Team McDonald's Atlanta Post Race Report

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and The McDonald’s Racing Team traveled to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Busch Series Nicorette 300 on Saturday.  Atlanta Motor Speedway is a tough mile and half super speedway and demands a smooth handling chassis and major horsepower for success.

With 24 Nextel Cup drivers entered in the Busch race, the amount of track practice became a major advantage for the Cup drivers.  A rain shortened Busch practice increased the advantage even more for the 24 Cup drivers.  The McDonald’s race team worked hard to find the perfect setup, but ran out of time in the practice session.

Saturday morning arrived with wind and cold temperatures for qualifying.  Hamilton, Jr. drove his machine to the 34th fastest time.  The race began 2 hours later and Hamilton moved into the top 25 within ten laps.   The Cup drivers quickly began to dominate the race.  Hamilton refused to give up though and worked his way inside the top-twenty by the mid portion of the race.

Crew Chief Chris Wright worked on adjustments for the car and Hamilton gave it his all.  In the end, the McDonald’s Ford was unable to climb higher and settled for a 24th place finish.

“The car handled well today, it just didn’t seem to have the strength to climb to the front,” Hamilton said.  “We are going take a closer look at things back at the shop and see what we were missing.  Next week is Bristol and I am ready to drive the McDonald’s Ford to the front.”

Jeff Burton recorded his second consecutive win and led a top 10 sweep of Cup Drivers in the Busch race.