After a four-hour rain delay and 33rd-place start, Hornaday and his No. 5 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet Monte Carlo got down to business. Within the first 10 laps, they climbed 10 spots and it wasn't long after that Hornaday was running strong in the Top-10.

"Of course I had to jump up there and move up fast," said Hornaday. "That's my job and that's what I am here to do. I knew Hendrick Motorsports and Team GMAC gave me great equipment, I just got on the gas and used it to get up to ninth as fast as I could get there."

A four-hour rain delayed the start of the race and the threat of rain lingered though out the event. Finally, Mother Nature waved the checkered flag with a deluge from above on the 116th circuit of the 200-lap race.

"I heard there had been a drought in Texas, " said Hornaday. "They sure won't have a problem after today. We had a long rain delay and then we just barely made it past the halfway mark. That's part of racing no one can control. I hate that we didn't get to race more on this Texas track, it was fast and the GMAC Chevy was good. I think we could have ended the day with a Top-10 if we just had time to do it."

Hornaday will continue to fill in for Team GMAC injured driver Ricky Hendrick in the Nashville 300 at Nashville Speedway, Saturday, April 13 at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The event will be the seventh of 34 NASCAR Busch Series races this season and will be telecast live on FOX and PRN Radio.