East-West Notes: Harvick to run in Sunday's race

NEWTON, Iowa -- Kevin Harvick is going to run Sunday's NASCAR Grand National race at Iowa Speedway. But with the Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge in Charlotte on Saturday night, Harvick needed somebody to shake down the car when the Grand National teams practiced earlier in the day.

Who better than the driver who put Kevin Harvick Inc. in Victory Lane on Friday night (watch video)?

Ron Hornaday picked up his 30th career Craftsman Truck Series win at Charlotte and then flew to the Midwest track to prep Harvick's brand new Grand National car.

"We do it all the time," Hornaday said. "You get the car close. You're changing everything and you have good notes so when he gets in it he knows what to try. When Kevin gets in it [Sunday] he will have an hour of practice, so he'll be alright."

Sunday's Featherlite Coaches 200 will be only the second combination race in Grand National Division history, with the Busch East and West Series running together. The first was Friday night at Elko (Minn.) Speedway, won by Busch East driver Sean Caisse.

Hornaday was only able to get out for the final four minutes of practice Saturday and ran five laps, clocking in at 43rd fastest. But Hornaday isn't concerned.

"You're only as good as your equipment, and we've got good equipment," Hornaday said. "We run a coil bind setup and there is only one way to do it, and if you do it right, it's fast.

"Even if we don't get any practice today, Kevin will be here tomorrow and he will be just as happy with it. These guys are probably the best in the business and Kevin, when he builds, he does things right. So he built the best he could and he brought this here to go racing."

Hornaday, who plans to stick around for Sunday's historic event, has extensive experience with the West Series. His best year was 1994 when he finished second in points.

Homecoming

Chase Austin's rookie season hit a bump Friday when he failed to qualify for the Elko event. However, the 17-year-old Rusty Wallace Inc. development driver was upbeat when he got to Iowa -- the track Rusty Wallace helped design.

"I really look at Elko as a positive," Austin said. "It makes me hungrier for today."

Austin, who tested a Busch Series car at Iowa, was eighth fastest in practice.

"I knew coming here, we had a good base setup," Austin said. "We still have a lot of changes to make for tomorrow. We still have a lot of time to pick up." (Continued)