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(Fountain, CO.) Coming into Saturday’s Trim Spa Dream
Body 250, Ron Hornaday had never finished outside the
top-10 in any race at Pike’s Peak International
Raceway (PPIR). After the race concluded, he again
saw his name and the No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet on the
top-10 leaderboard. And while his seventh place
finish kept the PPIR streak alive, not winning the
race left the ACDelco team feeling like they had let
another win get away.
Hornaday was fast the moment the track opened for the
NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) cars. During qualifying, he
held the top spot for most of the day before finally
giving up the pole to the No. 25 of Bobby Hamilton,
Jr. While Hornaday missed the pole, he was fast
enough to capture the third position on the grid.
The
weather at PPIR was unusually hot, with temperatures
topping out at 102 degrees at race time. The brutal
weather conditions and the high altitude plagued both
man and machine. Hornaday found himself battling with
Stacy Compton early in the race, yet both drivers used
completely different racing lines. Hornaday chose to
run the high line and it paid off nearly all race
long. While Hornaday flourished, point’s contender
Brian Vickers floundered. Mike Harmon and Larry
Gunselman crashed exiting turn four, and Gunselman’s
car slid down in front of Vickers collecting his GMAC
Chevy in the wreck and ending his day very early.
On
the restart, Hornaday took control. It took the
ACDelco Chevrolet little time to take the top spot and
once he got there, he pulled away. Hornaday led the
most laps of anyone in the race, but a bad set of
tires in the middle to late stages cost the No. 2
Monte Carlo. Hornaday complained to the crew that the
car was very loose and it took everything he had to
hang on. The problem cost him the lead as Scott
Wimmer and Jason Keller passed the ACDelco machine.
Hornaday slipped back in the pack, and battled the car
each and every lap. Wimmer pulled away from the pack
and won his first NBS race of 2003. Hornaday crossed
the line in seventh.
The
finish, along with Vickers bad luck put Hornaday in a
tie with Keller for third place in the NBS point’s
standings. The ACDelco Chevrolet is now just 50
points out of first place.
The
next race for Ron Hornaday and the ACDelco Chevrolet
Monte Carlo is Saturday, August 2nd, at Indianapolis
Raceway Park. |
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