Sam Hornish Scores Top-5 Finish in Dollar General 300
October 12, 2013
THE RACE
Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval, Concord, N.C.)
Friday, October11, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Mustang
Driven By: Sam Hornish Jr.
Starting Position: 3
Finish Position: 3
Status: Running
Driver's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Hornish started Friday night’s 200-lap event from the inside of the second row in third position.
· By Lap 3, Hornish moved up to second place as his Detroit Genuine Parts machine had speed out of the gate. He assumed the lead for the first time at lap 22.
· Hornish would lead through Lap 49 when he brought the Penske Ford onto pit lane for service.
· While his Mustang was fast, Hornish reported that it was building loose as the race progressed. The team made adjustments to improve the handling during the stop.
· When the green flag restarted the action at Lap 51, the Defiance, Ohio native was scored fourth in the running order, yet by Lap 55 he took over the top spot once again. He would once again lead until a Lap 88 caution and another pit stop.
· During the second pit stop of the night, the Penske Racing pit crew made further adjustments to the No. 12 machine in an effort to stay ahead of the track conditions
· At Lap 100 Hornish was scored third in the running order, but his Detroit Genuine Parts Ford began to build very loose over the next 10 laps. As a result, he would fall back to sixth-place.
· Another caution flag flew at Lap 111 giving the Penske Racing pit crew another opportunity to adjust the increasingly loose-handling machine.
· Hornish restarted in the 12th position as some competitors took two tires or fuel only on the previous stop. He would fall back to 13th while battling an extremely loose Ford, but worked his way back up to sixth by the time the next caution flew at Lap 155.
· The team once again made substantial adjustments to improve the handling of the No. 12 machine and simultaneously passed several cars with a lightning fast stop.
· The veteran driver restarted third and then took the lead once again at Lap 180. He held the top spot until Lap 193 when his Ford Mustang became too loose. He finished the race in third place.
· With the result, Hornish and the No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts team hold steady in second-place in the standings, eight points behind the first-place driver Austin Dillon.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
SAM HORNISH JR., NO. 12 DETROIT GENUINE PARTS FORD
“We had that restart with about 40 to go and felt quite good about our car and what we were gonna be able to accomplish. The Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Mustang was good, but our problem throughout the night that we continued to build freer as the runs went on and I think there were probably a lot of people that were in the same boat, but we could never get it tight enough at the start of the run to be not busting-free towards the end. We caught Kyle there and got around him, and thought I was pulling away from him far enough to be OK, and then all of a sudden he just started reeling me back in. I was too free to run up there where he ran that last bit of the race.”
YOU STAYED RIGHT WITH AUSTIN DILLON IN POINTS TONIGHT.
“Yeah, we ran around each other a lot the second half of the year here. It seems like no matter what we’re always right there together, but we got out there and led a bunch of laps and got that extra bonus point and kept it even up, so we’ll just keep working hard. Over the next races, we go to some tracks that I really like.”
Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval, Concord, N.C.)
Friday, October11, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Mustang
Driven By: Sam Hornish Jr.
Starting Position: 3
Finish Position: 3
Status: Running
Driver's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Hornish started Friday night’s 200-lap event from the inside of the second row in third position.
· By Lap 3, Hornish moved up to second place as his Detroit Genuine Parts machine had speed out of the gate. He assumed the lead for the first time at lap 22.
· Hornish would lead through Lap 49 when he brought the Penske Ford onto pit lane for service.
· While his Mustang was fast, Hornish reported that it was building loose as the race progressed. The team made adjustments to improve the handling during the stop.
· When the green flag restarted the action at Lap 51, the Defiance, Ohio native was scored fourth in the running order, yet by Lap 55 he took over the top spot once again. He would once again lead until a Lap 88 caution and another pit stop.
· During the second pit stop of the night, the Penske Racing pit crew made further adjustments to the No. 12 machine in an effort to stay ahead of the track conditions
· At Lap 100 Hornish was scored third in the running order, but his Detroit Genuine Parts Ford began to build very loose over the next 10 laps. As a result, he would fall back to sixth-place.
· Another caution flag flew at Lap 111 giving the Penske Racing pit crew another opportunity to adjust the increasingly loose-handling machine.
· Hornish restarted in the 12th position as some competitors took two tires or fuel only on the previous stop. He would fall back to 13th while battling an extremely loose Ford, but worked his way back up to sixth by the time the next caution flew at Lap 155.
· The team once again made substantial adjustments to improve the handling of the No. 12 machine and simultaneously passed several cars with a lightning fast stop.
· The veteran driver restarted third and then took the lead once again at Lap 180. He held the top spot until Lap 193 when his Ford Mustang became too loose. He finished the race in third place.
· With the result, Hornish and the No. 12 Detroit Genuine Parts team hold steady in second-place in the standings, eight points behind the first-place driver Austin Dillon.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
SAM HORNISH JR., NO. 12 DETROIT GENUINE PARTS FORD
“We had that restart with about 40 to go and felt quite good about our car and what we were gonna be able to accomplish. The Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Mustang was good, but our problem throughout the night that we continued to build freer as the runs went on and I think there were probably a lot of people that were in the same boat, but we could never get it tight enough at the start of the run to be not busting-free towards the end. We caught Kyle there and got around him, and thought I was pulling away from him far enough to be OK, and then all of a sudden he just started reeling me back in. I was too free to run up there where he ran that last bit of the race.”
YOU STAYED RIGHT WITH AUSTIN DILLON IN POINTS TONIGHT.
“Yeah, we ran around each other a lot the second half of the year here. It seems like no matter what we’re always right there together, but we got out there and led a bunch of laps and got that extra bonus point and kept it even up, so we’ll just keep working hard. Over the next races, we go to some tracks that I really like.”