I guess you could say that the weekend was cursed from the start.  Hornaday spent a wonderful Thursday afternoon at the General

Motors Service and Parts Operation headquarters in Grand Blanc, Mich., signing autographs for his sponsor ACDelco.  But as soon as Hornaday left the offices, the blackout hit Detroit leaving the area around the track without power until Friday morning.

Hornaday wasn’t the fastest car in the morning practice, but he wasn’t the worst either.  The No. 2 ACDelco Monte Carlo was 15^th fastest in race trim, but vaulted up to eighth during his mock qualifying run.  The team made some last minute adjustment to give the car in order to give Hornaday a shot at a top-10 starting position.

In qualifying, Hornaday ran his best lap of the day at 39.243 seconds or 183.472 mph.  It looked good enough to put him in the top-10.  But late in the run, several cars ran faster than they had in practice and bumped the “blue deuce” to 12^th on the starting grid.  Kasey Kahne won the Bud Pole with a track record run of 38.608 seconds at 186.490 mph.

In the final practice of the weekend, Hornaday looked good.  His car was eighth fastest and other than being a little snug, looked very good off the corners.  But halfway through the practice, Hornaday picked up a loud hum and popping sound out of the rear gear.  The team was forced to change the gear during practice, which cost them 20 minutes of valuable on track time. 

On Saturday morning, the NASCAR Winston Cup cars held their final practice of the weekend.  During that practice, all of the drivers complained about the track being very tight and that there was a lack of grip.  ACDelco Chevy owner Richard Childress visited the No. 2 transporter and told crew chief Rick Viers that the track was very tight and that if Hornaday was snug early on, to pit at the first chance and make a major adjustment.  Viers agreed and the “game-plan” was set.

At the drop of the green, Hornaday charged turn one and picked up a position, but coming off of turn two he lost that spot and three more.  On lap six, Greg Biffle spun off turn four bringing out the yellow.  Hornaday said he was very tight in the center and off.  Viers told him to pit and the crew went to work on the car.  They took one round of wedge out of the car and went two turns up on the trackbar.  Hornaday came in 16^th and went out in 30^th.  Up front, Tony Stewart took the lead from Kahne.  Michael Waltrip was third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.

On the restart, Hornaday raced his way to 27^th.  On lap 20 he radioed to the crew that he was still really tight.  He had tried to run all the grooves, low-center-high, but none of them helped the handling.  By lap 41, Hornaday was lapped by Stewart.  The car was still tight in, but had now developed a loose condition off the corner.

On lap 45, the yellow flag came out for a spin in turn two by Jamie Mosley.  Hornaday raced Stewart back to the line and got his lap back.  The ACDelco Chevy was back in business.  They took four tires on the pit stop and left pit road in 19^th position.  The race went back to green on lap 50 and Hornaday zoomed through the field.  He worked his way into 15^th, before he fell back to 18th. 

The yellow waved again on lap 64.  Hornaday told the crew that the car was fast for about 10 laps, but then the nose would float and get real tight.  Hornaday brought the car in and took four more tires as well as two rounds of wedge out of the car.  On the stop, the jack fell on the left side and Hornaday lost valuable time.  He left pit road in 22^nd position.

The rest of the race was more of the same.  Hornaday continued to be tight and continued to fall back in the pack.  On lap 85, Hornaday and Joey Clanton made contact on the backstretch.  Hornaday cut down his left front tire and was forced to pit road.  The crew changed all four tires and sent Hornaday back out.  In the process, Hornaday lost a lap and was listed in 28^th position.  He would finish in the same spot.

The race for the win was cut short by fuel and rain.  Stewart, who had dominated the entire race, pitted for fuel late (lap 100) in the race.  That turned the lead over to Hornaday’s teammate Harvick, who was rolling the dice on fuel mileage.  On lap 110, rain hit MIS and the race was called due to rain.  It gave RCR the victory, but dropped Hornaday to 134 points behind the leader for the championship.  He remains in fourth position.

The next race for Ron Hornaday and the ACDelco Chevrolet Monte Carlo is Friday, August 22nd, at Bristol Motor Speedway.