Oil Pump Belt Ends Shot at
Win for Hornaday in Texas
FT. WORTH, Texas (June 7,
2009) --- Ron
Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Longhorn Chevrolet
Silverado team stampeded into Texas looking toward a third
consecutive victory at the 1.5-mile D-Shaped oval. However,
it was not meant to be as trouble on pit road and a broken oil
pump belt late in the race would take Hornaday out of
contention for the win.
“It was a tough night for the
No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet,” said Hornaday. “The truck was
never really down in the race track. We were all over the
place loose and tight. We will be okay though; this team came
back from tire trouble in Dover to give me a fast truck. The
Longhorn brand is really sticking with us, so we will head to
the house and go get them next week.”
Hornaday and the No. 33 KHI
Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado team qualified second for the
WinStar World Casino 400. Johnny Sauter led the field to the
green flag. As the race began, the No. 33 was running lap
times that mirrored the leader. Hornaday was able to get to
Sauter’s back bumper but became aero tight as soon as he tried
to pass. The first caution of the race waved on lap 40 for
last week’s winner Brian Scott who scraped the outside wall in
turn four. Crew chief Rick Ren called for four tires and
a left side air-pressure adjustment. The following lap
the No. 33 would come back down pit road for fuel. Two
quick stops placed Hornaday in the lead for the restart at lap
45.
Hornaday would dominate the mid-portion of the race, leading a
race high 56 laps and pulling away from second place by a
two-second margin. Hornaday gave up the lead on lap 98
to begin a round of green-flag pit stops. The No. 33 came to
pit road for four tires and an air-pressure adjustment. The
following lap Hornaday would come in for two cans of fuel.
Hornaday and the No. 33 team were then charged with a
pass-through penalty for a tire that had gotten away from the
team during the four-tire exchange. As the stops cycled
through, Hornaday was scored in the 12th position, one lap
behind the leaders.
The third caution of the race
on lap 122 for debris found Hornaday one position shy of the
“lucky dog” award which would have placed the No. 33 back on
the lead lap. The team pitted for the final time on laps 124
and 125 for tires and fuel. Hornaday battled the leaders on
the restart trying to regain his lap. With eight laps
remaining in the event the No. 33 was scored in the 11th
position, one lap down, when Hornaday came on the radio and
told the team he had lost all oil pressure. He brought the
No. 33 to pit road and the team discovered an oil pump belt
had came loose from the truck. The team quickly replaced the
belt, but not before the No. 33 went four laps down to the
leader relegating him to a 19th place finish.
Todd Bodine went on to win at
Texas Motor Speedway, followed by new championship points
leader Matt Crafton, Colin Braun, Johnny Benson and Rick
Crawford.