Hamilton won't return to Cup in uncompetitive car

Veteran content to stay, run own equipment in NCTS

ATLANTA -- Bobby Hamilton thinks the Craftsman Truck Series gives drivers and fans everything a race fan can ask for.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

	Bobby Hamilton

"There's a good mix there," Hamilton said. "You've got kids that come in and don't know their tail from a hole in the ground. But they've got fast trucks, so they feel like they've got to bounce off of everything in the arena.

"You've got veterans like me and (Mike) Skinner and you've got guys like Carl Edwards who ...does that cheerleader deal (Edwards likes to do backflips in Victory Lane). I think that's where he learned that."

Hamilton is a veteran of all types of racing. Hamilton is a former Nashville Speedway USA track champion. His big break came when he beat Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott in a special four-car "Superstar Showdown" event at Nashville in 1988.

He's won four times on the Cup circuit, most recently at Talladega in 2001.

Hamilton's vast experience tells him there's not a lot keeping the NCTS from getting very big.

"We're doing what we need to do," Hamilton said. "The show is there."

Craftsman Truck Series  ATLANTA -- Bill Lester knows that his is the face most closely associated with NASCAR's effort to bring increased diversity to one of America's most popular sports.  And he's fine with that, so long as you realize that race relations are not his main focus at the track.  Full Story

Hamilton recalled a race weekend in Dover that crystalizes his argument.

"We pulled into Dover and it said 'NASCAR parking left' and 'Truck Series parking right,'" he said. "They don't even connect it with NASCAR. When people find out that Tony Stewart ran a Truck Series race with us last year, they're stunned."

"Mark Martin's supposed to run a Truck Series race this year," he said. "We probably won't even know he does it until it's over with."

Usually, Hamilton says, it takes just one race to show someone what the series is all about.

"Any time you go to a place like Daytona and they tell you that the truck race was the best race in all of Speedweeks, that ought to tell you something.

"If people come and watch, they'd take a lot of interest in it."

Watching over Bobby Jr.

	Bobby Hamilton Jr.

Another thing Hamilton takes an interest in is the budding career of his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., who finished fourth in the Busch Series standings last season with four victories.

Many felt Hamilton Jr. would be running in the Nextel Cup Series in 2004. His father says the decision to stay in the Busch Series was all his son's.

"I'm pretty proud of the fact that he's being patient, but I don't know how he does it," the elder Hamilton said.

In fact, Hamilton says that if his son ever needs it, the No. 4 Truck Series team could become a Nextel Cup operation, but Hamilton cautions people not to hold their breath on that.

"He's happy where he is and he's got teams that want him to move to Cup, but he just doesn't want to right now."

'I don't want to go out there and just ride around'

While many of his counterparts are literally banging into each other to climb NASCAR's ever-crowded ladder of success, the elder Hamilton says he's been there, done that. He's quite happy right where he is, thank you.

Bobby Hamilton  Driver Page  2004 Stats

After all, being a successful businessman and one of the top drivers in the Truck Series is hardly the worst thing in the world.

"The reason I'm not running the Cup series right now is that I didn't feel like I could be competitive."

Not even against fields littered with "field fillers?"

"I'm not just gonna bolt a bucket of bolts together to go make 30 or 40 thousand dollars," he said. "I don't need the money. I don't want to go out there and just ride around. I'm very competitive."

That competitive fire has served Hamilton well on and off the racetrack. Now, at this stage of his life, Hamilton is convinced happiness all about priorities.

"I would just as soon put my heart and soul into my company (Bobby Hamilton Racing) and just keep it getting better and better."

"It's been a lot of fun for me to focus on that and not all the other crap."