(Phoenix, AZ.) – Phoenix International Raceway has always been one of ACDelco driver Ron Hornaday’s favorite tracks.  With an average finish of sixth in five NASCAR Busch Series starts, the Palmdale, Calif., native felt like PIR was his best chance at a win in the final three races of the season. But have you ever had one of those days?

From the moment the ACDelco transporter unloaded the blue, red, and white No. 2 Monte Carlo, things seemed to be off.  Way off.  Hornaday found his name near the tail end of the speed chart in practice one.  The car was so loose that the two-time NASCAR Truck Series champion struggled just to keep the car from crashing.

Things weren’t any better in qualifying.  At a track where he had been a threat for the pole during his 15 years of racing in the “Valley of the Sun”, Hornaday ended his qualifying run in 31^st position.  It was the worst starting spot of his entire PIR career.  Once again, the car was just way too loose.

Since things couldn’t get any worse, the “Real Car Guys” changed everything but the number on the side of the door.  The changes helped in happy hour.  Hornaday was much quicker in the final practice, but still felt like the car needed more help if they were to race there way from the back. 

The morning of the race, ACDelco crew chief Gil Martin and company made even more changes to the chassis.  Hornaday told reporters before the race, he hoped the changes were the right ones.  “We changed the car quite a bit this morning,” said Hornaday.  “We just didn’t feel like we had a strong enough package to get to the front.  Hopefully these changes will be better.  If not, it will be a long day.”

At the start of the Basha’s 200, Hornaday used his front bumper to pick off several positions.  On lap 20, he made contact with Jimmy Spencer and knocked in the right front fender.  This aerodynamic issue hurt the front downforce of the car and Hornaday settled into 25^th position with a tight condition.

On lap 33 the second caution of the day was brought out by Mike McLaughlin’s contact with the turn one wall.  Hornaday used the break in the action to make adjustments to his ACDelco Chevy.  The crew changed all four tires, fixed the fender and made a major trackbar change.  He left pit road in 23^rd position.

It didn’t take long to learn that the adjustments had not worked.  On lap 44, Hornaday radioed the pits and said the car just wasn’t right.  “The changes have upset the balance of the car,” Hornaday said.  “Put it back and try something else.  I’m loose.”

On lap 55, the ACDelco team got the yellow flag they needed when Dave Blaney hit the wall in turn four.  The crew made air pressure adjustments to the rear tires, but did not put on fresh rubber.  They also put the trackbar back and made a wedge adjustment to help the loose condition.

Once again the changes did not help the ACDelco Chevrolet.  Hornaday told the crew he was “sideways in and sideways off”, meaning that the car was still loose.  A caution on lap 100 gave the team another chance to fix the car, but those changes were never a factor because a bigger problem was about to affect the “blue deuce”.

After the restart on lap 105, Hornaday radioed to the crew some bad news.  “We just lost a cylinder,” yelled Hornaday.  “Something is wrong with the motor.”  In deed the car had lost power.  For the rest of the race, Hornaday circled the one-mile track on seven cylinders.  It was the first motor problem of the year.  According to Danny Lawrence, head of engine development at Richard Childress Racing, a broken rocker arm was the suspected culprit.

Hornaday was able to finish the race in 28^th position, one lap down.  Hornaday extended his NASCAR Busch Series record for consecutive races without a DNF to 71 events.  His last early exit was at Kansas Speedway in 2002.  Ironically enough, engine failure ended that day in the No. 26 Carroll Racing Chevy.

The end of the Basha’s 200 set up to be exciting.  A restart with just two laps to go between Jaime McMurray and Kyle Busch had the makings of a fantastic finish.  But McMurray was just too good and took the checkered flag by two car lengths.  It was the first Busch Series win for team owner Chip Ganassi.  The strong finish by Busch was offset by Martin Truex, Jr.’s third place finish.  Truex continues to lead Busch in the NBS point’s championship with just two races to go.  Hornaday remained in fourth, despite the bad day.  He leads David Green by 56 points.

The next race for the Busch Series is next Saturday, November 13 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina..  The race can be seen on TNT at 1p.m. ET and heard on PRN Radio or XM 144.