(Fontana, CA.) The bad luck that plagued the ACDelco team in August, continued into September, as a part failure dropped Ron Hornaday to a 29^th place finish at California Speedway.

Everything leading up to the failure was positive for the No. 2 ACDelco Monte Carlo.  The car was fast right off the transporter, which allowed crew chief Butch Hylton to fine tune the chassis rather than start from scratch.  In qualifying, Hornaday backed up his practice times and posted the 12^th best speed of the afternoon.  Casey Mears won the Busch Pole. 

Inside the ACDelco transporter on race day, there was a feeling of great anticipation as the start approached.  Hornaday had felt very comfortable in "happy hour" and the "Real Car Guys" felt they had a great chance to be a factor for the win.

During pre-race activities, Hornaday sat in "Herbie", the No. 53 VW Love Bug made famous from Walt Disney movies.  Disney was shooting race scenes for an upcoming Herbie movie, involving NASCAR stars.  Hornaday was one of only three drivers to meet the star of the movie, Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday).

The green flag waved to start the Target House 300 and Hornaday drove to the high side and passed Matt Kenseth to pick up the 11^th position.  On lap three, he continued his march to the front by passing both Michael Waltrip and Mike Bliss.  The field settled in single file and Hornaday used his strong RCR motor to catch the draft of Martin Truex, Jr.  On lap 17, Hornaday passed Truex and set his sights on Kyle Busch.  Eight laps later, Hornaday blew by Busch to take the seventh position.

The first pit stops of the day took place under green flag conditions.  While most of the leaders began making stops at lap 44, Hylton kept Hornaday on the track to lead a lap and gain five valuable points.  On lap 51, the ACDelco Chevy hit pit road and the crew went to work.  It was a good stop.  The only change made to the car was a one pound lower air pressure adjustment to all four tires.

The air pressure helped the "blue deuce" come alive.  Hornaday quickly closed the gap on the cars in front of him and told the crew how amazing the car was.  "Whooo.  She's right," said Hornaday.  The only issue for the team was the lack of track position due to no cautions.  But that changed when debris brought out the first yellow flag on the afternoon on lap 59.

Most of the leaders hit pit road and Hornaday took advantage as well.  The ACDelco crew changed all four tires and came out in eighth position after another great stop.  On the restart Hornaday was spectacular as usual.  He worked past Ashton Lewis, Jr. for seventh and then Johnny Sauter for sixth. 

On lap 70, the car that had been so good, started to get very loose.  "I don't know if I have a flat or a wheel's loose.  I'm loose, loose, loose," said Hornaday.  Hylton asked tire changers Dan Blizzard and Jake Lind if they had got the lugs tight and both shook their heads yes.  Hornaday slipped back to eighth and then caught a break as the caution waved for a blown motor.

Hornaday gave up track position to come down pit road and check the tires.  The crew changed all four and sent the ACDelco Monte Carlo back into the race.  While Hornaday circled the track, a NASCAR official came down to the ACDelco pit holding a blue A-arm spacer.  He told Hylton that Truex's team thought it came off Hornaday's car as it left pit road.  The ACDelco crew looked at it and hoped it was not theirs.  But the hopes would be shattered as the field prepared to go green in turn four.  "Something is wrong," said Hornaday.  "I just about spun out scrubbing my tires."  Hylton knew the problem was bad.  "Ron, we think we know what the problem is but you are coming to the green.  Be very careful and let's hope we get a quick yellow," said Hylton.

The green flag waved and the field took off into turn one.  Hornaday wiggled in the corner and pulled to the inside on the backstretch.  "There's something bad wrong here," said Hornaday.  "It's vibrating bad.  I think the wheel is coming off."  Hylton calmly told his driver to pit.  The ACDelco Chevy stopped under green and the hood went up.  The crew replaced the spacer, but lost four laps in the process.  Any thought of even a decent finish was gone.  Hornaday returned to the race, but finished a very discouraging 29^th.  He retained the seventh position in the point's standings.

The race for the win was as exciting as any ever held at California Speedway.  Mears and Greg Biffle battled door-to-door for the last few laps.  But it was Biffle who held the low line and the shorter way around.  Biffle took the checkered flag completing a sweep of the two NASCAR Busch Series races at California Speedway.  Mears was second and Kevin Harvick finished third.

 The next race for the NASCAR Busch Series is Friday night, September 10th at Richmond International Raceway.  It will mark the debut of brand new RCR chassis No. 033R, sporting a new KISS Rock and Roll paint scheme.