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(Phoenix, AZ.) In a race that started with
rain and ended with rain, Ron Hornaday scored
a fifth place finish at Phoenix International
Raceway (PIR) in the Basha’s 200. The great
run was Hornaday’s eighth top-five of the year
and moved him even closer to the NASCAR Busch
Series Championship.
The ACDelco team unloaded as
one of the fastest cars at PIR. Hornaday was
fourth fastest right off the truck in race
trim, but slipped to 14th once
“mock” qualifying runs started. Hornaday told
crew chief Rick Viers to “free” the car up for
a run at the Bud Pole, but when Hornaday made
his run, the car got loose and the ACDelco
Chevy qualified 15th. Hornaday’s
Richard Childress Racing teammate won the pole
with a track record lap of 132.930 mph.
The weather outlook for
Saturday’s race did not look good when the
ACDelco team arrived at the track on race
day. Rain settled into the usually dry
Phoenix area and put the start of the race in
jeopardy. NASCAR elected to start the race
under a green and yellow flag condition in
hopes of keeping heat in the track, thus
drying the surface. After 14 laps, the rain
fell even harder and NASCAR postponed the
start for nearly three hours.
The green flag officially
dropped on lap 15 and Hornaday wasted little
time in moving forward. On lap 16, he raced
past Stacy Compton for the 14th
position. He continued his march towards the
front on the next two laps passing both Scott
Wimmer and Tim Fedewa. By lap 32, Hornaday
was in the top-10. “Stay after it. You are
the fastest car out there,” said team owner
Richard Childress.
The first caution of the day
occurred on lap 51, when Tammy Jo Kirk backed
into the turn four wall. Hornaday told the
crew that the car was “loose off”. When pit
road opened, Hornaday made his stop and the
crew changed all four tires, but made no
adjustments. They gained two spots and
Hornaday returned to the track in seventh.
During the middle portion of
the race, Hornaday settled into the sixth
position. Up front, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. paced
the field with Harvick and Brian Vickers in
tow. On lap 117, Hornaday broke into the
top-five and with more weather approaching,
looked to pick up more spots. The skies
darkened and the rain began to fall on lap
158. Hornaday was battling side by side with
Scott Riggs trying to hang onto the top-five.
On lap 166, Compton got turned
by Kasey Kahne, bringing out the caution.
None of the leaders pitted and Hornaday stayed
out as well. NASCAR radioed to all the crews
that because of darkness the race would be cut
short to 190 laps. On the restart Hornaday
pulled away from Riggs, but could not close in
on the rest of the leaders. With just 10 laps
to go, the rain fell again while Hornaday was
racing door to door with Riggs. On lap 182,
the yellow came out with the two cars battling
for the fifth spot. NASCAR reviewed the tape
and announced that Hornaday was in deed ahead
of Riggs. The race finished under caution
with Hamilton, Jr. the winner and Hornaday
fifth.
The great top-five finish,
along with a 16th place finish by
point’s leader David Green, vaulted Hornaday
to second in points, just 17 out of first
place. With two races to go, the championship
battle is heating up.
The next race for the ACDelco Chevrolet is
this Saturday, November 8 at North Carolina
Speedway in Rockingham, NC.
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