(Dover, Del.) – What started out as one of the best weekends at Dover International Speedway for the ACDelco Chevrolet and driver Ron Hornaday ended on lap 14 as one of their worst.

From the very start, Hornaday was one of the fastest cars on the track.  He consistently practiced in the top-10 and felt he even had a shot at the Busch pole.  In qualifying, Hornaday slipped just a little off turn two, but still was fast enough to finish fifth on the board.  David Green won the Busch Pole.

During happy hour, Hornaday was again one of the fastest cars.  While the final time sheet showed the “blue deuce” 11th, Hornaday was actually the fastest car on 25 lap tires and continued to be better than the field as the laps accumulated.  Both Hornaday and crew chief Butch Hylton were excited about their chances on race day.

On Saturday morning the skies in Dover, Del. unloaded.  Rain fell on the track early in the morning.  It didn’t look like the race would get underway.  But, the rain stopped and the track dried.  The race started right on schedule.

As Hornaday strapped into the ACDelco Chevy, the team discovered that they had radio interference on both of their radio channels.  The team scrambled to get the problem fixed, but ran out of time.  They settled on channel two and hoped for the best.

The green flag waved to start the MBNA America 200 and the race was on.  It didn’t take long for the caution to come out as Robby Gordon spun off turn four after contact with Tim Fedewa.  Hornaday radioed to the crew that he was really tight off the corners. 

On the restart, Hornaday looked underneath Johnny Sauter going into turn one.  Instead of forcing the issue early, Hornaday backed out and settled into fifth.  On the next lap, Greg Biffle decided to try the same thing on Hornaday, but never backed out and never made the corner.  Biffle hit the left rear bumper of Hornaday as they entered turn one and the ACDelco Chevy slid up the banking and into the wall.  The damage was significant.  Hornaday drove the car straight to the garage area.  The “Real Car Guys” that make up the ACDelco team went to work on the wounded Monte Carlo.  There was heavy damage to the rear and the left front of the car.  Hornaday told the media that Biffle had pretty much called his shot.  “He told me in pre-race he wasn’t going to take any (thing) from the RCR guys.  I guess he decided to start with me,” said Hornaday.

As the crew worked to repair the car, the rain returned to the Dover area and this time, it was there to stay.   NASCAR red flagged the event and the ACDelco team was forced to stop repairs.  The car was impounded and the race was rescheduled for Monday morning.

Monday morning the sun was shining.  The ACDelco team had all of the parts and tools ready for the repair.  Biffle walked over to Hornaday before the race and asked if he was mad at him.  Hornaday shrugged his shoulders and said “you wrecked me, Greg.  I don’t know what you want me to say.”  Biffle tried to explain that he thought Hornaday was giving him the low line and that when he realized that wasn’t the case, got on the brakes to slow, but unfortunately hit him.  At that point the conversation was over and it was time to go racing.

The repairs took only five minutes to complete and Hornaday returned to action on lap 34, just three laps past the restart.  He was 40th.  For the next 166 laps, Hornaday tried to turn laps and stay out of the way.  Remarkably, the ACDelco Monte Carlo was one of the better cars on the track, even with damage.  Hornaday remained on the same lap as when he returned and finished a respectable 29th.  The team had hoped to pick up 10 spots and they got 11.  They took a points hit, but only dropped to eighth place overall, 374 points out of first.

The race for the win was not quite as dramatic as the start.  Biffle easily pulled away from the rest of the field to win the MBNA 200.  It was his third win of the year.  Martin Truex, Jr. was second and David Green, third.  In his victory lane interview, the first words out of Biffle’s mouth were an apology to Ron Hornaday and Richard Childress for the crash on Saturday.  Hornaday appreciated the national apology. 

The effort of the ACDelco team at Dover was exceptional.  Despite adversity, the ACDelco team never gave up and they feel more confident than ever going into Nashville Superspeedway next Saturday.  Hylton put it best.  “Next week Ron, we are going to win practice, the pole and the race.”  Hornaday replied in his California style.  “We’ll yeah.”

The next race for the ACDelco Chevrolet is next Saturday evening at Nashville Superspeedway.