(Richmond, VA.) - Ron Hornaday and the No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet experienced a season's worth of trouble at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) during the Funai 250.  Rather than giving up, the "Real Car Guys" battled through adversity to finish a respectable 12^th.

The weekend never got off to good start, not even a decent start.  The team elected to bring their "drop-snout" car to RIR after an impressive test at Nazareth Speedway just a week earlier.  Although ACDelco crew chief Butch Hylton had limited time working with the "drop" car, he knew how much Hornaday liked the chassis.  But from the very start of practice, both Hornaday and Hylton realized they brought the wrong car.  Hornaday was extremely tight in the center of the corners.  That forced him to have to wait longer than the other drivers to get back into the throttle.  Things did not look good for the ACDelco Chevy.

Qualifying was just as disappointing.  Hornaday pulled a late draw, but was only fast enough to qualify 24^th.  Kyle Busch won the Busch pole with a new track record speed of 129.348 mph.  The ACDelco team scrambled to find a fix for their Monte Carlo.  In happy hour, Hornaday felt the car was getting better, but was still too tight.  Things didn't look good for the race.

On race day, the ACDelco team totally reworked the geometry of the car.  All new front A-arms, shocks and springs were installed and the team hoped it would cure its woes.  At the drop of the green flag, Hornaday charged as usual.  He picked up several spots early in the race and then settled in.  The car was very good on long runs and Hornaday climbed into the top-10 near halfway.

It looked like the ACDelco Chevy had weathered the storm, but bad luck reared its ugly head again.  Hornaday cut a left front tire down under caution running ninth.  The team came in and changed the tire, but fell back to 19^th.  On the restart, Hornaday was working his way back to the front when John Menard, J.J. Yeley and Michael Waltrip crashed off of turn four.  Hornaday tried to miss the crash but caught a piece of Waltrip's car with the front of the ACDelco Monte Carlo.  The team fixed the damage as best they could and Hornaday returned to the race in 17^th.

The final stage of the race was a battle for Hornaday.  He raced the other damaged cars well and rallied to a 12^th place finish.  Kyle Busch led 236 of the 250 laps en route to his first NASCAR Busch Series win.  Greg Biffle was second and Kevin Harvick third.  The disappointing weekend dropped Hornaday to ninth in points, 247 markers out of first.

The next race for the ACDelco Chevrolet is Sunday, May 23 at Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, PA.  Ron Hornaday is the defending champion.