HORNADAY: Atlanta Race Preview
03-03-2008 1:42 pm

Previously at California: Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Camping World/VFW Chevrolet Silverado team made a solid run on their way to a fifth-place finish two weeks ago in the San Bernardino County 200 at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California. Hornaday led 15 laps as the team picked up their first top-five finish of the 2008 NASCAR Truck Series season.

Georgia Is On Hornaday's Mind After Second-Place Finish In October: After sitting on the pole and finishing second to Kyle Busch in last October's Easy Care Vehicle Service Contracts 200, Hornaday is looking to add another Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) checkered flag to his collection. He picked up his first win at Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) back in March of 2005. Hornaday had a successful off-season test at Atlanta, where he was fastest on the first day of the two-day test session, and feels good about his chances this time around. In six Truck Series starts at AMS, Hornaday has two top-five finishes, one win and has completed a total of 788 out of the possible 790 laps, leading 70.

From The Driver's Seat - Quotes From Ron Hornaday: On the fifth-place finish in California: "We had an awesome truck and got a top-five finish, which is great after the bad luck we had at Daytona. Praise to NASCAR again. These things are fun to drive and it is back in the driver's hands again.  I am going back and starting to work out again because these things are a handful."

On racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway: "Atlanta is one of those tracks that you can run wide open. The turns there have almost as much banking as Daytona and Talladega and you can carry some really good speed going into the straight-aways. We sat on the pole and finished second down there last October with a good truck. We tested at Atlanta back in January and did really well; learned some things that I think will pay off for us when we get there for the race."

Atop The Pit Box - Quotes from Rick Ren: On preseason test sessions at Atlanta Motor Speedway: "Atlanta is a good, smooth track and you have two good grooves you can run in. We had a great test down there in January and we were fastest on the first day. We tried a few different things on the second day and still ran in the top five. We also did a tire test for Goodyear at Atlanta after the season ended (2007) and learned some things about the tire that we will use. After our second-place finish there last October and the success we had during testing, I look for us to have a solid run when we get to Atlanta."

Tire Carrier Jeffrey Roth To Pull Double-Duty At Home-State Track: A native of Washington, Georgia, Jeffrey Roth will be pulling double-duty at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. Roth, who has stepped in as the rear tire carrier for the No. 33 Camping World/VFW Chevrolet Silverado crew, can be seen doing the same on Saturday for the No. 33 Camping World/RoadLoans.com/Rheem Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick during the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.