Hamilton a rookie at Ky., but wants family sweep

JOLIET, Ill. -- You wouldn't want to call Bobby Hamilton a butthead, at least not to his face.

But you can call his truck that. Hamilton is a big fan of the old MTV animated show "Beavis and Butthead" and had a truck named Beavis in his Bobby Hamilton Racing fleet.

	Bobby Hamilton

Beavis raced last weekend at Kansas Speedway, and crew chief Newt Moore decided Beavis shouldn't be alone in the shop. So he named the truck for this weekend's Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway "Butthead."

Butthead last raced at Texas Motor Speedway, where it sat on the pole and led 71 of the race's 167 laps before finishing seventh.

Hamilton is hoping Butthead can help him follow his son, Bobby Jr., into Kentucky Speedway's Victory Lane. Hamilton Jr. won the Busch Series race at Kentucky a month ago.

"Wouldn't it be nice to say that Bobby Jr. and I won at the same track, in the same year?" Hamilton said. "I would love to see the papers say, 'Hamiltons Sweep Kentucky Races.' That would be something that one day we could tell the grandkids about.

"I think we have a fair shot at winning this weekend. We've ran well at this type of track, but our finishing position hasn't always shown how we raced that day. We've been off for a couple of races now, and it's time to get back in the swing of things."

Built Ford Tough 225  •  Entry List  •  Driver standings  •  Best 25 over last six races

Hamilton led the points standings from March until two races ago, when he blew an engine and finished ninth at Milwaukee. He's still within striking distance of the Craftsman Truck Series points leader this week, Travis Kvapil, standing third, 30 points behind.

Brendan Gaughan is only six points out of the lead.

"It's really close right now, and I expect that it will stay that way for the remainder of the year," Hamilton said. "I'm pretty sure you won't see one driver run off with the championship. You'll see some switching around, one driver hold it for a few races, and then it might switch up again. We want to be in the mix of things.

"Right now we are 30 points out of the lead. That can be made up in one race or that can drop again in one race. It's an up-and-downhill battle. That is what the points were created for, though."

Rick Crawford is only 21 points behind Hamilton, with fifth-place Ted Musgrave five points behind Crawford and sixth-place Dennis Setzer one point behind Musgrave. Jon Wood, who won his first career NCTS race last weekend, is 41 behind Setzer.

This is the time of year that could separate the contenders from the pretenders. Hamilton, as owner-driver, is fully aware of the stresses on his team members, but he's challenged them.

This no time to back down, Hamilton said.

	Credit: High Sierra Photo

"About this time every year, people start getting in that mode where they are a little burnt out," Hamilton said. "We've had several races in a row and have a few more to go before another weekend off. So everyone starts getting a little stressed and tired. It was a lot worse in the Winston Cup Series, but it happens in all three of NASCAR's series. It's July, it's hot and everyone wants a day off.

"My motto to that is, 'Well you raised your hand.' That is the tough part of this sport, and if you raise your hand to work in it, then you have to take the good with the bad. A good finish goes a long way, but then again so does a bad one. We have to keep our heads in the game at all times. It's big-time auto racing now, so step up and race."

That's just what Hamilton intends to do, and he hopes he races successfully. But the former Winston Cup driver knows racing in this series is no picnic. It doesn't matter than he has years of experience racing in NASCAR's top series, he said.

Hamilton has to learn tracks just like everyone else racing trucks.

"We tested at Kentucky Speedway for a manufacturer's test and were really off at first," Hamilton said. "I've never raced on that racetrack before, and Newt hasn't been there to set up a truck either. We made the first few runs and had to change a few things because we were off. Since we had not raced on the Kentucky track before to have a baseline to go off of, it took us longer to get on the right path. Once we made a few laps and I found my groove on the track, we got dialed in. At the end of the test session we were pretty good.

"It's funny to me because people say when we go to races, I should be one of the best there because I was a Winston Cup Series driver. They aren't looking at the fact that I am racing a lot of places I have never driven a lap on before in a truck."

Maybe they can be called Butthead, too.