June 30, 2003

Uneventful Day Results in a 12th Place Finish for Bill Lester

Bill Lester and the No. 8 BHR Dodge Motorsports Dodge team picked up 10 positions in the GNC Live Well 200 at The Milwaukee Mile on Saturday. Lester, who started the day in the 23rd position, methodically picked each of the trucks off in front of him to get to the checkered flag without a scratch on the truck.

“I just wanted to survive Milwaukee,” said Lester. “These flat tracks are not exactly my favorite, so we just try to get through them in a lot of cases. We had a pretty good truck all day. It was competitive and we got a top 15 finish. Compared to last week, this was great. I still know both the team and I have work to do to get better at these types of tracks, but now I’m ready to turn my attention to Kansas. I love the speedways. Whenever we get to places like Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, and Michigan, my confidence level goes up 100%.”

The only tense moment during Saturday’s race after the rain cleared out and the race got under way was on lap 135. Lester pitted for a routine stop and a lug nut got wedged in between the wheel and brake assembly. This did not let the left front brakes work. The following lap, Lester pitted again to remove the lug nut and get back into the action. The extra pit stop did not cost the team much time or position. They entered the pits in the 15th position, two laps down to the leaders, and remained in that position following the two pit stops.

“We pitted that one time, and then the brakes didn’t work,” said Lester. “It would have been a big deal had we tried to race that way, but we just came down pit road and got it fixed. After that, it never hurt us the rest of the day.”

Lester and the team’s 12th place finish did not affect their position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings. They still remain in the 13th position in the standings, 59 points out of tenth place.

Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Dodge Dealers Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
9 1 0 0 0 $ 100,145 13th

Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 8 18 97 of 106 Accident $ 15,165
Darlington 15 12 144 of 147 Running 9,465
Bakersfield 23 13 255 of 255 Running 8,190
Martinsville 17 19 250 of 250 Running 9,315
Charlotte 1 15 135 of 136 Running 11,890
Dover 15 11 198 of 200 Running 13,750
Texas 13 12 167 of 167 Running 13,165
Memphis 14 26 128 of 200 Running 8,990
Milwaukee 23 12 198 of 200 Running 10,215
Kansas (Next Event)
Totals 1574 of 1661 (94.7%) $ 100,145

NEXT EVENT: The O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas on July 5, 2003. The event will be televised live on SPEED Channel at 2:00 PM Eastern Time, and also live on MRN radio at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.