Hamilton Maintains Seventh Place in Point's Race Following Chicagoland Race

With 25 Nextel Cup drivers entered in Saturday’s Busch Series event, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and the remaining 17 Busch Series drivers knew there would be nothing easy about the USG Durock 300.  The race had all the makings for domination by the Cup drivers.  The 25 Cup drivers were able to take advantage of nearly three times the amount of practice over the weekend in sweeping 17 of the top 20 positions on the 1.5 mile superspeedway.

Eckrich / McDonald’s driver Bobby Hamilton had hoped to contend with the Cup drivers during the 200 lap race.  As one of the most experienced drivers in the Busch Series and a former winner at the Chicagoland Speedway, Hamilton is looked upon as one of the top drivers in the Busch Series.   After a 13th place qualifying effort, Hamilton seemed to be in position for a good run in Saturday afternoon’s race.

From the drop of the green flag, the Cup drivers roared to the front.  Hamilton, along with the other Busch Series drivers, had last practiced nearly 24  hours ago, while the 25 Cup drivers were coming off two hours of Cup practice just before the Busch race.

Eckrich / McDonald’s crew chief Chris Wright did his best to improve the car throughout the race.  Chassis adjustments were made on each pit stop to improve the handling on the No. 35 Ford Fusion.  The advantages were just too strong for the 25 Cup drivers in the field.  Hamilton crossed the finish line in the 29th position.

One positive from the event, Hamilton maintained his seventh place standing in the Busch Series Point’s race.  He stands just 57 points out of fifth place.   With the next three races being held at tracks not on the Nextel Cup schedule, Hamilton hopes to take advantage of his experience and talent to climb to fifth place or higher in the point’s race.  

“Today was very tough for us, we did all we could with the practice we had to work with,” Hamilton said. “My guys worked hard on the Eckrich / McDonald’s Ford all weekend.   We were real excited to have Eckrich on board our car this weekend. Now we can go to St. Louis and O’Reilly Raceway Park the next two weeks for what should be very good races for our team.   We have our focus on moving up into the top-five in the point’s race and these next few weeks will be very important for us.”

Kevin Harvick captured the win, leading Matt Kenseth across the finish line.