September 30, 2003

Square D Racing Recap: Las Vegas 350

Bobby Hamilton’s engine in his Square D Dodge dropped to seven cylinders in the final laps of the Las Vegas 350 on Saturday night. After qualifying 19th, Hamilton still managed a top-10 finish bringing his Square D Dodge across the start/finish line in 10th at the end of the 146-lap race.

“I’m not going to say anything bad about this,” Hamilton said. “I’ve had this happen maybe three times in six years, and when it happened earlier this year we had a part break. So the engine program we have is very strong.  Races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway tests engines to the limits,” Hamilton continued. It’s a high-speed track and we push the trucks as hard as they will go the entire time. For all we know, it could be another part that broke. I’m sure Joey (Arrington, engine builder) will tear this motor apart to see what happened. The beauty part of this is that we finished the race on the lead lap, logged another top 10 and moved up a spot in the points. I’d like to continue moving up there in the final five events.”

Hamilton proved to be a top-10 contender throughout the race despite the fact his Square D Dodge was extremely loose the entire time. Crew Chief Newt Moore called for several adjustments to the air pressures and track bar in the first two pit stops. The Square D Racing Team even tried to open up the left rear shock and close the left front shock on lap 106 to help.

The final caution came out on lap 136. Hamilton, who was in 7th position at this time, radioed to Moore that something was wrong with the motor of his truck or the exhaust pipes were off of the Square D Dodge. So the team took advantage of the time to bring Hamilton into the pits for fresh tires and to look under the hood. They found Hamilton’s motor problem wasn’t something minor that could be fixed on pit road. After the spot-check, Moore told Hamilton to finish the best he could.

When the green flag fell with only five laps to go, Hamilton realized he was driving a truck that had only seven cylinders. He stood by the gentleman’s agreement on the race track and dropped out of line after the restart so he wasn’t in any other drivers way. Hamilton went on to finish the race in 10th position, his 13th top 10-finish this year.

Brendan Gaughan won at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track. David Starr, Dennis Setzer, Travis Kvapil and Jack Sprague followed in the top five.

Driver: Bobby Hamilton, No. 4 Square D Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
20 0 1 7 13 $ 315,245 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 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 7 8 200 of 200 Running 8,950
Loudon 3 3 200 of 200 Running 26,890
California 15 16 98 of 100 Running 12,340
Las Vegas 19 10 146 of 146 Running 12,175

South Boston (Next Event)

Totals 3351 of 3434 (97.6%) $ 315,245

NEXT EVENT: The John Boy and Billy Craftsman Truck 250 at South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia on October 4, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 4:30 PM Eastern Time and also live on MRN radio at 4:30 PM Eastern Time.