Hamilton Sr. to run Brickyard, maybe not retire

Bobby Hamilton will try to qualify for the Aug. 7 Brickyard 400, his first race in NASCAR's top tier since he left at the end of the 2003 season. "If I can qualify, I'll be in the race," said Hamilton, who won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship last year and is currently third in the standings. "It's a no-pressure thing and I'm looking forward to it." Hamilton said he is dabbling in Nextel Cup for two reasons. He hopes to transfer some of the chassis technology to his truck racing team, and also help his son, Bobby Jr., get his car up to speed. Bobby Hamilton Jr. has struggled in his first full Nextel Cup season. "We're working together, helping each other," the senior Hamilton said. "We were at Indy testing last week and I had the quickest lap and Little Bobby the second-quickest. After Indy I may run a few more Cup races on some tracks that we need help on." Hamilton purchased the Nextel Cup car from PPI Racing, the team for which Bobby Jr. drives, and rebuilt it at his racing complex in Mt. Juliet. "It's a good car," he said. "I'm anxious to race it. I've still got a lot of buddies over there and it'll be fun to see them," said Hamilton, who has run five Busch Series races this season for Sadler Racing in addition to his full-time truck schedule. Hamilton hopes to eventually evolve his truck racing team into a Nextel Cup team, with his son driving for him. Earlier this year Hamilton said he intended to retire from driving at the end of this season in order to oversee his team and develop young drivers on a full-time basis. Since then those plans have become less definite. "I'll do what I think is best for my race team," he said. "It's hard to predict the future." Tennessean