Hamilton Jr. getting back on track at Texas

FT. WORTH, Texas -- Bobby Hamilton Jr. has gotten off to a slow start for the second straight season, and each time, he has relied on Texas to get his year on track.

	Bobby Hamilton Jr. will start third in Saturday's O'Reilly 300 at Texas. Credit: Autostock

Hamilton Jr. qualified third in the No. 25 Marines Ford for Saturday's Busch Series O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, easily his top qualifying effort of the year.

"We brought our best car in the shop and hopefully we can turn things around here," Hamilton Jr. said.

Hamilton Jr. was ninth at Texas last year, setting off 14-race streak that saw him finish in the top 10 nine times, including four finishes of third or better.

Actually, Hamilton's Jr.'s season in 2003 hasn't been bad. He was sixth last weekend at Bristol, which moved him to eighth in points -- but he has not scored a top-five finish yet.

Having a Robert Yates engine definitely was an edge in qualifying at Texas' half-mile long frontstretch, even though Hamilton's team, Team Rensi, used a year-old Ford to qualify.

O'REILLY 300  •  Lineup  •  1st Practice Speeds  •  Grubb, Riggs crash during opening practice

Team Rensi leases engines from Robert Yates Racing, and three of the top four cars in qualifying employed a RYR powerplant.

"We didn't bring an '03 (Taurus)," Hamilton Jr. said. "We're a little bit behind getting those ready. We needed something that we knew would work.

"We had another awesome motor from Robert Yates. It worked to our advantage."

Busch Series regulars dominated qualifying -- they swept the first five positions. Only two of the seven Winston Cup regulars in the O'Reilly 300 field qualified in the top 10.