Hornaday heads to Nazareth-
Site of first career Busch Series victory
RACE No. 12- NAZARETH 200 NOTES:
* Remember that time at Nazareth...That was awesome!
Ron Hornaday and the No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet head to
Nazareth (PA.) Speedway looking to build on the good runs he has had at the
track over the last few years. Hornaday captured his first career NASCAR
Busch Series victory at the 1.0-mile triangle shaped track in 2000. Last
year, Hornaday nearly went two-for-two, finishing third. Nazareth was the
site of one of Hornaday's record 26 NASCAR Truck Series wins. Back in 1998,
Hornaday led 144 of the 200 laps en route to victory. In his six races at
Nazareth Speedway, he has only finished outside the top-five twice (see
below).
* Please, no new paint schemes!
Nazareth Speedway was also the site of two agonizing races for
Hornaday. In 1997, Hornaday drove a special gold No. 16 Chevy truck to
commemorate his 1996 Truck Series championship. Late in the race, Hornaday
crashed with Stacy Compton while leading and finished 24th. In 1999,
Hornaday ran a Superman schemed truck to honor his 1998 NTS championship.
But once again, victory was not to be. On the final restart of the race,
Hornaday lost control of his Chevy in turn one and hit the outside wall.
Through it all Hornaday learned a valuable lesson about racing at Nazareth.
Don't bring a special paint job!
* Get a load of this!
The ACDelco transporter will unload chassis No. 032 at Nazareth
Speedway. It is the same 1.5-inch drop snout car that the team ran at
Gateway International Raceway last weekend. Despite breaking a transmission
on lap 108 and finishing 28th, the ACDelco team was pleased with the car, as
it qualified second and ran in the top-five until the problem developed.
No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet driver Ron Hornaday on Nazareth Speedway
You have been so successful at Nazareth Speedway in the past. What's the
key to running well at Nazareth Speedway?
"You just have to have a good setup under the car that is good everywhere.
The track is so unique and every corner is different. It is impossible to
be perfect in every corner. A lot of people think you need to have a car
that's great in turn one, but then you give up elsewhere. The car needs to
be right on the bottom and you have to have good forward grip off the
corners. The rest is just knowing the track and hitting your marks."
You have won twice at Nazareth, once in the truck and once in the Busch car.
When you look at the schedule, is this the best chance to get a win?
"The NASCAR Busch Series is so tough right now that I don't think you can
pencil in a win anywhere. I really enjoy racing at Nazareth Speedway. It
is probably one of my best tracks. But it is a very demanding track and
things can go wrong in a heartbeat.
"We made a couple changes to the drop (drop snout) car that I think will
really help us this weekend. We were good at Gateway, but it still needed
just a little something. This car has that something. I think it will
handle a lot better than last week, so I am very excited about this race."
You have dropped from second in points to sixth in just two races. How
frustrating have the last two weeks been?
"They have been very frustrating. At both Richmond (crash) and Gateway
(transmission), we had a top-five car when things went wrong. That's all
part of racing and you have to finish what you start. But this team has
turned the corner and we have been running up front and that's where
everyone at RCR expected us to run. We hope we have the bad luck out of the
way. Our qualifying package is as good as anyone's right now. You can see
by running in the top-five that our race program is there. Now we need to
put it all together and get a win. It's still early and this team is
starting to gel. I really feel like if we can win one, we will win a
bunch."
