Rockingham, N.C. (Nov. 4)— Team Conseco driver Ron Hornaday spent most of the race dogging the leaders, waiting for a caution that never came. In the end, Hornaday finished 31st in the Pop Secret 400 held at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham Sunday.

Hornaday was running among the top 25 cars for the first 140 laps of the event. Then, just as the team had completed its second pit stop of the day, the caution came out before all the cars had pitted, catching Hornaday two laps down to leader and eventual race winner Joe Nemechek.

Team Conseco continued to look for opportunities to get back on the lead lap, keeping pace with the leader and hoping for a caution. As the third round of pit stops approached, crew chief Donnie Brown made the call to stay out as long as possible and hope for a caution that would put the Conseco Pontiac back in contention. Hornaday stretched his fuel mileage as far as it would go, running out of gas on the backstretch on lap 280. The much-needed caution never came and Hornaday was awarded a 31st-place finish.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Hornaday said after the race was over. “We had a strong car today. Our pit stops were right there with the top-10 cars; we just got caught on that one stop. We had a car capable of running in the top-10. I could stay with the leaders, and if there had been a yellow, we’d have jumped right back into the race. We just needed to catch a break and it never came. But we’ve shown everyone the second half of the season that we have a fast car, and we have a good pit crew. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. We’ll get there.”

Pre-Race

“Rockingham is one of those seasonal races.  You know it’s fall when the leaves start changing colors, it starts getting cold and night, and we’re racing at Rockingham.”           –Ron Hornaday, Team Conseco Driver