Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and the Curly's Ford.

Timing of Cautions Drops Hamilton from Top 15 in Atlanta

After starting from the 14th position at the cold and windy Atlanta Motor Speedway, Team Smithfield driver Bobby Hamilton kept the Curly’s Ford right around the 15th position for the majority of the first half of the race. As a series of caution flags allowed teams to jump onto a different pit stop strategy, Team Smithfield Crew Chief Chris Wright saw an opportunity to possibly move Hamilton to the front by choosing a different pit strategy than the leaders.

The move allowed Hamilton to race to the front and actually lead a lap, picking up five bonus points. After leading the lap, Hamilton came to pit road for fuel only to have the caution flag waved a couple of laps later. At that point in the race, the caution came a few laps too late and now instead of being one of the cars on the lead lap, Hamilton found himself one lap down.

From that point forward, Hamilton was mired in positions 22–25, eventually taking the checkered flag in 23rd position. The finish places Bobby Hamilton in 13th place in the seasonlong point’s championship race but only 19 points out of 10th position. Matt Kenseth captured the victory on Saturday, leading fellow Cup driver Kevin Harvick to the checkered flag.

“We didn’t run as well as we wanted to today and then we didn’t get the break we needed on the cautions,” Hamilton said. “We know what we have to work on to get The Team Smithfield Ford up into the top-ten next week in Bristol. I am excited to head back to Tennessee for next Saturday’s race.”

Be sure to watch Bobby and the Team Rensi/Smithfield car next Saturday, March 15 at Bristol for the Sharpie Mini 300.