Well my man Bobby Hamilton Jr. gave me a little bit more to cheer about on Friday night at Bristol. I was pretty excited when he used a gas mileage strategy to get to 5th place at one point in the race.
A gas mileage strategy at Bristol sounds like an oxymoron. But with the new track configuration that is what he did. That is some pretty smart strategy right there. And in the end it gave him a top 15 finish which isn't bad when there are as many Buschwackers out there as there were on Friday.
Never Give Up! The three words that best describe the effort of McDonald’s NASCAR Busch Series driver Bobby Hamilton, Jr. during Friday Night’s Food City 250 race. After qualifying in the 39th position, Hamilton very easily could have settled in for a long night of racing on the half mile speedway. Instead, he reached down deep and found the ability to pilot his No. 35 Team Rensi Motorsports machine to the front.
“We are happy to start as far back as we did and come home with a 12th place finish,” Hamilton said. “Chris and all the guys on the McDonald’s team gave a strong effort, allowing us to pass so many cars. We needed this run tonight and now we can go to California with some momentum.”
With the 12th place finish, Hamilton remained in sixth place in the season long Busch Series Point’s Championship.
For the first half and then some of Sunday's Food City 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart was performing his own rendition of the Bristol Stomp. The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) had led four times for a race-high 257 laps, with his nearest pursuers resigned to the fact they were running for second. But misfortune struck the No. 20 machine on lap 289 when the fuel pump cable broke. With no fuel pressure, the engine shut off, forcing Stewart to come to pit road. Crew members were able to replace the cable, but the process was lengthy.
The two-time Nextel Cup champion was able to return to the 504-lap race, albeit 25 laps down. After dominating the race, Stewart was forced to simply ride around to the finish, where he posted a gut-wrenching 35th-place result.
"The guys worked real hard, because we didn't have a really good test here," said crew chief Greg Zipadelli, referring to the team's test session at the .533-mile oval in early March. "I'm proud of everybody. They kept their chins up and came back here tough and we brought back a really good race car. But, we don't have anything to show for it. We'll go to Martinsville next week and try to have a better race."
"If I want to change [my schedule] I have that luxury," Mark Martin said. "I've learned to never say never, so I'm not going to do that. I haven't gone and asked [to run the whole schedule], but I can tell you they haven't said no to anything else. I don't think that'd be a problem, but I also don't think that'll happen."
Martin's current projected schedule is quite front-loaded. He knows he might get bored in the second half of the year.
After the Bristol race [in March] I'll probably know a lot more about how I feel about things." Why? He doesn't plan to be there. If he is not, The Food City 500 will mark the first race since Valentine's Day 1988 that Martin won't be in the Cup Series field. That's 617 straight races.
Martin is scheduled to be in Lake City, Fla., that weekend to be Ricky Carmichael's crew chief in a late-model race. That's right, crew chief. "I can't spot for [son] Matt," Martin chuckled. "They always seem to run better when I'm not around, so I figure I'll stay away and just talk to Ricky, cheerlead for Matt.
"Matt Kenseth has 200 bucks that says I'm going to run them all -- and he's so tight he squeaks when he walks," Martin laughed. "I think he'll lose the money.
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