Square D driver Bobby Hamilton led 43 laps in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200 at Gateway International Raceway before tangling with Shane Hmeil on a green-white-checkered finish going for the win.  Hamilton’s Square D Dodge went up on two wheels riding the outside retaining wall, but he still managed to finish in 17th position on the lead lap.

Hamilton qualified on the outside pole for the race under the lights in St. Louis.  By lap four he took the lead from driver Jack Sprague.  Hamilton cruised around in the lead on the 1.25-mile oval until the first caution on lap 26.  By this time Crew Chief Danny Rollins said the truck was halfway out of fuel, and he didn’t want to take a chance of a long green run.

So the Square D driver pitted on lap 28 for fuel only trying to save the last two sets of tires until the final laps for a racing advantage.  Hamilton restarted ninth.  He fell back to 16th position after the restart because other teams took tires and had the advantage.  Rollins had enough and called Hamilton to pit road for fresh Goodyear Wranglers and fuel under the second caution on lap 42.

Hamilton restarted on lap 45 in 22nd position behind others who did not use the same pit strategy.  Only 15 laps later he moved up to 10th.  By the third caution on lap 65 he moved up two more spots.  Rollins told his driver to stay out.  Others pitted and Hamilton moved up to fifth for the restart on lap 69.

Hamilton took the lead back on lap 74 and 10 laps later he had a 2.2-second advantage over the second place truck.  The fourth caution came out on lap 105 and it was time for the Square D Racing Team’s final pit stop.  Unfortunately trouble on the right side during the stop plagued the team to lose nine spots in the pits.  Hamilton was cool and calmed the team over the radio.

“Listen I’m not going to apologize if I wreck this truck, so shake this off out there,” Hamilton said.  “I’ll do the rest from here.  You guys do a tremendous job for me, so keep a cool head.”

The restart came on lap 113 and Hamilton was 11th.  He moved all the way to third by lap 148.  Then second place driver Jack Sprague blew a tire bringing out the sixth caution.  Hamilton moved up to second behind driver Shane Hmeil, a familiar sight to fans at Memphis earlier this year.

NASCAR called the famous green-white-checkered flag finish on lap 160.  Hamilton jumped to the outside of Hmeil in the middle of turn one and two when two drivers further back tangled bringing out another caution.  The field was frozen as it stood at the restart and Hamilton was second.

Once again the three-lap stint restarted the race on lap 166.  Hamilton did his famous outside move again, but this time Hmeil crowded the Tennessee native against the outside wall sending Hamilton’s truck up on two tires before slamming to the ground.  Once the Square D Dodge settled back on the track both drivers went sliding through the grass on the back straightaway and brought out yet another caution.  Then Hamilton brought the Dodge on pit road for his team to survey the damage.  They changed two tires and pulled enough sheet metal off for Hamilton to finish the event.

For the next two cautions, marking a total of four green-white-checkered finishes and a record in the NCTS, Hamilton limped around the race track doing the best he could with a truck that had so much damage it wouldn’t turn.  He finished the race in 17th position still on the lead lap.

“It’s unfortunate because we had the truck to beat out there tonight,” Hamilton said.  “I think we’ve proven to people that we are going to be strong week in and week out.  It is not a fluke.  This won’t set us back; it will only motivate us to be stronger.  We’ll regroup over the weekend off by testing in Kentucky and maybe even race this truck in Michigan.”

David Starr won the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200.  Dennis Setzer, Ted Musgrave, Chad Chaffin and Hank Parker Jr. followed in the top five.