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Fontana, Calif. (February 25, 2005)-
Despite losing his brakes late in the American Racing
Wheels 200 Friday night, GM Goodwrench driver Ron
Hornaday was able to crack the top-10 and salvage an
eighth place finish. Spirits were high after the race,
even though earlier in the night the team had visions of
winning.
The weekend started off on Thursday with practice, where
the GM Goodwrench crew could not find the speed they
wanted to get around the two-mile oval. No matter what
setup crew chief Wally Rogers tried they could not break
the top-20 in lap time. As usual he was not concerned,
and had the team make a few adjustments for qualifying.
Before qualifying on Friday, Hornaday predicted that he
would be able to pick up at least half-a-second off of
Thursday’s poor practice times. The No. 6 Chevrolet
Silverado went out 10th, and sure enough the
time was almost three quarters of a second faster than
the day before. The GM Goodwrench team qualified 13th,
but knew that they were in for a good night.
After qualifying, Hornaday explained himself. “I told them
that I was going to pick up half-a-second. I would have
gotten more on the second lap if I had not slipped in
turn three. Someone jokingly accused me of being
flat-footed and coming off the gas in practice, but that
was not the case. The guys just had the car set-up
better for me on Friday. We thought after we qualified
that we would be in a top-five position, but after our
poor practice we will take 13th and smile
about it.”
Later Friday evening it was time to race. It took only two
laps for Hornaday to work his way through the crowd and
up into fifth position. The first caution came out on
lap three with the No. 6 in fourth place. When the race
went back to green on lap 10, Hornaday was in third
position and battling former GM Goodwrench driver Matt
Crafton for second. On lap 17, he had tracked Crafton
down and was now in second looking to take the lead from
David Starr.
Hornaday cruised in second position, but began to feel his
truck getting loose. He was able to hang on until lap 34
when he was passed and dropped back to third. Rogers
told him to continue doing what he was doing which paid
off. He reclaimed second on lap 40, and then two laps
latter the yellow flag came out. The strategy worked out
once again for the crew chief and the team was able to
pit under caution. A 15.5 second, four tire stop was
reason for the GM Goodwrench team to celebrate. Hornaday
had come in second, but that kind of team work left him
in first place for the restart on lap 48.
Some lapped traffic on lap 49 got the No. 6 truck tied up
and gave some others a chance to pass. Hornaday again
dropped back to third, but still looked like the
strongest truck on the track as a crowd began to gather
around the GM Goodwrench pit stall in anticipation of a
win. On lap 55, another caution came out when Deborah
Renshaw lost control of her truck. This was an
opportunity for the “King of Restarts,” Ron Hornaday, to
take another shot at the lead. There was three wide
racing for first place, but the GM Goodwrench truck came
out on top.
Another yellow flag on lap 62 waved and it was time to put
on four new tires. Hornaday came in the pits in first,
but an error on the left rear tire slowed the stop and
sent him out in 13th position. By lap 67, the
No. 6 truck had worked its way back to seventh place,
but something was wrong. Over the radio Hornaday was
screaming that he had no brakes. This caused him trouble
in traffic and he began to quickly fall back further and
further in line.
Hornaday told Rogers that he thought a bleeder had been
knocked loose during the pit stop and that was what was
causing the problem. He told his crew chief that he had
to come in if they wanted any chance of winning the
race, and on lap 80 he did exactly that. The team fixed
the truck to handle under those adverse conditions and
sent Hornaday back on the track in 20th
position. Rogers told him to just go out and race, and
in those last 20 laps Hornaday showed why he is a
two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion. In a
brilliant display of racing he was able to pick up 12
spots and finished the race in eighth place.
Steve Park went on to win, but Hornaday and the GM
Goodwrench team felt like they had accomplished
something special. “I have a big smile on my face right
now because we were able to get back in the points
race,” Hornaday exclaimed after the race. “We could have
given up after the mistakes but we kept on charging and
managed a top-10 finish. Racing with no brakes just adds
to the excitement. We have a good team and as soon as we
hit it right we are going to be tough to beat. I am
happy for Steve (Park), but this race could have easily
been ours tonight. We were the truck to beat out there.”
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