Headed in the Right Direction: Victory in Atlanta Keeps Hornaday’s Season Alive
Ron Hornaday knew that he got lucky on Friday night in Atlanta and he didn’t care. In fact, he’d rather be lucky the last eight races of the 2011 season compared to what his No. 33 ARMOUR Chevrolet team has been to start the season.
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[/media-credit]“See that trophy? We stole it tonight,” Hornaday said. “But we’ll take it any way we can get it.”
Hornaday’s 49th career victory in 292 Nascar Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) starts was on a fuel mileage gamble. After getting behind early, real early from a lap one incident, Hornaday’s team spent much of the night repairing the damage to the nose of the truck.
“Brain fade on my part,” Hornaday said about lap one. “Billy O [spotter] said everybody was checking up and I ran into the back of the 15 and I locked the brakes up. I do something weird with my brakes on the restarts and I had nothing left, I was already down to the floor and I skid into the back of him.”
Crediting his team with doing and awesome job in the pits, part of Hornaday’s break came from the tape they used to repair the damage. Repeatedly saying it’s amazing what tape does to a truck at Atlanta and that it ended up helping the team with their adjustments.
Crew chief Jeff Hensley and Hornaday thought they had brought a contending truck to the track but after qualifying 17th it appeared to be the start of another frustrating weekend.
Said Hensley, “We had a decent truck in practice and I don’t know why we qualify as slow as we have on these bigger tracks.”
Because of the damage and having to pit numerous times, Hornaday went into fuel conservation mode after pitting for the final time on lap 75. Then as the dominant trucks made their final stops he found himself out front during the final 16 laps.
Their second win of the season wasn’t unexpected for the team, but how they earned it was. Just like in Texas when leader Johnny Sauter was black-flagged and Hornaday inherited the lead and the win. For Hornaday, those have been the only two times that things finally went right for the team.
In a season that’s has been hit or miss for the Kevin Harvick Inc team, they never gave up on the championship fight but have been busy climbing out of an early hole.
“Well, we go back to where we lost 25 points for the gear [following Charlotte] and me having brain fade about four races and wrecking trucks, puts us where we’re at,” said Hornaday.
In the early part of July, Hornaday finishes 17th or worse in three straight races, knocking him to ninth in points where he had been entering Atlanta. Since then the team has finished no worse than 24th in the last five races with four top nine finishes, including Friday’s win.
“Once I can put my head back on straight, get the trucks driving little bit better we’ll be fine. This right here is a boost,” said Hornaday.
Now sitting fifth in points, only 48 markers behind leader James Buescher, the four-time series champion could become a player. The veteran who was counted out early is working toward becoming the favorite through better the truck and himself.
This week he says he’s looking at putting a new seat in the truck. Right now he’s using a carbon fiber one but he’s looking to use something different heading forward.
“Maybe I can feel these trucks better these next couple of races, something I’m going to try differently for myself,” Hornaday said and in turn, “hopefully that will keep the front of the truck from bouncing.”
Jimmie Johnson Turning to Mind Games and Experience as Chase Approaches
Jimmie Johnson doesn’t really care what Kyle Busch or Brad Keselowski have done recently. Or what any driver has done in the first 26 races that maybe he hasn’t, like win a few races and go on hot streaks.
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[/media-credit]That’s because Johnson knows when it comes time for the Chase he’s the man that everyone will be watching. He also knows that when the Chase starts the first half of the year doesn’t mean a thing.
“I don’t fault anyone for looking at the last five [races] and saying [this] driver has been hot,” said Johnson in Atlanta. “They’ve been qualifying well, they’ve been winning races. It’s the obvious. Absolutely they are doing the right things there. That momentum is very, very, very helpful for the driver, for the team. It helps build confidence, everything is going the right direction.”
But says Johnson, “I guess this is where this phrase came from that I mentioned a few times, the final ten is its own environment. It’s its own world. What you did in the first 26, yeah there are some small things mentally, emotionally and even with some setups, I guess you that you carry into the Chase. You start over and when you start over it’s a while new world and everybody is a threat at that point.”
Johnson believes that mentally strong teams can overcome bad races they may have leading up to the Chase. For others, just because things are going good now doesn’t mean they’ll stay that way.
The reigning five-time and defending Sprint Cup Series champion has been doing a lot of Chase talking lately. After believing that he got in Denny Hamlin’s head last year during the Chase, Johnson started chided Keselowski about it two weeks ago. Attempting to get a head start getting in the head of one of the hottest drivers on the circuit.
When he’s not playing mind games though, Johnson isn’t afraid to let his competition know he has the experience of past Chases and he’s ready to use it. It’s experience that helps with his emotions and what he says keeps him from riding a roller coaster.
“I’m not going to let the highs take me too high and I’m not going to let the lows take me too low,” Johnson said. “I know what I need to do and I know what my team needs to do to win a sixth championship. Fortunately we have a road map that’s worked in years past. And we’ve had to fall on our experience, especially last year, to win the championship. And hopefully we’ll be able to do that again this year.”
This year, unlike the years past that Johnson talks about, things have been different. While he’s tied for the point lead he’s only been to victory lane once this season, Talladega in April. He’s been shutout at tracks he normally dominates like Martinsville and Phoenix.
Instead of focusing on his lack of bonus points or who the current favorites are, Johnson’s using his words to get one up on the competition. Letting them know now that come the Chase they’re going to hear voices in their heads and there will be pressure that they’ve never felt before, and that it does weird things to drivers in and out of the car. Johnson though, will be immune to it.
“Experience helped me and the team focus on the right things,” Johnson says about his past championships. “You can focus in a lot of areas and during the Chase and especially as it winds down, the brain starts thinking up a lot of stuff; experience over the years has helped me focus in the right areas.”
Focus Johnson will be relying on to beat the likes of Keselowski and Busch during the Chase.
