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(Charlotte, N.C.) – Ron Hornaday continued his
move up the NASCAR Busch Series point’s standings
with a 15th place finish in the
SpongeBob SquarePants 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway
in Charlotte, N.C. Hornaday is now fourth in
points with five races to go.
The
weekend started with a two hour practice session
on Thursday. In an attempt to help the Busch
teams with escalating costs, NASCAR gave the
team’s just one practice. With no “happy hour”
available, the ACDelco crew worked hard to find a
great race setup that would be a decent qualifying
setup as well.
Lowe’s Motor Speedway is known for being much
faster at night than during the day. Because of
this, the ACDelco team hoped for a late qualifying
draw. But the team picked third and Hornaday went
out for his run under sunny skies. He posted the
27th fastest time when it was all said
and done. The ACDelco Chevy was pushed back into
the garage and put under a cover.
On
Friday afternoon, Hornaday was named the 2005
driver of the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Silverado
for Kevin Harvick, Inc. The announcement meant
the return of Hornaday to the NASCAR Truck Series,
where he holds many of the series all-time
records.
Cool and crisp temperatures greeted the teams and
drivers at the start of the first night race at
Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Busch
Series. The green flag waved to start the event
and Hornaday did what Hornaday does. The ACDelco
Chevy moved up five positions before the first
caution of the night for Jason Keller’s crash on
the backstretch on lap four. “The shocks are
really solid,” said Hornaday. “I am driving the
car with the throttle. I can’t get back in the
gas hard at all. It’s loose!”
The
start on lap eight meant two more positions for
the master of the restart. Hornaday continued to
pass cars on his way to the front. When the
yellow flag waved for Joe Nemechek’s crash in turn
two on lap 36, Hornaday was 16th.
The
ACDelco crew made their first pit stop of the day
on lap 39. They put on four fresh tires, with two
pounds less air all the way around, and took out
one round of wedge to help the car, which had now
become tight in the middle. He left pit road in
19th as some of the field took just two
tires on their stops.
Hornaday again started to march through the
field. By lap 50, he was 16th and 10
laps later he was 13th. The car was
still on the tight side, but Hornaday was making
it work. On lap 61, Kasey Kahne hit the turn two
wall bringing out the caution, but the ACDelco
team decided not to pit.
It
didn’t take long for the yellow flag to fly again,
as the cautions mounted early in this race. On
lap 76, Boston Reed hit the wall in turn two.
Hornaday brought the ACDelco Monte Carlo to the
attention of the “Real Car Guys” crew. The car
had picked up a ‘tight off’ condition, so crew
chief Butch Hylton called for four tires and
another half round of wedge out of the left rear.
He also added air to the right rear and Hornaday
was down and away in 16 seconds.
The
middle part of the race saw Hornaday race as high
as 12th. But the “blue deuce” picked
up an aero-push condition in traffic. The No. 2
could catch the car in front, but struggled to get
by. The ACDelco crew made one final change on lap
123 to help free up the car and help it in
traffic. Out of tires, Hornaday had to do the
best with what he had.
Late in the race, Hornaday climbed into the top-15
despite the car being way too tight. Mike Bliss
made a three-wide pass at the start-finish line to
take the lead and never looked back. Bliss won
the race with Matt Kenseth second and Jimmie
Johnson third.
The
15th place finish for Hornaday moved
him into fourth in the NASCAR Busch Series point’s
standings. “We were just too tight all night,”
said Hornaday. “The car didn’t handle the bumps
the way it needed to. That is really what is
disappointing. We had a super fast car…it just
wouldn’t handle.”
The next race for the Busch Series is next
Saturday, October 23 at Memphis Motorsports Park.
The race can be seen on TNT at 2:30 p.m. ET and
heard on MRN Radio or XM 144. |
Buckle Up
!