November 17, 2003

Square D Racing Recap: Hamilton Wins Ford 200

Square D driver Bobby Hamilton captured his second win in the final race of the 2003 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Hamilton defended his turf while warding off Rick Crawford in the final laps of the Ford 200. The 46-year-old Tennessee native finished the season sixth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Points battle.

Hamilton started the race from the pole position. He led the first 50 laps before coming in under green-flag conditions for a routine pit stop. His Square D Dodge was so smooth, he needed only minor adjustments to the wedge.

By the first caution on lap 90, the polished veteran wanted the wedge adjustment taken back out of the Square D Dodge. Hamilton pitted, his crew made the necessary adjustment in a timely manner and he went back on the track in third position. From that point on Hamilton worked his way back into the lead. By lap 112 he was in second and only five laps later he took the lead from Rick Crawford. In the final laps Hamilton and Crawford raced each other clean, but didn’t give each other an inch of space trying to win the last race. Crawford was credited for leading lap 133; however it was Hamilton who was crowned the winner of the Ford 200 when he took back the lead on the final lap.

"We feel real good about this win,” Hamilton said in victory lane after the race. “The guys at the shop have been cutting bodies off these trucks for several weeks now. The Dodge engineers have helped us a ton. It was a great day for Square D and all the people who made BHR possible this year.

“It’s been a long year,” Hamilton continued. “We needed a win. We’ve tried everything we could in the last three or four races. We’ve taken different approaches building on next year. We turned the program upside down and got a lot of help from Dodge engineering. Now we’ve got something good to go into the winter with. I’ve learned a lot this year, that’s for sure. I learned what some of our problems are, and we turned them around. We’ll see how we stack up next year.”

Following Hamilton in the top five were Rick Crawford, David Starr, Andy Houston and Jack Sprague. Travis Kvapil was crowned the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion.