Charles Robert Hamilton Jr. (born January 8, 1978) is an American former professionalstock car racing driver. He formerly competed in theNASCAR Nextel Cup Series,Nationwide Series, andCamping World Truck Series.

When he was fifteen years old, Hamilton found aFord Pinto in his driveway as a gift from his father (2004 NASCARCraftsman Truck Series ChampionBobby Hamilton). They fixed up the car, and Hamilton began racing it on weekends at the local speedway. In 1998, he moved to theARCA series where he earned four top 5 finishes in five races.

In 1998, Hamilton began to run someBusch Series races for the Sadler Brothers Racing No. 95 team. He made his debut atRockingham in October, where he started in 27th position. He led four laps and finished 37th, three laps off the lead. He also made the race atAtlanta, had a nineteenth place start and twentieth-place finish. Hamilton and the No. 95Shoney's Inn team entered 1999 with a part-time schedule. In four races with the team, his best start was sixth at Daytona, and his best finishes were 27th at Rockingham andDarlington. He did not race again until theHensley Motorsports No. 63Exxon Superflo team had an opening. He ran six of the next seven races, beginning at Watkins Glen. In that seat, he set his best career finish of 21st atPikes Peak. Hamilton then moved over to the No. 22Air Jamaica Team owned by Carroll Racing. He qualified for all the races he attempted, and matched his career best start of sixth atCharlotte. AtHomestead-Miami Hamilton started fifteenth and finished ninth.

Hamilton got a full-time ride with Carroll in 2000, driving the newly formed No. 26 Chevy, with sponsorship fromBaywatch. Hamilton had three top 10s in 2000, with a fourth at Talladega, and a pair of sevenths at Charlotte andMemphis. Hamilton also won his first career pole in the season finale at Homestead-Miami. He finished 19th in points. During the Homestead weekend in 2000, he made his Winston Cup Series debut at that track, driving the No. 57 Chevrolet owned by his father. He finished 33rd in that race, six laps down. He drove the No. 01Coors Light Chevrolet forSABCO Racing the following week to a 31st-place finish.

Hamilton returned to Carroll had a pair of fifth at Darlington and Rockingham in 2001. He also added three other top-tens and won another pole atFontana in addition to starting in the top-ten for half the races. After finishing seventeenth in points, he left the team. He made his Truck Series debut that year atThe Milwaukee Mile in the No. 4DanaDodge Ram forBHR but exited early due to atransmission failure. He also ran three races in the No. 33Oakwood Homes Chevy forAndy Petree Racing as a teammate to his father, filling in for the injuredJoe Nemechek. He also ran seven Cup races late in the season forMorgan-McClure Motorsports, driving the No. 4Kodak Chevy to three top-twenty finishes.

In 2002, Hamilton joinedTeam Rensi Motorsports to drive the No. 25United States Marine Corps-sponsoredFord Taurus. He won his first career race at New Hampshire and finished eighth in points. He also had his first top-five finish in the Truck Series atNashville Superspeedway, finishing seventh in his father'sSquare D entry. He had his statistically career-best season in 2003, where he won four Busch Series races and finished fourth in the final standings. He also partnered with Rensi to run some races at the Winston Cup level, his best finish being a fourteenth atKansas Speedway in the No. 35 Marines Ford.

Hamilton returned to Rensi in2004, but did not win a race. He competed in six Nextel Cup events forPhoenix Racing in the No. 09Miccosukee Indian Gambling-sponsored Dodge and had a best finish of seventeenth. He also drove three times in the Truck Series, winning a pole in his father's No. 04 truck, as well as running twice forHT Motorsports. After 23 Busch races, he left Rensi to move up to the Nextel level, driving the No. 32Tide-sponsored Chevrolet forPPI Motorsports. He was given the full-time ride for2005, but struggled immensely, failing to qualify three times and not finishing any higher than eleventh. After driving two events in equipment leased fromFront Row Motorsports, Hamilton was let go from PPI at the end of the season.

Without a full-time ride, Hamilton moved to the Truck Series, leasing equipment from the No. 08 team owned byGreen Light Racing and running with Corky's Ribs and BBQ sponsorship. After three races, it was announced that his father had been diagnosed withhead and neck cancer, and Hamilton was deemed his replacement in the No. 18 Fastenal-sponsored Dodge. He won the pole in his first race in the truck but only mustered a sixteenth place finish in points, as well as dealing with conflicts within the family-run organization. His attempt to run the2006 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Cup level also failed.

Following his father's death on January 7, 2007, Hamilton was expected to take over ownership of the team; however, he was not part of the management named by the team's backers the following month.^[1] The team eventually closed down in 2008.

In2007, Hamilton returned to the Busch Series and Team Rensi, this time driving the No. 35McDonald's Ford. He had three top-ten finishes and finished sixth in the final standings. After his #35 team folded in 2008, he moved back to the No. 25 car withSmithfield Foods sponsoring for thirty races. Despite missing two road course events, Hamilton had two top-tens and finished fifteenth in points. The team was ready to close near the end of the season when Smithfield's sponsorship ended, but Hamilton funded the team out of his own pocket for the final few races of the season to keep the team going. He also purchased a small portion of the Sadler Brothers team for whom he had begun his career, allowing them to run a limited schedule in the Nationwide andARCA RE/MAX Series.

Before the 2009 season, Hamilton purchased a small portion of Rensi Motorsports and merged his own operation with the team, forming the newRensi-Hamilton Racing operation. The No. 25 team lacked the sponsorship to run Hamilton, and he subsequently droveRandy MacDonald's #81 Dodge for a limited schedule. Hamilton returned to the Truck Series in 2010 forRick Ware and also ran atNashville Superspeedway in 2011 with Ware in their No. 1 truck.

After two years away from major-league racing, Hamilton returned to the track in 2014, signing withCarter 2 Motorsports to drive the team's No. 40 Dodge full-time in theARCA Racing Series;^[2] however before his first race with the team, he was released.^[3] In 2015, Hamilton resigned with Carter 2 Motorsports to compete in the 2015 ARCA season.

In 2016, Hamilton started Hamilton-Hughes Racing, with none of the three cars entered at Daytona making the field. By the end of May, cars from Hamilton-Hughes Racing were no longer showing up to the track. Most recently Bobby is facing lawsuits from multiple drivers and the team has been evicted from itsRussellville, Kentucky shop.^[4]

In December 2009, Hamilton purchased Highland Rim Speedway, located inRidgetop, Tennessee.^[5] In late 2010, Hamilton was accused of pulling a gun on a competitor at the track during a dispute; Hamilton stated he legally possessed the weapon and believed he was being threatened.^[6] No charges were filed in the case.^[7] In April 2011, Hamilton and fellow driverChad Chaffin acquired a two-year contract for the rights to operateNashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.^[8] In November 2011, however, they were found by the Nashville State Fair to be in default on their obligations,^[9] and in April 2012, Hamilton was named in a lawsuit by Nashville for unpaid obligations related to the contract.^[10] Hamilton had declared bankruptcy that January,^[11] and the Highland Rim track was sold at public auction in February.^[12]

Hamilton currently resides inGreenbrier, Tennessee, with his wife Stephanie and a daughter named Haley.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

• Bobby Hamilton Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Bobby Hamilton Jr. owner statistics at Racing-Reference

• Living people
• 1978 births
• Racing drivers from Nashville, Tennessee
• NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR team owners
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• Daytona 500 drivers
• Coca-Cola 600 drivers
• Brickyard 400 drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata