By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bobby Hamilton Jr. needs a jump-start to his season.

The 2003 Meijer 300 winner has driven well enough to come into Saturday's NASCAR Busch race at Kentucky Speedway in fourth place in the series standings, but he's not satisfied with the way things are going.

Hamilton is running near the front in the Busch Series, but he's not winning, and he has pinpointed the Meijer 300 Saturday as the perfect place to start.

"Everyone is looking at the Kentucky race as the one that could turn the program around 180 degrees," Hamilton said. "This could be the place we get that win. We've got our best car, and we were saving our best motor for Kentucky."

Last year Hamilton was in eighth place in the standings entering the race at Kentucky when he showed up with his new crew chief, Harold Holly. The Team Rensi crew left Sparta with its first win of the season, and Hamilton went on to finish fourth in the standings, winning three more times the rest of the way.

He figures if the turnaround got started at Kentucky last season, it might as well happen there again this season. The team originally targeted Nashville last week, but Hamilton's car incurred a broken wheel on his hometown track and finished 23rd.

"We had horrible luck," Hamilton said. "We're looking to redeem ourselves. Kentucky has always been one of my favorite tracks, and this was our first win together last year. Harold (Holly) will do whatever it takes to win the race."

The pressure on the team to win is starting to build. Hamilton eventually eyes a full-time move up to Nextel Cup, but sponsors aren't interested in a team that can't reach victory lane. Hamilton has come frustratingly close to winning but said the team needs to remain patient.

"You don't get fat overnight," Hamilton said. "You have to build slowly. The key factor is to win races. That pays the most money, and it's the only way to please the sponsors."

After an up-and-down first two months of the season, Hamilton has finished in the top five in four of the last six races, including a season-best second place at Nazareth May 23. Hamilton led that race but lost it on the last lap when Martin Truex Jr. passed him on the inside.

"We had that thing won," Hamilton said. "But we're slowly heading back to the way we were last year, in the top five and top 10. We've had little-bitty odds and ends go wrong. But the team always bounces back."

Despite the lack of victories, it's difficult for Hamilton, 26, not to look ahead at what could be at the Cup level, if he moves up. It's too soon to know if a sponsor can be found for next season, Hamilton said, but it's a priority if the Busch Series team can start winning.

"We're looking at next year really hard," Hamilton said. "Hopefully I'll bring the whole team if we can get sponsorship. I really want to make that jump, and the team does too."

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com