Team: Andy Petree Racing
Car/sponsor/make: No. 55 Square D/Schneider Electric Chevrolet
| |  |
| | Hamilton |
|
STATS
|
Year
|
Rank
|
Wins
|
Top 5
|
Top 10
|
Money
|
Best finish
|
|
2001
|
18
|
1
|
3
|
7
|
$2,275,900
|
1st, Talladega
|
|
Career
|
|
4
|
20
|
64
|
$12,738,653
|
1st, 4 times
|
2001 recap
The good: After a miserable 2000 season in which he finished 30th in the Winston
Cup standings (and had only two top-10 finishes, Hamilton jumped ship to
Andy Petree Racing in 2001 and saw an immediate increase in performance and a
big jump upward in the final season standings, finishing 18th. Hamilton is
one of the most underrated drivers in Cup competition -- not many people
remember he finished in the top-15 four times in five years from 1995 to 1999.
Season highlight: Winning on the longest track on the Winston Cup circuit,
Talladega Superspeedway, in the mid-April Talladega 500. Hamilton used the
savvy and tricks he's learned in his Cup career to move to the front at the
right time and emerge as the winner in a race that saw an incredible 37 lead
changes in the 167 laps of racing.
The bad: Hamilton's biggest problem in 2001 was poor qualifying. In 13 races,
more than one-third of the 36-race season, he started 30th or lower. If
there's a good side to that, his qualifying efforts improved somewhat in the
second half of the season (of those 13 races, eight were in the first half of the
season, five were in the second half).
Season lowlight: Unfortunately for Hamilton, as his qualifying went, so did
his eventual performance in each race in most cases. In 12 of the 13 races
Hamilton qualified 30th or worse, his highest finish was 22nd. The only
exception to that was the season-opening Daytona 500, when he started 35th
but finished an admirable 8th.
|  |
| Hamilton won at Talladega in 2001. |
Key stat: Hamilton was one of the few drivers to start and finish all 36
races this season. One of the more conservative-style drivers on the circuit,
he knows how to stay out of trouble on the race track. While that conservative
driving may cost him a few points or places in the standings from time to
time, it's better to be safer than to be put into a wall.
2002 outlook
What needs to be done: Crew chief Jimmy Elledge recently left to take the
same job on Dale Jarrett's No. 88 UPS Ford, just when he and Hamilton were
starting to jell. But Hamilton has been reunited with former crew chief
Charlie Pressley. The pair worked well together when Hamilton previously
drove for the Morgan-McClure team, and their familiarity with each other will
help tremendously as the team continues to improve and grow.
Prediction: With 2001 under his belt and an 18th place finish in the
standings to show for his efforts, Hamilton has a good chance to crack the
top-15 or even the top-10 in 2002.
Your take
Will Jimmy Elledge's departure hurt Bobby Hamilton's performance in 2002? Or can Hamilton still challenge for a top-10 or top-15 finish? Here's what you had to say:
Your thoughts.
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