Bobby Hamilton, Jr.

The Nationwide Series Takes a Breather

Following last week’s race at Darlington, the drivers take a break, sort of.  Earlier this week, a majority of the Nationwide Series teams traveled to their ‘home’ track – Lowe's Motor Speedway – for the fourth scheduled test of the year.  More than 40 drivers representing more than 20 teams participated and gathered notes for the six remaining intermediate tracks on the schedule. Seven races are left at those tracks, including the next event after the open week – the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at LMS on May 24.

The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota continued to dominate the Nationwide Series on Monday at Lowe's Motor Speedway as Denny Hamlin set the pace during testing.  The No. 20 car has won four consecutive races with three different drivers and Hamlin topped the speed chart in both sessions on the first of two days of testing. His evening lap of 29.635 seconds (182.217 mph) was clearly superior among the more than 40 cars that took to the 1.5-mile track.  Bobby Hamilton Jr. in the Team Rensi Motorsports/Smithfield #25 Ford Fusion ran a lap of 177.188 during the evening session which was twenty-seventh fastest.

Be sure to tune in to watch Bobby and the #25 Team Rensi Motorsport/Smithfield Ford Fusion in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, May 24th.