BUSCH SERIES Bobby Hamilton Jr. nips Sauter for third win

The race tightened the championship standings among the top five drivers.
MILLINGTON, Tenn. (AP) -- Bobby Hamilton Jr. picked up his third Busch series win of the season when he nudged past Johnny Sauter with three laps to go Saturday and held on to win at Memphis Motorsports Park.
After Hamilton took the lead, Jason Keller also managed to get past Sauter for second place. Sauter finished third in the Sam's Town 250.
Ron Hornaday led 11 laps midway through the race and finished fourth. Brian Vickers led on two occasions and finished fifth.
Bumps way into lead
Sauter took the lead on lap 182 when he bumped Richard Childress Racing teammate Ron Hornaday Jr. aside and pushed ahead.
Hamilton tried to make a move, but his right rear tire overheated and he had to slow down while it cooled.
"The whole time he was out front he was trying to stretch his lead, so he wasn't giving his tires a break. When I got to him, he didn't have a whole lot," Hamilton said. "He's probably irritated I got into him a little bit."
Sauter said Hamilton did what he had to do to win the race.
"If the shoe is on the other foot, I can promise you I'll have to do the same," Sauter said.
Besides, he said, he'd done the same thing to Hornaday earlier.
"I guess I've got no room to stop and be mad, so I just need to shut up," Sauter said.
The race tightened the Busch championship standings among the top five drivers with four races to go.
Vickers' finish moved him to first place in the standings, ahead of David Green, who came into the race leading Vickers by 36 points but finished 19th and now trails by 23.
Keller moved up to third, with Hornaday and Riggs following. Only 44 points separates Vickers and Riggs.
Keller was pleased with his finish.
"My hand's not big enough to pat myself on the back, but I feel pretty good about what happened on the racetrack," he said.
Vickers started second and led the first 60 laps, and then again for 91 laps midway through the race until Keller and four other cars passed him on lap 157.
The beginning of the race was mired in cautions. Nine yellow flags were out for 46 laps.
One of those cautions got Greg Biffle, who arrived from Martinsville, Va., where he spent Friday qualifying in the Winston Cup race.
Biffle's substitute driver, David Reutimann, won the pole in qualifying Friday. Because of the race-time driver switch, Biffle had to drop to the back of the field before the green flag dropped. He moved up seven spots in the 43-car field by the first caution. He got caught up in a multi-car wreck on the 17th lap, and had to quit the race.