BRISTOL, Tenn., (Aug. 26, 2004) – Characteristic to Bristol Motor Speedway races, Square D driver Bobby Hamilton barely scraped by several close calls and even pushed one truck sideways down the front straightaway in the O’Reilly 200 and still managed to finish the 200-lap event in the 12th position. Hamilton extended the gap in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points race by 99 over second place Dennis Setzer.
Hamilton qualified for the event on the fastest half-mile oval in 13th position. “The truck felt good out there on the track, the numbers just don’t give it justice,” Hamilton said after his two-lap stint. “At Bristol it sounds like if you are the 13th place qualifier that you are way off, when actually you are only two tenths off the pole position.” After qualifying the trucks were impounded in the garage area. Then at nine o’clock, the drivers cranked their engines for action-packed bumping and banging at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The first caution came out on lap 16. This gave Hamilton time to give some feedback to his Crew Chief Danny Rollins about the Square D Dodge. “I’m pretty tight getting off the corners right now and loose getting into them,” Hamilton radioed. “I’m running in a bunch of traffic and the dirty air is making the engine get a little hot, so I’m taking care of it.”
The second caution came out on lap 40 and Hamilton was 16th. Because tires are so critical to fast lap times at Bristol, Rollins radioed for Hamilton to stay on the race track saying it was too early for the team to use up one of its two sets of tires. When Rollins saw most of the leaders were entering pit road, he called Hamilton at the last second to pit on lap 51. The Square D Racing Team cranked out a fast pit stop and got Hamilton back on the track in 16th. “We would have been a sitting duck had we not pitted just then,” Rollins said after the stop.
By lap 88 he was already in 13th. Then the third caution of the night came out at the halfway mark of the race. Hamilton told Rollins that he needed to be freed up off the corners on the next stop. He requested that the spring rubber be taken out of the left rear. Several pitted, but the Square D Racing Team did not, choosing to save their final set of tires for later in the race.
Following the restart on lap 105 Hamilton took over the sixth position. Then on lap 112, he got stuck in the high groove and fell back to 11th. He raced around the top 15 trucks until the fourth caution came out on lap 121 giving the team time to pit.
Following the stop, Hamilton said, “I’m going to try to run along and quit abusing this thing.” The restart happened on lap 127 and Hamilton was 19th. A wreck happened abruptly in front of Hamilton on lap 149 bringing out the fifth caution, but he remained unscathed in the accident. Then under green-flag racing on lap 159 Ted Musgrave hit the wall causing Bill Lester to spin in front of Hamilton. The seasoned veteran said, “I put my truck in third gear and slightly hit Lester enough to push him down the front straightaway sideways. Once he got to the end of the retaining wall it spun him around which opened the door for me to go on. I kept digging when I saw the caution didn’t come out.”
Shortly after that on lap 161 the sixth caution of the night came out. Hamilton told Rollins he smelt rubber in the race truck and thought he had a tire rub. Rollins called him to pit road to assess the damage. Hamilton pitted on lap 167 and the Square D Racing Team replaced the left side tires and pulled out the sheet metal. Hamilton restarted in 19th. In the final laps he drove around trucks beating and banging on each other sliding sideways at times in front of him, but managed to pick up seven spots and finish the race in 12th position.
“We ended up all right,” Hamilton said. “I ran well up top, but the lapped trucks were in the way. When Bill (Lester) went up under me and turned himself, I hit him and it towed my truck out a mile. Track position killed us. It’s Bristol, but I’m happy as a lark coming out of here with a 12th place finish.”
For the second year in a row, Carl Edwards won the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Shane Hmiel, Matt Crafton, Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick followed in the top five.
