At best, Shane Hmiel and Billy Ballew Motorsports were long shot contenders when the 2004 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season began.

No longer.

Hmiel, who muscled his No. 15 Spondivits/Alpharetta Self Storage Chevrolet into the lead for the second consecutive week, lost Saturday’s O’Reilly 200 by an eyelash. Late caution erased a solid lead and Bobby Hamilton – a quick-thinking veteran – took advantage of Hmiel’s hesitation to pass the 23-year-old for the win at Memphis Motorsports Park.

The runnerup finish, however, was a series best for Ballew, an Atlanta resident who spends as much time at the track on his cell phone hunting sponsorship for future races. Saturday’s finish was the third in the top-10 for the team, which had just two in 2003.

“Our Silverado was really good today,” said Hmiel. “The crew made no adjustments on our stops.”

The DEI-powered Chevy showed its muscle after a lap 103 pit stop during which Hmiel went from the lead to sixth on the restart. He methodically picked off rivals and passed defending O’Reilly 200 champion Ted Musgrave for the lead on the 177th lap.

Hmiel was disappointed but still upbeat after opening the door for Hamilton’s winning move when his spotter over-anticipated NASCAR’s call for caution on the 194th lap.

“It’s no one’s fault,” he said. “It just happens with these new rule changes.

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Although Bobby Hamilton never had won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck event in his home state, he lavished praise on Memphis Motorsports Park, a sister track to Nashville Superspeedway.

“I just like the people at Dover Entertainment and they do a heck of a job,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, maybe just the atmosphere around here. The race fans are really enthusiastic and all and maybe it was because they were fellow Tennesseans.”

And where was Hamilton going after series win No. 6?

“I’m a huge Elvis fan,” he said. “I’m going to stay over and go to Graceland. That’s my plan.”

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Hmiel’s failure to win extended to eight the number of times in 2004 that the mid-race leader hasn’t gone to victory lane. Musgrave made it six races out of eight that the leader of the most laps hasn’t won, either.

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Caution-aided perhaps, the 26 teams that completed all 200 laps of the O’Reilly 200 set a record. The previous mark, 24, was established in September 1996 at Richmond International Raceway. That race was halted after 124 of 200 scheduled laps due to an approaching hurricane. April’s Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway also saw 24 lead lap finishers.

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Two drivers reached milestones on Saturday. Jack Sprague and Dennis Setzer notched their 140th and 100th top-10 finishes, respectively. Sprague is the year’s first repeat Bud Pole winner – his 22nd in 180 NASCAR Craftsman Truck appearances – with a non-record qualifying lap of 118.917 mph.

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Hamilton’s victory in the series’ 225th race marked the fourth time in the past five milestone events that a Dodge has hoisted the checkered flag. Joe Ruttman won No. 125 – also in a Bobby Hamilton Racing entry – while Scott Riggs captured No. 150 and Musgrave was the winner of last year’s 200th race, also at Memphis Motorsports Park.

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Saturday’s race wasn’t kind to Toyota. Bang Racing’s Travis Kvapil was the highest placed Tundra driver in 12th. Toyota also failed to finish among the top 10 last month at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway where the truck maker’s best was Skinner’s posting of 11th.

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Craftsman’s win from the pole bonus, which hasn’t been claimed in 2004, reaches $18,000 this week at The Milwaukee Mile where there has never been a repeat winner in nine previous events. Texas Motor Speedway is the only other series track with a nine-winner streak, which Brendan Gaughan ended in 2002. Former Milwaukee winners expected to compete include Mike Skinner (1995), Jack Sprague (1996), Musgrave (2001) and Terry Cook (2003).