Hamilton Darlington II qualifying notes

DARLINGTON, S.C., (August 31, 2001) - Square D Chevrolet driver Bobby Hamilton was 21st fastest in qualifying at Darlington Raceway, the "Track Too Tough To Tame." The No. 55 took this position by making a lap of 166.343 mph in 29.563 seconds.

The Andy Petree Racing team worked hard during first round practice to get the car set up to handle the demanding track. Changes were made to the sway bar, springs and shocks. At the end of first round practice, Hamilton was running 13th in the field.

"We worked hard to get the car set up for qualifying," said Hamilton. "The sun was really out and strong on the track during our qualifying run, but we still qualified with a speed faster than we practiced and we're happy with that."

Kurt Busch captured the pole with a time of 29.263 seconds or 168.048 mph. Jeff Gordon, Jeremy Mayfield, Rusty Wallace and Kevin Harvick round out the top five.

The Mountain Dew Southern 500 gets underway on Sunday, September 2 at 1:00 p.m. EST on TNT.

-sdr