It was a homecoming of sorts for Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Gil Martin this past weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, as the Tennessee natives returned to the Volunteer state for the NASCAR weekend.

Hamilton is a full-time driver in the NASCAR Busch Series, while Martin is the crew chief for the No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, driven by Clint Bowyer.

The Racer

Bobby Hamilton Jr., a Nashville native, drives the No. 35 McDonald's Ford in Busch Series, but he is one of the few racers to have competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck, Busch and NEXTEL Cup Series full-time.

"Every series has its own perks that you learn," Hamilton said. "For instance, the Cup Series: it's extremely tough. If you don't have the right stuff you could be a 35^th place guy and rode your heart out all day long. It just can teach you different types of lessons."

The driver enjoys being close to home.

"The big thing is, not a whole lot of travel here," Hamilton said. "The family comes to these closer places ... you don't get to sleep in your bed at night, but you're still less than a 40-minute flight home."

Hamilton still makes Nashville his home, and he owns a café and a sports bar in the area, but racing is his passion.

"Racing's all I've ever done," Hamilton said. "I've never played sports at school or home or anything, kind of stick to what I know."

This year, the No. 35 car is currently 6^th in the point standings, and Hamilton has done a good job of staying consistent all year.

"If you're in position to be in the top ten, if you can see the leader, you can have a shot," Hamilton said. "If not, you've just got to get out of there with all your fenders on. If you can do that it's got to be a good day."

But of course the driver knows where he wants to be.

"Racing is trying to win races and being in victory lane," Hamilton said. "If you're not capable to do it every week, you just build your team each week, each month and each year so you're a competitor of winning races every week."

Hamilton finished 12^th Friday in the Food City 250, and is only looking ahead "one race at a time."

"It's hard to go in there and set real big goals," Hamilton said. "You want to try and win a couple races and have a big bucket of top tens and top fives. Each week throws you a different curve ball...if it's not your week you've got to prepare better for the following week."

The Volunteer fan

Clint Bowyer's crew chief Gil Martin is not only from Nashville, but a huge UT football fan as well.

"I have been all my whole life," Martin said. "I grew up in Nashville and I've been watching Tennessee football forever. [I] had every kind of orange jersey growing up that you could have."

As far as Tennessee's season goes, Martin thinks the California game will set the tone for the season.

"It's how they get out of the gate," Martin said. "If they can come out of the gate strong this year, get some confidence built up, which I think the young team is going to need ... I think they're going to be good, we're going to be pulling for them."

With living in Nashville, one would think that he would be a Vanderbilt fan, but that's not the case.

"If you were a Vanderbilt fan where I grew up you generally got beat up, so you didn't want to pull for Vanderbilt," Martin said.

Martin has won a race in each of the Craftsman Truck Series, Busch Series and Cup Series as a crew chief.

"It means a lot to me," Martin said. "Each level is so much different and the things that it takes to win a race in each one of those is tremendously different, but obviously the Cup victories are sweeter."

Bowyer and Martin as a team have had some success in the state of Tennessee in the past.

"I love racing here in Tennessee," said Martin. "I mean with Clint, we won our first Busch race together in Nashville, then we won our second Busch race in Memphis.

Now they are looking to complete the sweep with a win at Bristol.  The '07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet finished third in the Sharpie 500 on Saturday and is in position to make the Chase for the Cup.

Martin has an aunt and uncle that live in Knoxville, and a cousin with 50-yard-line tickets at Neyland Stadium, who Martin is getting tickets to the Richmond race in a few weeks. In return you might see the crew chief in Knoxville by the end of the year.

"I'm hoping to be eating dinner and going to see a ballgame here soon," Martin said.