Square D driver Bobby Hamilton proved his veteran status at the new venue in Mansfield, Ohio as he brought his No. 4 Dodge home in fourth position in yesterday’s UAW/GM Ohio 250.  Hamilton moved up to fourth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings after his finish in the 252-lap event.  He is only 70 points behind leader Dennis Setzer.

Qualifying for the event was rained out on Saturday and the starting lineup was set according to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rule book and last year’s owner points.  Hamilton started the race in the sixth position, but didn’t stay there long.  By lap eight he was already in the second spot.  He held his stance for the first eighty laps then he came in for a pit stop out of sequence with other teams.

Most of the top 10 pitted when Hamilton did, but the rest of the field had already cycled its pit stops.  So Hamilton entered pit road on lap 83 in second position, behind leader Jack Sprague. The Square D Racing Team performed a timely pit stop and sent Hamilton back out behind Sprague.  The two resumed their position behind the rest of the field who did not pit.  Hamilton restarted the race on lap 87 in the 15th spot.

On lap 109 Hamilton pulled a tricky move as he passed in the middle of two other trucks on the .44-mile oval taking over the eighth position.  By lap 141 he was in second, and on lap 143 took over the lead and pulled away from the field.

The eighth caution of the day came out on lap 146, and Crew Chief Danny Rollins decided it was time to pit.  Hamilton pitted on lap 149 and once again the Square D Racing team executed a fast pit stop.  He was first off pit road and resumed his position in 15th behind the drivers who did not pit.

By lap 175 he was already in 10th.  Then he started picking off trucks one by one.  By the 10th caution on lap 199, he was in sixth.  On lap 211 he passed Tracy Hines on the outside.  Then on lap 214 he passed David Starr on the inside.  It didn’t matter what groove he raced in Hamilton had a rocket ship.  On lap 221 he was in fourth position.

Then the 12th caution of the day came out on lap 230 when Bill Lester spun causing a multi-truck pileup.  The race was red flagged on lap 231 so NASCAR could clean up the debris.  Finally the race resumed and on lap 244 the 13th caution came out.  Once again NASCAR cleaned up the debris and allowed the race to finish under the green-white-checkered flag rule.  Hamilton held his position in the final three lap shootout to finish the race in fourth.

 “I’m real happy,” Hamilton said.  “It was a great day for Square D.  We had a bunch of people in the hospitality tent today, so we’re glad we put on a good race for them.  It was a good points day for us after our brake duct came loose in Martinsville.   It killed our time out there riding around under caution. I don’t know how many laps we went around there with nothing on the race track before going back green.  We’ll take a good top five and go win the next one.”

Jack Sprague won the UAW/GM Ohio 250.  Dennis Setzer, Terry Cook, Bobby Hamilton and Tracy Hines followed in the top five.