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July 1, 2002
Robert
Pressley Records Fifth Top Ten Finish of the Season
Click Here For Robert Pressley
Career Statistics
Robert Pressley and the No.
18 Team recorded a seventh place finish at the Milwaukee
Mile after starting from the eighth position in the GNC Live
Well 200. The finish was the team’s fifth top ten finish of
the season.
“We had a decent run but it’s nowhere as good as this team
can be,” said Pressley. “We’ve gotten behind over the last
month, and we just need to get back on track. We think we
have a plan together as far as crew chief goes and that
should help us a bunch. I know it will not take us long to
get this thing back right. Bobby (Hamilton) will make sure
of that.”
When the race started, Pressley began pacing himself and
saving tires for the end. After just a few laps though
Pressley radioed in to say the truck was a little loose off
the turns. When the first caution came out at around lap 30
Pressley choose not to pit and lose track position.
When the race restarted the problem did not get any better
and Pressley fell back to ninth position before making a
green flag stop around lap 90. After the stop he rejoined
the race in the 24th position. As other teams came to pit
road he moved up through the field, and when the caution
flew again on laps 154 he was in 9th place.
Over the final 49 laps Pressley raced the wheels off the
Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge getting past both Mike Bliss and
Jon Wood in the final few laps of the event. Then with a
green white-checkered finish Pressley glanced off the front
stretch wall in his bid to maintain the seventh position.
“Man what a finish,” said Pressley. “I love the way the
Truck Series finishes the races if there is a caution. You
have to get on the wheel and bring it home. I love it and I
think the fans love it.”
Pressley remained in the eighth position in the NASCAR Truck
Series points standings with 13 events remaining in the 2002
season.
Driver: Robert Pressley, No. 18 Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens
Earnings Points Position
9 0 1
3
5 $ 202,465
8th
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 7 12 200 of 200 Running 10,865
Milwaukee 8 7 203 of 203 Running 11,775
Kansas (Next Event)
Totals 1502 of 1627 (92.3%) $ 202,465
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No. 8 Team Gambles on Pit Strategy But Comes
Up a Little Short
Click Here For Bill Lester Career
Statistics
Bill Lester and the No. 8
Dodge Motorsports Bobby Hamilton Racing Team recorded there
seventh top twenty finish in a row with a 18th place finish
at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday. Lester ran as high as
fourth place at one point, but a fuel pickup problem in the
pits cost him several laps and relegated him three laps off
the pace.
When the race started, Lester began from the 16th position
after posting a lap of 117.832 MPH on Friday afternoon. Over
the first 30 laps, Lester began his patient run to the
finish. When the first caution came out the team pitted for
fuel, tires, and a chassis adjustment. As the race played
out there appeared to be a chance to make one pit stop to
everyone else’s two stops. So the team began planning to
make one pit stop and then role the dice as to how the race
was going to play out.
Unfortunately, for Lester the truck stalled on the pit stop
and then a later caution ended his and the team’s strategy.
After these two events, Lester was forced to race as hard as
he could to just finish in the top twenty.
“We were trying something different this race as far as
strategy goes, and the cautions just didn’t fall right for
us,” said Lester. “When we pitted 30 laps into the race we
knew we had to stop one more time. Then when the race ran
under green for so long it was setting up to a fuel economy
event. Which would have played right into our hands. If the
race would have gone green for the remainder of the event
everyone else on the track would have had to pit two times
to our one. I feel like that would have given us a great
shot at a solid top five finish. But when the caution came
out our strategy pretty much went out the window. Plus we
had a fuel pickup problem again just after the halfway point
of the race. All in all I’m happy with the way the team
performed all weekend. We just did not get the finish we
would have liked. We’re going to Kansas next and I love high
speed tracks so I think we’ll be good.”
Lester continued his assault on the top fifteen in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points race closing to within
50 points of fifteenth place. Lester now sits 18th in the
points standings just two points out of 17th place, and 11
points out of 16th place in the standings.
Driver: Bill Lester, No. 8 Dodge Team
Starts Pole Wins Top Fives Top
Tens Earnings
Points Position
9 0 0
0
0 $101,145
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 31 17 200 of 200 Running 12,065
Milwaukee 16 18 200 of 203 Running 9,665
Kansas (Next Event)
Totals 1563 of
1627 (96.1%) $ 101,145
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Brian Rose’s
Day Ends Against Turn Four Wall
Click Here For Brian Rose Career Statistics
Brian Rose
and the No.4 Perry Connection Dodge was turning in a solid
run that appeared to have them in a position to record a top
ten, but a tangle with a lapped truck resulted in a damaged
vehicle and a 19th place finish.
“I was running down the guys in front of me when I came up
on the No. 72 truck and we just got together over in turn
three and four,” said Rose. “We had a good truck and thought
we were going to get a decent finish, but it just wasn’t our
day. The guys worked really hard this week and it was great
to have Bobby (Hamilton) with us this weekend. We’ll get
them in Kansas next week.”
Rose began the day from the 12th position and raced most of
the day between sixth and 17th place. Early on in the event
the team pitted for tires and fuel, which got him off
sequence from the leaders. But had the event gone green the
team had calculated that Rose would be one of only three
drivers that would be on new tires with 40 laps left in the
event. This would have given him a great run at the end of
the event but as fate had it, that did not happen.
“We had a plan that may have given us a real advantage at
the end of the race but things just did not play out for
us,” said Rose. “This hurt us a little in the points race,
but it’s better than finishing last, like a few weeks ago.”
Following the 19th place finish the team lost one position
in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship points
race. Rose is now 14th in the points standings, with 13
events remaining in the 2002 season.
Driver: Brian Rose, No.
4 Dodge Team
Starts
Pole Wins Top Fives Top Tens Earnings
Points Position
9 0 0
1
5 $ 123,150
14th
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 13 10 200 of 200 Running 12,100
Milwaukee 12 19 200 of 200 Running 8,365
Kansas (Next Event)
Totals 1282 of 1627
(78.8%) $ 123,150
NEXT EVENT:
O’Reilly 250 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas on
July 6, 2002. The event will be televised live on ESPN at
1:00 PM Eastern Time.
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