Chevrolet Silverado Wins At Atlanta Motor Speedway
FOR RELEASE MARCH 18, 2005 Chevrolet Silverado Wins At Atlanta Motor Speedway Ron Hornaday Scores His 27th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Victory Team Silverado Scores Four of the Top-Five Finishing Positions HAMPTON, GA – It didn’t take Ron Hornaday long to remember the way to victory lane in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In just his third start behind the wheel of the No. 6 GM Goodwrench Silverado, the former two-time series champion scored his 27th NCTS victory in an exciting green-white-checkered finish by just eight thousandths of a second over fellow Team Silverado driver Bobby Labonte. Labonte, in his third appearance in the No. 47 Chevrolet All Star Silverado fielded by Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, overcame a lap 77 spin through the grass of the tri-oval to challenge Hornaday for the win. The pair had the crowd on their feet for the two-lap shootout. Labonte made his move on the outside as they exited turn two on the final lap. The two charged through turns three and four headed for the checkered flag side-by-side. Hornaday was able to gain just enough grip on the bottom side of the track to pull of the win by just a blink of an eye. Dennis Setzer brought the No. 46 Chevrolet Silverado to the finish line in fourth followed by David Starr in the No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Silverado. Defending NCTS champion Bobby Hamilton (Dodge) finished third. Jack Sprague finished eighth in the No. 16 Chevy Trucks Silverado despite a pit road incident that damaged the grill and front fender. Sprague was exiting his pit box following a caution period pit stop when the truck pitting in front of Sprague stopped suddenly leaving the pit when a wheel came off the truck. Sprague was unable to avoid the stalled truck. Ted Musgrave (Dodge), Chad Chaffin (Toyota), Terry Cook (Ford) and Robert Huffman (Toyota) rounded out the top-ten. Pole sitter Shane Hmiel had a front tire go down on lap 34 while leading the race. He lost two laps pitting under green to replace the tire. With 33 laps remaining, suspension damage received when the tire cut down failed and put him behind pit wall relegating him to the 32nd finishing position. POST RACE DRIVER QUOTES: RON HORNADAY, NO. 6 GM GOODWRENCH CHEVROLET SILVERADO - QUALIFIED 18TH, FINISHED 1ST: “Man, is this special for us. I can’t thank Kevin and Delana Harvick for the opportunity to drive this GM Goodwrench Silverado. The bad part was I didn’t give Bobby (Labonte) credit for the finish. I thought it was Dennis Setzer. Dennis had raced me hard earlier on and all I saw was the fender and those Silverados look the same. He (Dennis) raced me really hard and we had gotten close to one another so when I went in that last corner headed for the checkered, I hit the apron and got a little loose. But, I thought I have to give him a little room, maybe not as much as I did earlier so I will drive up the track just a little. Coming across the line, come to find out it was Bobby (Labonte). Bobby and I raced each other so clean those last two laps. He got a pretty good run on me there on the top but the RCR power under my hood let me pull him by just enough out of four as we came down for checkered. “I didn’t know for sure who I was racing but I would have done the same thing no matter who it was, it was going for the win. We are coming down for the white flag and Ricky, Ricky Carelli is my spotter and we had a lot of competition together. I did not want to see that green-white-checkered even though I am probably one of the strongest people in favor of it and I have pushed to have it, but when you are leading it and the truck we had needed longer runs, maybe 20-30 laps, and we only had three laps to get it up to speed and to get it done, I knew I had to get a good start. I short shifted it to make sure I didn’t spin the tires and got a good jump on the green and here comes, whoever it was (meaning either Setzer or Labonte) – another Silverado was coming. I just hit the apron a little bit going in to four and wiggled up a little bit. I knew I couldn’t turn it back down cause it is going to get loose. I don’t think we touched going into four but I know we touched a little bit coming off of four and that was all I needed. Maybe we didn’t touch, if there was anything at all, it is just one of those deals, it is air. It is hard to tell whether there was contact or not. “What a cool race. The guys in the pits won this race for me. We were pretty free at the beginning of the race, then we got better, then we got a little free again. But these guys on the GM Goodwrench crew made some adjustments on that first stop that helped us go toward the front then on that next stop, they got me out second. All I had to do was drive that rocket ship tonight. The GM Goodwrench Chevrolet was just really good. I can’t say enough about all the support we get from Chevrolet and Kevin and Delana believe in me. “I never thought I would run wide open at Atlanta. I think the last 30 laps I never lifted. I never looked in my mirror so it was pretty cool. “I was pretty confident when we tested down here but the problem is you can get over confident. I would run 10 laps out there wide open and say to myself ‘Ok, it is time to come in and make some changes before you try something stupid and you are going to wreck this thing and we had two really good trucks when we tested.’ It was a hard decision to decide which one to bring back, but Wally (Rogers) made the right choice. We brought the one we raced at California. We only made one adjustment and then an air pressure adjustment on the right side. My guys did an awesome job on the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Silverado. That is why it is an American Revolution! “After the race the motor guy said we had to take this thing to the chassis dyno and I said ‘No we aren’t cause I am going to blow this up after the race and burn the tires. I tried to blow it up but these RCR motors are unbelievable, the fond something this year and I am very proud to have them doing our motors. “My ole buddy Jack Sprague came up and gave me a congratulatory bump on the cool down lap as we came out of four which brought back a lot of great memories. He and I had some great battles in the old days, lots of races just like this. “This is a great night for our team. I told Wally after practice that the thing drove like a Cadillac and not to touch a thing. We knew we wouldn’t qualify that well but we knew we would race good and I guess we did. I can’t thank RCR, Chevrolet Silverado, man this is cool – I won Atlanta.�?? BOBBY LABONTE, NO, 47 CHEVROLET ALL STAR “NASHVILLE�?? SILVERADO – QUALIFIED 19TH, FINISHED 2ND: “We got a good run on run up on the top and got beside him in three and thought I had enough momentum to get by him, but I am learning with the trucks when you get up along side someone, you slow down, more than you do in a car. “Our Chevrolet Silverado was great tonight and considering we had the run through the grass there just past half way, second is great but boy did I want the trophy! We started out loose but Randy (Goss, crew chief) and the guys kept making the right adjustments and we kept working our way toward the front. “There with about 20 to go, it was no holes barred, I am not sure who was doing what. We were high, low, all over everywhere, it didn’t seem to matter. We were running three wide, two wide; you really didn’t know what was going to happen there. Everybody was going for it at that point but it sorted out pretty quick who was going to be there at the end. I haven’t been in one of these green-white-checkered so I wasn’t for sure what was going happen there, I have seen it on TV but tonight was my first time to race one. “Ron (Hornaday) raced me really clean those last two laps and it was fun. I knew he had me cause I was seeing more of him than I was seeing of what I needed to see to be in front. The only contact between us was on the cool down lap, the congratulatory bump. “We are going to run the truck, in Martinsville and want to do some more but we don’t have all the details worked out yet. “I am just glad I had a chance to run this Silverado tonight here at Atlanta.�?? DENNIS SETZER, NO. 46 CHEVROLET SILVERADO - QUALIFIED 14th, FINISHED 4th: “ It looks good for the Silverados tonight when you look at the scoreboard and we are one, two, fourth and fifth. We had a good battle going there at the end but we just couldn’t quite run with Ron (Hornaday) and Bobby (Labonte). We got by them there one time but we couldn’t hold on it. We just couldn’ t quite get it turned through the corner like we needed to. Out teammate, Bobby finished second there by just a tick but we got a Silverado in victory lane so that is important, just wish it could have been us. “Our Chevrolet Silverado was loose, loose, loose at the start of the race but Eric (Phillips, crew chief) and the guys kept making adjustments until we got pretty good there at the end. It is a good night for us especially when you consider how bad we ran here at Atlanta last year!�?? DAVID STARR, NO. 75 SPEARS MANUFACTURING CHEVROLET SILVERADO – QUALIFIED 10TH, FINISHED 5TH: “Wow what a race, it was unbelievable. It was a heck of a show and race tonight for the fans. I really thought I had the lead back there when I went under Rick Crawford and suddenly my spotter came over the radio and said the No. 6 (Ron Hornaday) was on my inside. I don’t where he came from but Hornaday got underneath me and it was a heck of a battle. Someone got tucked in behind me and got me a little loose. Then they were all around me on the inside and the outside. I was able to recover and got Ted (Musgrave) right there at the end to bring home this Silverado team a top-5 finish. “I’m just glad I had the right truck tonight in my Chevy Silverado. The truck was pretty awesome. McCarty (Dave, crew chief) and the guys made good calls on pit road and were able to increase our position after pitting. It sure was a fun NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. I knew when I saw that it was going to be a green/white/checkered that it was going to be good. I said I ’ve got one more shot at it I was able to take advantage and gain one spot. I’ll tell you what I had a fast hotrod tonight - I just wish I would have brought the Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet home in a little better spot. I thought we could win the race because I knew my Silverado was a little better then fifth but we'll take it. It was a good point’s night and a real good start to the season. Bringing home some top-5 finishes, keeping up our points will only benefit us throughout the season. I really want to be in the race for the Championship and these top-5 finishes will keep us up there.�?? JACK SPRAGUE, NO. 16 CHEVY TRUCKS CHEVROLET SILVERADO – QUALIFIED 23RD, FINISHED 8TH: “We had the right truck tonight, our Chevy Trucks Silverado was awesome until we had the pit road accident. It looked to me like the left wheel fell off the 66 and he stopped right in front of me as the guys dropped the jack and I took off from the pit box after our pit stop. It is disappointing for everyone on the team because we really did have a great race truck. “Chris (Showalter, crew chief) and the guys kept making adjustments and got the truck pretty good at the end. We were a little tight but I came out of the pits that last stop 11th I think and got up to eighth. When someone started to get under me, I would lose the handle a little more. “It was a great effort for this Chevy Trucks Team. We gained some points tonight and ran a lot better than we did last year at Atlanta.�?? KELLY SUTTON, NO. 02 TEAM COPAXONE CHEVROLET SILVERADO: QUALIFIED 30th, FINISHED 31ST: “I thought we were going to bring home a decent finish tonight until that late spin. I had a truck pass me on the outside and it took the air off the spoiler and around it went. It just nicked the inside wall, but it was enough to break the fitting on the oil cooler. Not the way you want to end the night, but now we head home and focus on a good run for this Chevy Silverado at Martinsville.�?? MATT CRAFTON, NO, 88 MENARDS CHEVROLET SILVERADO: QUALIFIED 27TH, FINISHED 14th: "A long day. We changed the motor, which was part of our problem in qualifying. After we changed the motor, we found out there was something wrong with the carburetor but we didn't have time to change it. During the race it started missing at about the flag stand every lap. It just made for a long day." For additional information on GM Racing Chevrolet Team Silverado, log on to _http://www.gm.com/company/racing/index.jsp_ (http://www.gm.com/company/racing/index.jsp) or _http://media.gm.com/division/gmracing/index.html_ (http://media.gm.com/division/gmracing/index.html) . General Motors Corp. , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, employs about 325,000 people globally. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in 192 countries. In 2003, GM sold nearly 8.6 million cars and trucks, about 15 percent of the global vehicle market. GM's global headquarters is at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM and its products can be found on the company’s consumer website at _www.gm.com_ (http://www.gm.com/) . # # #