August 25, 2003

Square D Racing Recap: O’Reilly’s 200
 
BRISTOL, Tenn. (Aug. 21, 2003) – Square D driver Bobby Hamilton finished the O’Reilly’s 200 in 12th position after he fought a tight, then loose race truck during six-caution race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Following his 13th top-15 finish this season, Hamilton held his seventh-place standing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points championship.

Hamilton qualified his No. 4 Dodge in 11th position earlier on Wednesday with a speed of 120.976 mph. Then the Square D driver practiced his truck for 45 minutes late in the afternoon, which helped the team get the truck acclimated with the track’s concrete surface.

During the final practice session, Hamilton told his crew chief Newt Moore over the radio that something in the rear of the truck felt different from the test session one week ago. Hamilton’s suspicions were right. Luckily the team caught it and fixed it before the race.

Because of the last-minute changes the duo predicted at the beginning of the race that Hamilton’s truck would be tight. Sure enough under the third caution on lap 34, Hamilton pitted for four fresh tires and fuel. During this time the interim pit crew from Team Marines pulled a rubber out of the right rear tire to help loosen Hamilton’s truck.

By lap 86 Hamilton passed Jon Wood for the eighth position, but by lap 98 he was still battling a tight truck and fell back to 11th, one lap down to the leaders. The next caution came out on lap 116 and Hamilton radioed for Moore to make more adjustments to his tight truck. Moore asked the crew members to take two rounds out of the right rear and adjust air pressure in the tires.

Before the restart Hamilton made a deal with race leader Kevin Harvick if there was another caution that he could pass the leader to get his lap back. But unfortunately for the Square D Racing Team there wasn’t another caution. Hamilton finished the event in 12th position.

“We found something that happened in practice and knew at the start of the race that we would be tight,” Hamilton said. “We made a big drastic change and ran pretty good. We even talked to Kevin (Harvick) about getting our lap back there at the end if the caution flew. But we were just grasping at straws trying to fix the truck and it went really loose there at the finish. Actually it was a decent night. Looking ahead Dodge has a big test for us next week in Atlanta and Colorado Springs to help us get back on track, so we are going to try to utilize that for the rest of this season.”

Travis Kvapil won the O’Reilly’s 200. Robert Pressley, Brendan Gaughan, Rick Crawford and Dennis Setzer followed in the top five.

Driver: Bobby Hamilton, No. 4 Square D Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
16 0 1 6 10 $ 254,890 7th

Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 13 4 106 of 106 Running $ 26,000
Darlington 14 1 147 of 147 Running 39,075
Bakersfield 2 4 255 of 255 Running 12,650
Martinsville 2 5 250 of 250 Running 9,075
Charlotte 5 7 136 of 136 Running 11,325
Dover 1 2 200 of 200 Running 31,550
Texas 1 7 167 of 167 Running 14,450
Memphis 8 7 200 of 200 Running 11,825
Milwaukee 15 29 124 of 200 Engine 7,015
Kansas 5 16 166 of 167 Running 12,015
Kentucky 2 18 146 of 150 Running 14,240
St. Louis 5 14 159 of 160 Running 11,190
Michigan 11 10 100 of 100 Running 13,875
Indy 16 3 200 of 200 Running 21,890
Nashville 3 11 150 of 150 Running 9,000
Bristol 11 12 199 of 200 Running 9,715

Richmond (Next Event)

Totals 2705 of 2788 (97.0%) $ 254,890

NEXT EVENT: The Richmond 200 at Richmond International Speedway in Richmond, Virginia on September 4, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 8:00 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.