Rockingham, NC – Long green flag runs and caution flags at inopportune times resulted in a 26^th place finish for Ron Hornaday and the #26 Dr Pepper Chevy.  Hornaday was battling a loose handling car for much of the day.  The adjustments made during the pit stops worked for the most part but as the green flag runs extended the Dr Pepper Chevy began losing ground to the field.  The Dr Pepper Chevy short pitted on Lap 170 and on Lap 175 the caution flag flew placing Hornaday three laps down.  There were a couple cautions that followed, however each time NASCAR Officials waited until the leaders were coming out of Turn 4 before throwing the caution.  This made it impossible for Hornaday to regain any of his lost laps.

For a recent change of pace, Mother Nature cooperated with the NASCAR weekend and kept the rain away.  All of the practices, qualifying sessions and races went off without a hitch.  The Dr Pepper Chevy qualified the 1.017-mile high-banked oval of the North Carolina Speedway in 24.027 sec (152.379 mph) which ranked 14^th among the competitors.  #21 Jeff Green was quickest with a lap of 23.874 sec (153.355 mph).

The Sam’s Town 200 started great for the Dr Pepper Chevy with Ron Hornaday advancing into the Top 10 within the initial six laps before the first caution came out on Lap 14, when #91 Stanton Barrett crashed coming off Turn 2.  Ron radioed that the car was a little tight, but the car should come around to him as some more laps pass. 

The restart came on Lap 17 and Ron moved up to 9^th before the Dr Pepper Chevy developed a loose condition entering the turns and was tight exiting.  Ron minimized the amount of positions he was dropping by changing his lines around the track to where the car could handle.  By lap 66, the leaders were lapping a majority of the field and Hornaday went a lap down on Lap 70 in 19^th place.  Todd Lohse called for Ron to bring the #26 Dr Pepper Chevy down pit road on Lap 80 for fuel, fresh tires and a wedge adjustment to tighten up the car’s handling on the entry.

Only nine cars remained on the lead lap when the caution finally flew on Lap 114.  Ron drove the Dr Pepper Chevy down pit road again so the “Thirst Crew” could tighten the car up some more.  New tires, fuel and a few rounds down on the track bar were the call of order.  Upon return to the track it was decided that they would tighten the car a bit more and re-entered pit road for a few rounds of wedge.

Ron continued to gain positions when the racing went back to green.  For a majority of the day he ran in the low teen positions, but his car became extremely loose around Lap 150.  Once again he held on to it until the decision was made to come in and short pit and get new tires and make a few adjustments.  The Dr Pepper Chevy pitted around Lap 170 and the changes were made and Ron was racing again.  Then the misfortune struck on Lap 174; the caution flag flew and the Dr Pepper Chevy was in 32^nd position and three laps down. 

The changes to the car had the Dr Pepper Chevy handling fine afterwards but there wasn’t much chance to regain any of the lost laps.  When the caution flag flew, the leaders were always coming out of Turn 4 and therefore weren’t able to check up and let some of the lap down cars pass before the stripe.

#27 Jamie McMurray benefited from some competitive racing between #21 Jeff Green and #99 Michael Waltrip with two laps to go.  The two cars made contact exiting Turn 4 and McMurray was there to capitalize and win his second consecutive Busch Series Race. Ron finished in the 26^th position and the Carroll Racing entry remained in 18^th position on the Owner’s Points Standings.