Touring Graceland: “I toured Graceland for the first time last week and was really impressed with the whole place.  It was by far one of the best things I've ever done in my life.  I even rank it up there with my granddaughter being born.  It was sacred and made me realize a lot of what it was like to be a fan.  I never understood why people wanted my autograph for anything, but if Elvis were at that house I would have had to get an autograph and a picture with him.  It’s just amazing to me what he did with his life and how he became so big.  I don’t even think he knew the impact he had on society.”

Surprise Unveiling: “I was invited back this week to Memphis to do a surprise unveiling for the race track.  It’s a great tie in for the Memphis area by doing a unique trophy with Memphis Motorsports Park and Graceland.  They are breaking the mold after using this trophy for five years.  You can bet all of us Elvis fans will all be trying to be the first to win it.  It’s just such a collector’s item that will draw a lot of attention to a great partnership in the Memphis, Tennessee area.”

Indy Test in a Cup Car: “I went to Indianapolis to test on Monday and Tuesday this week.  We built a cup car which we think will help us with some chassis things in the future on our Dodge trucks at BHR.  So we decided to test it all out in Indianapolis.  If things go well at the test, then I will think about what we’re going to do next with that cup car, but for right now we are only testing some things out to get ahead on our trucks.”

Testing in Memphis with Timothy Peters: “I went to Memphis last week and tested with Timothy.  He had not been on the Memphis racetrack before, but picked up very quickly.  I worked with our Engineer Jeff White and Timothy’s Crew Chief Randy Seals to try several things.  It was good for me to be on the other side and keep things rolling.  Usually I am in the truck and can’t keep up with everything, and this time I got to say hey try this or this.  With Timothy’s feedback we kept things moving along.  It was a different hat for me, but if I had time I would like to do that more often.”

Notes:
• The Tennessee native will be racing Mini Me in Memphis this weekend. 
• Last year Hamilton won in Memphis with a gutsy move on the outside of Shane Hmiel with only eight laps left in the event.    
• Even after a mid-race wreck in Kentucky which basically totaled Hamilton’s Dodge, he still got back on track and has completed 96% of all the laps this season. 

Event:  O’Reilly 200 (200 laps-150 miles)
Location: Memphis Motorsports Park (.75-Mile Oval)
Qualifying:     July 23rd 4:30 PM EDT
Race Start: July 23rd 8:15 PM EDT Live on Speed

Dirt Racing On Friday: “Memphis Motorsports Park is hosting a dirt track event on Friday night in Memphis.  I agreed to do it so I could test for a race I’m running with Schrader in August at Pevely.  I've only raced on dirt a couple of times in my life.  Hopefully I will catch on pretty quick.  After I saw the run down of who is racing there, I see that Tracy Hines will have a huge advantage over the rest of us.  He cut his teeth on dirt, so we will all be trying to take him out first thing so we can race.  I’m sure we will be making bets on things Friday in the garage area and all of us will be taking our duct tape so we can tape Tracy to his hauler and he won’t be able to race.  I’m only joking, but this whole deal should be a lot of fun. We'll put on a good show for sure.”