/FINISH DRIVER
3-15-02 Darlington 13 28 Bill Lester
4-13-02 Martinsville 13 25 Bill Lester
5-31-02 Dover 22 12 Bill Lester
6-22-02 Memphis 31 17 Bill Lester
7-20-02 Loudon 20 14 Bill Lester
8-2-01 IRP 11 28 Bill Lester
9-5-02 Richmond 18 36 Bill Lester
5-30-03 Dover 33 11 Bill Lester

Lester Quotes

"I know we are going to try and improve over what the team has done there in the past. Thus far, I think the No. 8 Dodge has finished both races they have run at the facility in the 18th position. I'm pretty sure we'll have a little something in the truck that will be able to get as into the top 15."

"This is not an easy place to race. Some people think that because it's a flat, one mile track, we're not traveling that fast and it would be easy to drive. Ask David Starr if this place is easy when something goes wrong. The trick to this place is getting through the turns. Last year when we were here, I just could never get the truck to handle in the center of the turns and off the corners. Hopefully, this year it will be a little different."

For More Information see www.bobbyhamiltonracing.com