Bobby Hamilton Jr. Event Preview
No. 32 Tide/Downy Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Race 34 of 36 – Dickies 500
Texas Motor Speedway
HICKORY, N.C., (Nov. 1, 2005) – This weekend’s running of the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will mark Bobby Hamilton Jr.’s second Cup event at the 1.5-mile oval. For this time around, the Tide/Downy team is not only geared towards improving its overall performance at Texas but also tackling for the first time at this facility, the transition of starting the race in the day and finishing under the lights.
James Ince, crew chief of the No. 32 Tide/Downy Chevrolet Monte Carlo:
How are you approaching Texas Motor Speedway?
“The main objective for us right now is to make it through Friday’s qualifying round. Since it is not an impound race, it gives us the opportunity to do a lot of race runs on Saturday and to build a bunch of adjustability in the car for Sunday’s race. The adjustability will be the key to handling the transition of racing in the day and then into the night. The transition is not new to us since we run the May Charlotte race like that but there is a trick to having a setup that will run well from start to finish under those particular conditions. I find Texas to be a pretty fundamental track. If you unload with a fast car, it will stay fast. You just have to adjust to the track conditions accordingly and to do that you have to build in the right amount of adjustability.”
Do you like the fact that Texas is not an impound race?
“I especially do since we are not in the top-35 in owners points. It should help alleviate some of the stress we’ve been having during impound events. Texas will allow us to really focus on qualifying on Friday. Then on Saturday, we can focus on the race. We don’t have this luxury at impound events so we have to approach qualifying much differently than teams guaranteed a starting spot. Reason being, a qualifying setup is much different than a race setup. Due to our situation, we have to make a sacrifice and go with a qualifying setup to help boost our chances to get into the race since there are so many teams out there who come to the track to simply start and park. If we get through qualifying with no problems, we usually find our setup somewhat of a disadvantage at the start of the race. Teams in the top-35, however, don’t have to deal with our dilemma. They don’t have to deal with choosing one type of setup over the other. They can risk it by going with a setup that’s more in the middle of the road – decent for qualifying and easy to adjust into race trim on the first pit stop. We can’t afford to do that right now. We have been walking a very fine line during impound events so needless to say, we are looking forward to this weekend’s more traditional schedule and hope qualifying goes off without a hitch.”
Notes of Interest:
Bobby Hamilton Jr.
The Dickies 500 will be Bobby’s 62nd career start in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.
He has competed one time at the Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and it came this season while driving the No. 32 Tide/Downy Chevrolet. He started 38th and finished 39th after getting caught up in an early crash. The Tide ride was repaired and put back into action on lap 123 to finish the race.
While racing in the NASCAR Busch Series, Hamilton Jr., raced five times at the 1.5-mile oval. His highest qualifying effort was third (3/29/03) and best finish was fourth (4/3/04). Both times he was racing the No. 25 car.
PPI Motorsports
At Texas Motor Speedway, PPI Motorsports with Tide Racing has a best start of third (Scott Pruett – 2000) and best finish of 14th (Ricky Craven – 2002).
Put to the Test:
PPI Motorsports and driver Bobby Hamilton Jr., will be testing at Kentucky Speedway on Wednesday, November 2 in preparations for this weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway. Chassis No. 67 will be utilized.
About the Tide Ride:
Chassis No.: Primary – Chassis: 67 Back Up - Chassis: 59
