Bobby Hamilton Brings The Smithfield Ford Home In 14th Position

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and the Team Smithfield Ford visited the Monster Mile at Dover International Speedway on Saturday.   With a 200 mile slugfest staring the 43 car field in the face, Mother Nature decided she wanted in on the fun by dumping a two hour rain shower across the track just before the start of the race.  Around 5:00 PM the skies around Dover, DE opened up for a powerful sun to dry the track off for a later afternoon start.

With the track dry, the cars all began a mad dash for the front.  Smithfield driver Bobby Hamilton, Jr. began to climb from his 19th place starting spot.  His # 25 Ford was working hard to gain grip on the one mile concrete oval.   Just as he climbed into 11th position, a penalty from NASCAR for speeding on pit road dropped him to the end of the lead lap.  A disappointing setback for sure, but one he would overcome with less than 25 laps remaining.

Sitting in the 13th position, more bad luck hit the team as Hamilton was forced to change tires late in the race after running through debris on the track from a wreck.  This late race tire change kept Hamilton from finishing in the top-ten and left him with a 14th place finish.

“We ran well today, those two setbacks kept us from finishing where we should have,” Hamilton said.  “The Smithfield Ford Fusion performed well on the concrete and now we can go to another concrete track in Nashville this weekend and aim for a top-ten finish.”

Denny Hamlin captured his second consecutive Nationwide Series win at Dover.