Despite Lap 10 crash, Hornaday perseveres for top-20 finish in Music City

After a weekend of rain in "Music City U.S.A.", the NASCAR Busch Series filled the field based off of 2003 owners points, leaving the No. 2 ACDelco Monte Carlo with a seventh place starting spot. Hornaday's RCR teammate Johnny Sauter took the pole in the No. 21 PayDay Chevy. Rain washed out the critical final practice as well, something Hornaday and his RCR crew did not want to see. After a 16th place finish at the 1.33-mile track back in April, Hornaday and company needed the track time to find a race setup that would produce a better result. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not want to help the "blue deuce".

The sun managed to find its way into the Nashville sky just two hours before the start of the 300-mile race. At the drop of the green flag, Hornaday continued to prove that he is indeed the "master of the restart". The No. 2 ACDelco Monte Carlo dropped to the inside of David Green in turn one and quickly Hornaday cracked the top-five. This run to the front was short lived. Just two laps later, Green and several other cars forced the No. 2 car to the outside groove and further back into the pack. On lap 10, Hornaday attempted to get back in line just in front of rookie Brian Vickers. As the two drivers dove into turn three, Vickers forced the action and got underneath Hornaday. But the young driver wiggled in the middle of the corner and slipped up into the ACDelco Monte Carlo. Both cars slid up the track and Hornaday showed great car control by not spinning out, but the veteran driver ran out of real estate and pancaked the right side of the car on the outside wall. While the entire right side of the car was damaged, he was able to drive away. Vickers did a 360° and was able to continue as well. It was the second yellow of the race, and despite several attempts by the ACDelco crew to make repairs, Hornaday's car was not able to return to championship form. The two-time NASCAR Truck Series champ ran the rest of the race off the pace and finished five laps down in 16th position.

Despite the disappointment of the crash, the "Chrome 300" was far from uneventful. One by one, several of the key drivers in the top-10 experienced similar heartbreak. Mike Bliss, Shane Hmiel, and Todd Bodine all had engine failures, moving Hornaday up the standings. Late in the race, Jason Keller crashed his No. 57 machine, giving Hornaday more life in the point's outcome. Those driver's problems enabled Hornaday to leave Nashville with a fourth place standing in the NASCAR Busch Series points race, just 144 points back of leader Scott Riggs. The race for the win was competitive, but when all was said in done, Riggs had the car to beat and won his second race at Nashville Superspeedway holding off David Green.

While the win was exciting, the battle for third through fifth was hot, to say the least. Battling for position, David Stremme hit the back of Sauter's RCR Chevy and sent him into the wall. He and his PayDay team were not happy. Stremme finished third with Randy LaJoie fourth and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. fifth. The after-race fireworks between Sauter and Stremme sent them both to the NASCAR Busch Series trailer for discipline.

For Hornaday, a disappointing and frustrating night ended better than anyone would have predicted, yet it still left the team wondering what if. The ACDelco team will need to have a better performance at Kentucky Speedway next week if they hope to make up ground in the championship chase.