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the ACDelco team had hoped for. A test at LVMS
back in February had the Richard Childress racing
owned team anxious for the weekend. But from the
start, the No. 2 ACDelco Monte Carlo chased the
track looking for speed. Qualifying was the one
bright spot of the trip to the desert. After
practicing only 21st fastest, Hornaday
joined teammate Kevin Harvick in the sixth row;
qualifying in 12th position at over 169
mph. 10 cars broke the existing track record.
Mike Bliss won his first career Busch pole award
at a speed of 171.238 mph.
The final practice of the day for the NASCAR Busch
Series is called “happy hour” because it’s the
last chance of the day to get ready for racing
conditions. For Hornaday and the ACDelco team, it
was more like “scramble hour” as the “blue deuce”
searched for a handle on the track. Hornaday
finished the final practice 24th on the
time sheet.
On the morning of race day, crew chief Butch
Hylton felt hopeful that they had found a setup
that might give Hornaday the feel he needed to
win. “We changed everything but the driver,” said
Hylton. “Hopefully we got it freed up enough to
run to the front. When the green flag waved to
start the event, Hornaday drove right to the
front. On lap one, the ACDelco Chevy made a
dramatic three-wide move down the middle of the
field and picked up four positions. By lap two,
Hornaday was up to sixth position. It looked like
the crew had found the magic setup. But as the
laps clicked off, Hornaday faded back into the
pack battling a very tight car. On lap 22,
Hornaday crossed the line in 19th and
was fading quickly, as the car pushed up the
track.
On lap 32, the yellow flag waved for a crash in
turn two between Stacy Compton, Shane Sieg, and
Donnie Neuenberger. It gave the ACDelco team a
chance to free Hornaday up. The team put on four
new Goodyear tires with less left side air
pressure and made a chassis adjustment to loosen
the car. Hornaday restarted 19th.
The changes didn’t work as expected. Hornaday
continued to battle the tight condition. On lap
77, the ACDelco Monte Carlo went one lap down to
leader Joe Nemechek. On lap 96, the team got
another chance to make a drastic change when the
caution waved. The crew took a spring rubber out
of the right rear and put it into the left rear of
the car to help the chassis rotate in the center
of the corner. Hornaday was 30th.
The changes helped the car, but the chances of a
win were long forgotten. Still, the ACDelco crew
stayed pumped up to try to bring home at least a
top-20 finish. The “blue deuce” raced its way to
as high as 25th late in the race, but
just never could gain the momentum for the top-20
finish. In the end, Hornaday took the checkered
flag in 26th place. It was a
disappointing finish at a track where Hornaday had
been one of the best. In short…it was just one of
those days when nothing went right, despite the
hard work of the ACDelco team. The finish dropped
Hornaday to 11th in the NASCAR Busch
Series points chase.
The race for the win provided some entertaining
drama. With Harvick leading by two seconds late
in the race, Kasey Kahne began to reel in
Harvick’s Chevy. With just two laps to go, Kahne
had climbed on the back bumper of Harvick and was
looking for way around for the win. But catching
Harvick is one thing, passing him is another.
Kahne tried desperation inside move at the line,
but Harvick held on and RCR headed to the winner’s
circle.
Hornaday exited the car and congratulated his
teammate in victory lane. Then the ACDelco team
huddled up and debriefed what might have gone
wrong. Hornaday and Hylton told everybody to
keeps their heads up and that one bump in the road
wasn’t the end of the season. Hylton praised the
team for digging in and trying to make something
happen. With an attitude like that, expect this
team to rally back even stronger at Darlington in
two weeks.
The next race for the ACDelco Chevrolet is
Saturday, March 20 at Darlington Raceway in
Darlington, S.C. |
Buckle Up
!