Ron Hornaday
No. 77 Dollar General Stores Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Team Report
NASCAR Busch Series Race 22 of 35 – O’Reilly Raceway Park
GATEWAY (ILL.) INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY RACE RECAP:
As Ron Hornaday climbed from the No. 77 Dollar General stores Chevrolet Saturday night, he looked at crew chief Wally Rogers and said “that was one of the hardest fought top-10 finishes I’ve ever raced for.” Hornaday battled from the 15th starting position to finish eighth in the NASCAR Busch Series 250 under the lights at Gateway (Ill.) International Raceway.
O’REILLY RACEWAY PARK FACTS & STATS:
NUMBER EIGHT: Ron Hornaday will make his eighth NASCAR Busch Series start at O’Reilly Raceway Park.
ONE BUSY WEEK: Ron Hornaday will stay busy in some form of a race car from Monday to Saturday this week. Hornaday’s week consists of testing at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Monday for the NASCAR Truck Series test session. Then flying to Pevely, Mo., on Wednesday to race on the 3/8-mile high-banked clay dirt track for the M&M NASCAR Night of Stars Late Model charity event. Leaving Pevely, Mo., with Ken Schrader to fly to Indianapolis, Hornaday will prepare for two full days of on-track activities with Truck Series action on Friday followed by the Busch Series line-up of practice, qualifying and the 200-lap event on Saturday.
OWNER’S POINT STANDINGS: DeLana Harvick currently sits 19th in the NASCAR Busch Series Owner’s Point Standings. With a mere swing of 48 points, the No. 77 could be sitting in the top-15. With top-five finishes in the record books, a team can make strides in the point standings. For example when the No. 77 won at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, DeLana Harvick gained nine positions in the point standings.
RON HORNADAY QUOTES:
THOUGHTS ON O’REILLY RACEWAY PARK: “It always has been a fun track to race at and definitely fits my driving style. You’ve gotta be up on the wheel and ready to root and gouge your way to the front. It will be great to get back behind the wheel of the Dollar General stores Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. Wally Rogers and the entire crew have been great to me and have given me nothing but the best race cars to drive. I’ll have a slammed week of being in a race car. I’m testing at Bristol [Tenn., Motor Speedway] on Monday, racing in Pevely, Mo., on Wednesday night then flying straight to Indy with (Ken) Schrader. I’ll practice, qualify and race on Friday night in my Camping World truck and wake up and do the same thing on Saturday in my Dollar General stores Busch car. What else could I ask for?!”
CREW CHIEF CORNER WITH WALLY ROGERS:
THOUGHTS ON RACING AT O’REILLY RACEWAY PARK: “It’s a tough track to master because of all the variables that play into it. The biggest variable is track position and I have full faith in (Ron) Hornaday. Short track racing is his forte and without a doubt I know he’ll be up on the wheel of the Dollar General stores Chevrolet. Another variable that comes into play is pit strategy and how to outwit the competitors to gain more track position. That is on my shoulders and I’m confident that we’ll be one of the top competitors at the end of the 200-lap race.”
QUICK NOTES
Race Info
Date: July 28, 2007
Track: O’Reilly Raceway Park
Event Name: Kroger 200
Race length: 200 laps / 137.2 miles
Banking/Turns: 7.5 degrees
Track layout: 0.686-mile
Shape: Oval
Pre-Race Schedule:
Saturday:
Practice: 9:00 – 10:10 a.m., ET
Final Practice: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., ET
Qualifying: 4:35 p.m., ET
Broadcast Times:
TV: NASCAR Countdown pre-race coverage can be seen live on ESPN2 at
7:30 p.m., ET. Followed by the Kroger 200 on ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m., ET.
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast pre-race coverage at 7:30 p.m., ET.
No. 77 Dollar General stores Monte Carlo SS Specs
Chassis: 035
Car History: Previously raced in 2007 at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway.
Engine: RCR
