Bobby Hamilton wheeled his Square D Dodge around Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile oval in the top five for most of the Infineon 200 until he was forced to pit for fuel.  Although Hamilton restarted in 30th with only 50 laps left in the race, he passed 20 trucks to finish the event in 10th position.  Hamilton is still fourth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings, only four points out of the third spot.

Hamilton started the race in the fifth position.  He quickly moved into third even though he was battling a tight Dodge Ram.  The Square D Racing Team chose to pit on lap 33 under the third caution of the night.  Hamilton, who came into the pits in the sixth spot, asked for more tape on the front grill and a track bar adjustment to loosen up his truck.

The team performed a timely pit stop and sent Hamilton back on the track behind others who did not pit.  The Tennessee native restarted the race in the 12th position on lap 39, and by lap 45 he was already in fourth.  The team pitted once again on lap 71 under caution.  At this point Crew Chief Danny Rollins predicted Hamilton was three laps shy of finishing the race on fuel.

By lap 75, he had maneuvered his way into the second spot and was challenging for the lead.  The caution came out on lap 76 and the Square D Racing Team was forced to pit for fuel.  This would give Hamilton enough fuel to finish the race and enough time to work his way through the field.  “This is the hardest call I have ever had to make in my entire racing career,” Rollins said of the pit stop.  “We’re forced to do it.  We have no choice here because we can’t make it.”

Hamilton restarted the race in 30th position on lap 82.  By lap 99 he had already passed 15 trucks and worked his way into the 15th spot.  The eighth caution of the night came out on lap 113 and Hamilton was 12th.  The Square D Racing Team anxiously watched the final laps unfold in the Infineon 200 under green-flag conditions.  Hamilton crossed the finish line in 10th, his third top 10 of the year.

“We just needed gas, and we had to come in to pit,” Hamilton said.  “We had a good truck.  I’m pretty sure we had a truck that could win.  We had to come in and put gas in and we dropped back to 30th.  We lost some points to Dennis Setzer, but it’s too early right now to worry about it.  Our truck was as good as it was at Atlanta, but I think everybody else was better, too.  If it had been a daytime race we would have been better. There’s more grip at night, but we’ll be all right.  We’ve got 20 races to make it up.”

Dennis Setzer won the Infineon 200.  Carl Edwards, David Starr, Kevin Harvick and Michael Waltrip followed in the top five.