In an excruciating hot day at Memphis Motorsports Park Bailey’s Dodge driver Bobby Hamilton battled back from middle of the pack twice to finish the O’Reilly 200 in the sixth position.  As a result of his eighth top 10 finish this year, Hamilton is now only five points out of second in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship standings.     

Hamilton qualified third earlier in the day on the .75-mile oval.  By lap 22 while still running fourth Hamilton’s Dodge Ram was overheated and started to spit out water.  The temperature was measured on the track and reported an extreme 150 degrees.  Thus many drivers were radioing of cooling issues.  When the second caution came out Crew Chief Danny Rollins did not want to take any chances with the motor, so he called Hamilton into the pits for a quick stop on lap 34, to pull tape and add fuel. 

Hamilton restarted in the 20th position.  Shortly after that the fourth caution came out on lap 51.  Wanting to stay on sequence with the leaders, Rollins called Hamilton into the pits for fresh tires and more fuel.  Hamilton restarted on lap 56 in the 26th position.  Still trying to nurse the overheating motor, Hamilton took his time working through the field. 

On lap 113 the sixth caution was thrown.  Hamilton told Rollins that his Bailey’s Dodge was tight and needed to be freed up coming off the turns.  So on lap 115 the former Memphis victor pitted for tires and fuel.  The Bailey’s Racing Team made an air pressure adjustment and sent Hamilton back on track in the 13th spot. 

Over the next five cautions, breaking the caution record for Memphis Motorsports Park, Hamilton steadily worked his way through the field.  On lap 161 a pileup on the backstretch caused NASCAR to throw a red flag and stop the race while the cleanup crews worked on the track.  Hamilton, who was in the eighth position, used the water the track crews gave them under the timeout to pour on his burning foot. 

The race restarted on lap 166 and once again only a few laps later, another caution came out.  Then on lap 196 the final caution of the night came out making the race end under a green-white-checkered finish.  As they drove around for the final circuit, Jimmy Spencer spun in the back of the field.  By the time the front runners got back around to turn four all they saw was smoke, but Spencer had already cleared the track.  Because of the smoke a couple of trucks spun and Hamilton was able to pick up two spots in the final turn to finish the race in the sixth position. 

“I was fighting a tight condition right there at the end,” Hamilton said as he poured cold water over his head and held an ice pack to his chest after the race.  “We were able to pick up a couple of spots and log another strong finish for the team.  Tonight we were looking at the big picture and didn’t want to get caught up in short track mishaps.”

Brandon Whitt won his first NCTS race and the infamous Elvis trophy.  David Reutimann, Brendan Gaughan, Dennis Setzer and David Starr followed in the top five.