Ron Hornaday: "The plan is to get back to basics and not overthink the car. We are coming back to Dover with the same setup, and I think if we can unload strong, we will race strong." Credit: Autostock

Hornaday wants team back on track at Dover

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The pressure is finally off Ron Hornaday at Richard Childress Racing.

The team announced earlier this week that Hornaday would not be back at RCR in 2005, but he'll finish out the year in the No. 2 Chevrolet. With nothing to prove to his team, perhaps Hornaday can let loose, win a few races and set himself up with a good ride next year.

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That begins this weekend in the Stacker 2 Hundred at Dover International Speedway.

To do it, Hornaday will need some of the good fortune that has been missing over the last few races. What's strange about his recent five-race slide is it was preceded by a strong move in the points.

Hornaday won at Milwaukee in July, and then was ninth at Daytona, 10th at Chicago and sixth at New Hampshire to move to third in the Busch Series points standings.

He probably wasn't going to catch Martin Truex Jr. or Kyle Busch, but third would have been a good showing.

A not-so-funny thing happened, however. Since then, there has been nothing but disappointment. He was 35th at Indianapolis Raceway Park, 18th at Michigan, 20th at Bristol, 29th at California and 21st at Richmond.

"I feel like we have this monkey on our back and whatever we do, we can't shake it off," Hornaday said.

One of the big problems, Hornaday admitted, was not coming to the track as fully prepared as the team needed to be.

"We just haven't been very good when we have unloaded lately," Hornaday said. "We tried a lot of new (research and development) things with the cars, and they haven't worked. Our plan is to get back to basics.

Credit: Autostock

"The plan is to get back to basics and not overthink the car. We are coming back to Dover with the same setup, and I think if we can unload strong, we will race strong."

Hornaday qualified fifth at the Dover earlier this year, ran well in practice and was fast early in the race until a run-in with Johnny Sauter.

"It was so early in the race and I had been working Johnny Sauter for fourth for about five laps," Hornaday said. "I kept thinking about sticking my nose under him in Turn 1 but didn't because it was just too early in the race to do something like that.

"But Greg (Biffle) watched that battle and saw that I was being cautious. He had caught us, because Johnny was holding me up. So he stuck his nose under me when we were already to the corner. It was really late (on the frontstrech) for something like that at Dover.

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"After seeing the replay, I think he realized he had screwed up and he got on the brakes hard. That pushed him up the track and right into me. There was nothing I could do to save it. We hit pretty hard. What bothered me is that he doesn't usually make those mistakes. He's a talented NASCAR Nextel Cup driver. I just didn't expect that from him on lap 14. It was easily the best car I had ever had at Dover."

Hornaday's crew repaired the damage, and Hornaday finished 29th. But he left Dover a determined driver.

"We left Dover feeling like we needed to show everyone that we weren't going to be pushed around," Hornaday said. "You could see the pride in the guys. It was really awesome."

Hornaday and the team then rattled off six consecutive top-10 finishes ... before the monkey jumped on their backs.

But Hornaday remains optimistic. The final eight races of the year are an opportunity for Hornaday to perform without any pressure and maybe turn around the team's bad luck.

"I talked to (crew chief) Butch (Hylton) at the shop this week and he says that this car is better than the one we raced at Dover in the spring," Hornaday said. "This is the California car we raced a few weeks ago and honestly, it was the best car I had driven in a while. If we can get it to handle and feel the way it did out in Fontana, Calif., than I think we could have a great day."