Hamilton Impresses McDonald's Racing Team with Mexico Effort

MEXICO CITY --  Entering the 80 lap Telcel Motorola 300 NASCAR Busch Series event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Bobby Hamilton simply wanted to finish the race.  In a prerace chat with ESPN, the Greenbrier, TN resident said “I am lost as an Easter Bunny on road courses.” The comment drew laughs from the ESPN crew, but Hamilton was telling the truth. The last time he had raced on a non-oval track was in 2001 and the result wasn’t pretty.

Throughout the weekend, the McDonald’s Racing Team worked hard to give Hamilton a strong car and the confidence needed to succeed on a road course.  With each practice, Hamilton’s enjoyment of road racing improved.  In qualifying, he recorded the 18th fastest lap, exciting his entire team!

The race began Sunday afternoon and Hamilton quickly began to gain positions on the track. By keeping his car on the track and hitting each turn correctly, he moved inside the top ten.  Hamilton continued to focus and gain confidence with each lap.  Granted his road racing talent is never going to equal the select group of road racers entered in the race, but he was improving.

With ten laps to go, Hamilton sat just outside the top-ten.  Three caution flags in the last ten laps proved to be a road block for the McDonald’s Ford. On each restart, the fuel flow through the engine seemed to be blocked.  Two to three cars would pass Hamilton until he got the car up to speed.  A frustrating end to a positive day of road racing, Hamilton came home in 17th place.

“Without the problem at the end, I believe we had a top-ten finish,” Hamilton said. “The McDonald’s team gave me a super car today and I did my best to drive it.  With three of these road races this season, maybe I can continue to improve.”

Juan Pablo Montoya bumped his way into the lead by wrecking teammate Scott Pruett late in the event.  Montoya then held off Denny Hamlin for the win.  The Busch Series now heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for racing action on Saturday. Check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.