Dodge is the bullet: experience, discipline and a dominant ride delivered a championship to veteran Bobby Hamilton.(NASCAR)

Bobby Hamilton found a comfort zone this season--and in the process became a champion.

In his second season driving full time in the Craftsman Truck Series, Hamilton, 47, had a career year, earning acclaim with a 46-point triumph over Dennis Setzer.

"Dodge has always been doing the kinds of things you need to do, but it's tougher to succeed now, much tougher," Hamilton, who gave Dodge its first drivers championship, told reporters. "Toyota came in strong, and it made Chevy and Ford step up.... If you finished in the top 18 this year, it was as good as a top 10 finish in the past."

Indeed, 13 drivers scored victories in 25 races--one shy of the series record--and nine of those drivers won more than one race. Dodge, which had 11 victories in 2004, won its third manufacturers championship in four years.

Hamilton won lour races, equaling his career total in Cup racing and his victory total in 49 previous CTS starts, dating to 1996.

Hamilton was a short-hop specialist, winning at tracks no farther than 300 miles from his suburban Nashville base. But in the end, he had to survive a serious points challenge from Setzer, who finished second for the second straight year.

Setzer stayed close to Hamilton in midseason, then took a 1-point lead after the fall race at Martinsville. Hamilton regained the lead one race later, then took command of the standings with a second-place finish at Darlington--though it left him near tears when he put his son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., into the wall after Junior missed a shift. Setzer, caught in a wreck in that race, fell 70 points back. Despite finishing 10th at Homestead, he couldn't make up ground--in part because Hamilton opted to do something he hates: race for points.