Bobby Hamilton shocked the nation Friday afternoon announcing that the John Deere 200 would be his last race for a while.  Hamilton has been diagnosed with cancer in his neck and is reluctantly stepping out of his No. 18 Fastenal Dodge with fill-in driver named as his son Bobby Hamilton Jr.  In his final attempt before his treatment the savvy driver managed to miss the final lap melee to finish the event in the 14th position.       

“On that final lap when everyone was wrecking my spotter told me go high, go low, watch them – they’re spinning in front of you.  I just said leave this one up to me,” Hamilton said.  “I could see to get through it all if one of those spinning trucks didn’t take a wrong turn.  It seemed like it collected half the field, which has been pretty typical of this race on the last lap for some reason.  I’m just glad we brought the truck home in one piece and nobody got hurt out there.”

No. 18 Fastenal Dodge Race Recap

• Hamilton qualified his No. 18 Fastenal Dodge in the 33rd starting position.
• Then on lap one Hamilton tried to pass teammate Scott Lagasse Jr. on the outside and got pinched into the wall.  He remained on the track, but the sideswipe pushed in the right front fender.
• The first caution came out on lap 30.  Hamilton needed to be freed up from the middle off.  He pitted on lap 32 for four fresh tires and fuel and restarted the race in 21st position.
• Then under the second caution on lap 58 Hamilton called for an air pressure adjustment to help his setup.  Hamilton pitted on lap 62 and again on lap 64 so the Fastenal Racing Team could pull out his right front fender. He restarted 23rd.
• By the third caution on lap 92 Hamilton had worked his way up to the 15th position.  He told Crew Chief Danny Rollins that his truck felt good and they agreed to drop the track bar and add some cross for the adjustment.  The Fastenal Racing Team managed to crank out a very fast pit stop and pick up two positions to restart 13th. 
• The fourth caution came out on lap 126 which forced the field to finish the 130-lap event under a green-white-checkered condition. 
• On lap 133 Hamilton was in the 16th position.  Then on the final lap a huge melee started with multiple trucks spinning across the track, out of control and colliding with one another.  Hamilton managed to wiggle his way, jumping high, ducking low and driving right through them all unscathed.  The savvy driver finished the event in 14th.

“I don’t want to get out of this truck,” Hamilton said.  “But I’m fighting in a bigger race right now and I’m going to take some time for myself.  Bobby Jr. will do a great job in the Fastenal Dodge and I’ll be right there to watch it all.  This race was significant to me and it signifies the beginning of my battle with this disease, but I will be back to race again.”

Todd Bodine won the John Deere 200.  Mark Martin, Johnny Benson, Ted Musgrave and David Reutimann followed in the top five.