Hamilton not worried as points race heats up

Top three drivers all hoping for strong runs at Loudon

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bobby Hamilton has been atop the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings for four weeks in a row.

Bobby Hamilton

But two consecutive finishes outside the top 10 has suddenly bunched up top three drivers and has made for a pretty good championship battle.

Hamilton's misfortunate at Richmond International Raceway last Thursday, when he hit the wall and finished 26th, has allowed Dennis Setzer and Carl Edwards to close the gap.

Setzer trails Hamilton by 57 points, while Edwards is only 76 out of the lead. Matt Crafton and Ted Musgrave are within shouting distance, but with three drivers in front of them, it will be a tough road. Crafton is 160 behind Hamilton, with Musgrave 185 points out.

Eight races remain on the Craftsman Truck Series schedule, including this weekend's Sylvania 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Setzer won at the flat, 1.058-mile track in 1999, but in eight races at "The Magic Mile," no NCTS driver has repeated.

2004 CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES •   Results •   Standings •   Schedule •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   Best Starts •   Best Finishes

That could be the best news Hamilton and Edwards needed to hear, especially Hamilton.

With three finishes in the top-five, including a victory at Nashville, Hamilton seemed poised to run away with the championship. But then he finished 12th at Bristol and 26th at Richmond to open the door for Setzer and Edwards.

No worries.

Hamilton has led the Craftsman Truck Series standings for the past four weeks. Credit: Autostock

"We'll talk about points with five races to go," Hamilton said. "There's no need to worry about them now."

Hamilton's explanation of the crash and the night at Richmond was as succinct.

"I just busted my tail," Hamilton said. "They told me someone blew up in front of us, but I don't know if that's what happened or not. Regardless, I was trying to pass on the outside, and I busted it.

"The team did a heck of a job. That truck is totaled out. The rear clip is knocked off. It's broken on one side. I don't know how we did what we did. They put a whole new bed cover on it. This team is prepared for whatever happens.

"On a bad note, we have to suffer a little bit, but on a good note, they worked and pulled us out of a hole. At one point we were running 33rd and we ended up 26th, so that's pretty good."

Setzer says his team's one-mile program is improving. Credit: Autostock

Setzer didn't exactly have the finish he wanted at Richmond, either. But that's the way things have gone for his Morgan-Dollar Motorsports team lately. Setzer had been atop the standings for longer than any driver this year -- 10 weeks -- but hasn't finished in the top-five since July.

Lately, a couple of late-race run-ins have hampered Setzer's effort. He was running well at Bristol until tangling with Mike Skinner, and had a top-10 run going at Richmond until coming out on the losing end of a fight with Jack Sprague.

"We felt that we had a top-five truck in Richmond," Setzer said. "We didn't start as well as we would have liked, but we made some adjustments and were headed in the right direction. I believe we had just raced ourselves into the top ten and were turned by another truck. I was under the 52 truck, and didn't have any room for the 16. (Jack Sprague) got into us in Turn 1, and we were spun out. Its unfortunate, but that is how it's been for us lately."

New Hampshire could be a good spot to turn things around for Setzer.

"New Hampshire is a great track," Setzer said. "I personally like it because it's like a large Martinsville. I have always been able to run well here, and the race in 2000, which was my worst finish (33rd), was a race where I felt that I had the best truck.

Carl Edwards

"Our one-mile program has been pretty good so far this year and we sure could use a good finish to go with a good run."

Edwards, on the other hand, has had plenty of good runs lately. He won at Bristol and was fifth at Richmond to put himself in the championship hunt, erasing a deficit of more than 200 points to Hamilton.

Richmond helped the most, and you can bet Edwards noticed Hamilton's damaged truck.

"That's as good of a points night as we could have ever hoped to have," Edwards said. "We just had a great points day, and that's as good as we could have asked for. We are going to give this championship pursuit 100 percent effort."

As are Hamilton and Setzer.