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Ekrich Car driven by Bobby Hamilton, Jr. |
The Heat Was on at Gateway International Raceway but not the Lights
Bobby Hamilton, Jr. qualified the Team Rensi Motorsports/Eckrich No. 25 Ford Fusion in the 15th position for last Saturday night's event at Gateway International Raceway. After 200 laps, he finished solidly in the 20th spot and remains fifteenth in the unofficial Driver Standings. As the race began under a track lit by only 75% of the available lighting, Hamilton struggled with his chassis under the tough racing conditions. He seemed to spend most of the laps running between 10th and 22nd in search of more speed from his machine. Gateway International is a tough race track to succeed on when the chassis and engine combinations don’t match perfectly.
“We had hoped to finish much higher here tonight, but it wasn’t meant to be,” Hamilton said. “We will head to Indianapolis next week and try to find our way back to the top-ten. We want to give Eckrich a strong run next weekend.”
It took three days for eventual winner Carl Edwards to get to Gateway International Raceway from his home in Columbia, Missouri—on a bicycle. Once at the track, however, Edwards picked up his pace considerably for Saturday night's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Nationwide Series race. In the final 55-lap green-flag run, Edwards' No. 60 Ford streaked away from the No. 20 Toyota of Joey Logano, taking the checkered flag 6.877 seconds ahead of the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing phenom.
Regarding the question as to whether or not Toyota has a horsepower advantage, the last set of dynamometer numbers, taken after Carl Edwards won in a Ford at Milwaukee, would support that assertion. A garage source told Sporting News that Edwards' peak horsepower was measured at 611, compared with 632 for the No. 20 Toyota, 628 for the No. 40 Dodge and 612 for the No. 88 Chevrolet. NASCAR will decide whether or not to make rules changes after reviewing the numbers from the upcoming dynamometer tests.
In the meantime, be sure to watch Bobby and the entire team next Saturday evening as they compete in the Kroger 200 at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. All the action begins on ESPN at 7:30 p.m., EST. Check your local listings for the broadcast time in your area. |
