July 21, 2003

Square D Racing Recap: Dodge Ram Tough 200

If it weren’t for bad luck, Square D driver Bobby Hamilton would have no luck at all. The 46-year old driver was running in seventh position tonight at Gateway International Raceway when he radioed to his crew that he had a tire going down. The team was forced to pit under green-flag conditions and went one lap down finishing the Dodge Ram Tough 200 in 14th.

Hamilton pitted under the first caution on lap 30 for four fresh Goodyear Eagles and fuel. The pit stop went off without a hitch and the driver went back on the track in 11th position. He quickly picked up positions working his way up to seventh when he realized that something was wrong. He radioed on lap 40 that he thought he had a tire going down. He fell all the way back to 22nd in the next three laps trying to see if it could be something else that was wrong. Finally on lap 44, he was forced to pit under green-flag conditions losing one lap to the leaders.

The crew immediately diagnosed the right rear as flat when they saw the gash on it where Hamilton had possibly ran over something on the track. With the fresh set of tires Hamilton raced faster than the leaders.

The third caution of the night came out on lap 91. The team pitted for fuel and tires stating they could make it the rest of the race without another stop. After the restart Hamilton held his position amongst the top five drivers, with lap times that were comparable to the front runners, but did not get the opportunity to get his lap back when the fourth caution came out on lap 134.

The Square D Racing Team placed on yet another set of tires hoping for some type of advantage, but never got the chance to prove their truck was a top-five finisher despite the fact that Hamilton was one of the fastest trucks on the race track all evening. He finished the race in 14th position, the highest truck one lap down.

“We were really fast tonight,” Hamilton said. “We were a good solid fourth or fifth place truck the whole race. Even after we had our flat we were one of the quickest trucks on the track at times. I’m just happy we are back running well. We got off trying some stuff the last two or three weeks and the truck acted up on us a little bit. So we came back here and went back to basics. It came right back around for us. I think we are headed in the right direction. Who can control a flat, new tire with a cut in it? Square D at least could see that we were running good all night and things were out of our control. So we have to keep our chins up and try again next week.”

Brendan Gaughan won the Dodge Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway. Jason Leffler, Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards and Rick Crawford followed in the top five.

Driver: Bobby Hamilton, No. 4 Square D Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
11 0 1 5 8 $ 200,410 6th

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 (Next Event)

Totals 2056 of 2138 (96.1%) $ 200,410