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June 10, 2002
Pressley
Finishes in the Sixth Position After Strong Run
Click Here For Robert Pressley
Career Statistics
Robert Pressley and the No. 18 Bobby Hamilton Racing Team
entered the weekend at Texas with a major unknown factor
with interim crew chief, Todd Myers, calling the shots for
the first time.
Pressley turned in the third fastest time in qualifying, and
began the race with high hopes for a solid run and maybe a
win. When the race started Pressley faded to seventh place
after the truck was running a little hot. When the first
caution came out, he pitted for fuel and for the team to
remove tape from the front grill of the truck. There was
some concern from the team about losing all that track
position, but as it turned out shortly before the halfway
point of the race, luck was on their side. Most every other
team had pitted for fuel when the caution came out, leaving
Pressley as one of only two drivers on the lead lap.
Over the next 20 laps, Pressley ran second before taking the
lead for eight laps on lap 92. From that point on,
Pressley’s truck began to get tight as the track cooled off
in the night air. The team made several adjustments to help
Pressley, but unfortunately, they just could never get the
handling perfect on the truck. Pressley drove his butt off
over the last 30 laps of the race, to finish in the 6th
position and log his fourth top ten finish of the season.
“We were just real, real tight,” said Pressley. “We've been
tight since we got here, so we're lucky to have salvaged
this kind of finish. We got out there and got us a couple of
bonus points, so that helped us a whole lot. On that last
restart, I was just so tight that I could not get up there.
What I needed was a caution with about 15 laps to go.”
Pressley and the No 18 Bobby Hamilton Racing Team gained a
position in the points race, moving to sixth place, but
unfortunately the distance between Pressley and the leader
(David Starr) grew by 10 points to 129 points behind,
heading to Memphis Motorsports Park in two weeks.
Driver: Robert
Pressley, No. 18 Dodge Team
Starts
Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
7 0 1 3 4 $ 179,825 6th
Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 10 1 100 of 100 Running $ 81,635
Darlington 3 2 147 of 147 Running 25,875
Martinsville 17 14 248 of 250 Running 7,365
St. Louis 7 31 141 of 160 Running 7,985
Pikes Peak 10 30 152 of 200 Engine 8,590
Dover 9 2 200 of 200 Running 32,875
Texas 3 6 167 of 167 Running 15,500
Memphis (Next Event)
Totals 1099 of 1224 (89.7%) $ 179,825
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Bill Lester Improves By One Spot in the Race
and the Points
Click Here For Bill Lester Career
Statistics
Lester made an incredible
save mid-way through the race to keep his hopes alive for a
top ten finish. Unfortunately for Lester, he could only get
to the 11th position after a great late race battle with the
No. 90 truck for the tenth place position.
Lester started the event from a career best, seventh
position, and raced in the top five for most of the first
half of the event. He lost a lap mid-way, through the event,
when he had to pit under green with most of the leaders for
fuel, and a caution flag flew just after the stop catching
him a lap down.
For most of the rest of the race, Lester raced with the
leaders trying to get his lap back, but to his credit, no
one wanted to give him a break and have the No. 8 truck back
on the lead lap to race for position. The most exciting
moment of the event for Lester was a tremendous save after
the No. 2 truck ran up on the back of the No. 8 truck,
taking the air off the truck’s spoiler. Lester turned
sideways, but managed to somehow save the truck. The No. 2
truck that had gotten Lester’s truck loose, lost control
after his pass attempt and crashed out of the event by
himself.
After everything that had happened up to that point, most of
the team was just glad to see their truck cross the
start-finish line in the 11th position. Another season best
for the team.
“The No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Dodge Ram just keeps knocking
on the door,” said Lester. “We've got to be pretty satisfied
with an 11th place finish. I'm probably happier with the
save I had to make in turn one. The No. 2 truck had me
wicked loose, and I did all I could to hang on to it. I
thank the man upstairs for giving me the fortitude and
skills to do it. It was a handful out there tonight. I was
really wishing I could get by the No. 90 truck at the end
there to break into the top-10. We just got a little too
aero-tight coming off the corners. I could get up to him,
but I just couldn't get the run off the corner that it took
to get by him. But overall, I'm happy with the truck the
guys gave me. We were fast right off the hauler. We
qualified pretty well, even though we didn't catch the break
we needed with the clouds that rolled over the track. But
the most important thing is the finish. We wanted that
top10, but 11th is as close as you can get to it. So, I
think we've got a lot of confidence to continue to build on
for the next race at Memphis.”
Lester’s string of three top fifteen finishes in a row has
helped him move to 18th position in the NASCAR Truck Series
driver points standings, third place in the NASCAR Rookie of
the Year points, and also improved his personal best career
finish to an 11th place finish.
Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens
Earnings Points Position
7 0 0 0 0 $ 79,415 18th
Race-by-Race Run
Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status
Money Won
Daytona 19 18 98 of 100 Running $ 15,165
Darlington 13 28 115 of 147 Running 7,090
Martinsville 13 25 230 of 250 Accident 7,865
St. Louis 12 17 158 of 160 Running 10,790
Pikes Peak 9 15 199 of 200 Running 11,690
Dover 22 12 197 of 200 Running 13,465
Texas 7 11 166 of 167 Running 13,350
Memphis (Next Event)
Totals 1163 of
1224 (95.0%) $ 79,415
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Brian Rose
Exits Event Early for the Second Week in a Row
Click Here For Brian Rose Career Statistics
Brian Rose
and the No. 4 Perry Connection Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge
Team had their second devastating finish, in as many weeks,
Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Rose started the race
from the 14th position and looked to have a solid truck, but
one will never know how things may have turned out.
Rose entered turn three on lap three and lost the air on the
rear spoiler. The truck turned and spun backwards up the
track and hard into the outside wall. The impact was so
devastating it completely destroyed the No. 4 truck.
The result was a 35th place finish for Rose and the No. 4
Team.
“I've never really faced a scenario like this before,” said
Rose. “I'm not going to say that this doesn't make us lose a
little confidence. I'd say we’re going have to go back to
the shop and talk about the whole thing, the driver, the
crew chief, the whole organization. But this is racing.
Stuff like this is going to happen week in and week out. You
have to take the bad with the good. Now we've got to try to
figure out how we can get through the worst parts of it, and
make the best of the worst. That's what racing is about.
You've got to find that happy compromise through the year to
get that overall good run.”
Following the 35th place finish, Rose and the No. 4 Team
fell to 13th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points
standings.
“It's kind of frustrating,” said Rose. “At the first of the
season, we had no expectations for us, and now we've
received expectations. So we're kind of bobbling back and
forth between the highs and the lows after the past two
weeks. But that's just racing. You've just got to shake that
stuff off.”
Driver: Brian Rose, No.
4 Dodge Team
Starts
Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings Points Position
7 0 0 1 4 $ 102,685 13th
Race-by-Race Run Down:
Location Start Finish Laps Status Money Won
Daytona 4 3 100 of 100 Running $ 39,640
Darlington 18 8 147 of 147 Running 9,975
Martinsville 9 27 223 of 250 Running 7,815
St. Louis 27 8 160 of 160 Running 14,425
Pikes Peak 13 10 200 of 200 Running 12,675
Dover 15 30 49 of 200 Running 9,415 Texas 14 35 3 of 167
Accident 8,740
Memphis (Next Event)
Totals 882 of 1224 (72.1%) $ 102,685
NEXT EVENT: O’Reilly’s
250 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tennessee on
June 22, 2002. |
