June 1, 2003

Square D Racing Report | MBNA Armed Forces Family 200

DOVER, Del. (May 30, 2003) – Square D driver Bobby Hamilton wheeled his way to a second place finish in today’s MBNA Armed Forces Family 200 at Dover International Raceway. Hamilton extended his first-place points lead over driver Rick Crawford by 43 points in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship battle.

Hamilton, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, started from the pole position and held that spot for the first 15 laps of the race. On lap 17 with Rick Crawford as the new leader, Hamilton radioed saying he felt a bad vibration on the right front of the truck. Crew chief Newt Moore told Hamilton to preserve his truck until the first caution if he could. The savvy veteran held on for 12 more laps until a caution in turns three and four gave the crew members a chance to change the set of tires.

Forced to pit out of sequence with the leaders, Hamilton went back on the track in 17th position. He battled his way back up through the field with tires that had 30 practice laps on them to claim the fifth position by lap 44. By lap 54 he had moved to third position and was turning lap times as fast as leader Ted Musgrave.

The fifth caution of the day came out on lap 131 giving the team a chance to help Hamilton who was fighting a tight condition on the monster mile. The team saved a set of sticker tires for the final stop to help Hamilton in the last part of the 200-lap race. They adjusted air pressures in left front tire, made a smooth pit stop and sent the Square D driver back on the track in fifth position. Moore radioed Hamilton and said, “We are good from here on out bud. You know what you can do from here.”

Under the seventh caution on lap 160, Hamilton, who was sitting in fourth position, radioed to his crew with words of encouragement. Jokingly he said, “I might have a little something left in this Square D Dodge, so hang on guys it’s going to get fun out here.”

After this he picked up speed on the leaders and with seven laps to go in the race he passed driver Jon Wood for third position. He didn’t waste any time trying to catch David Starr and took the second spot away with two laps to go. When Hamilton parked his No. 4 Dodge on pit road after the race, he unbuckled his seat belts smiling at the big-picture finish.

“I don’t think we had anything for Jason (Leffler), but we played a little strategy there at the end with the other two guys. I was following behind them and could see that their tires were starting to give away, so I took advantage of it. After all the struggles we went through at the beginning of the race, second place was a big boost for the Square D Dodge. When you are not good enough to win, the best finish is next.”

Jason Leffler won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover International Raceway. Hamilton, David Starr, Jon Wood and Travis Kvapil followed in the top five.

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