Kurt Busch, Hornish can’t boost Chrysler

The week did not go well for Chrysler.

A deal to keep the auto manufacturer solvent fell through at the last minute. Instead, bankruptcy is looming.

The company can use all the good news it can get.

For a few moments last night in the Crown Royal Presents Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond International Raceway, it appeared that Kurt Busch, driving his No.2 Dodge, a Chrysler product, was going to give the company and his fans quite a bit of good news.

Things didn't work out.

For Sam Hornish Jr., driving his No.77 Dodge, the evening turned out a bit better. Hornish started on Row 14, in the 28th spot. He finished sixth. The finish was even more impressive given that Hornish was 17th with 35 laps to go.

Busch had a strong car most of the night. With about 150 laps left in the 400-lap race, Busch appeared to be in excellent position to move to the front and stay there.

When the night was over, Busch had led eight laps, but finished 12th, and a bit disappointed.

"I do feel a small bit of responsibility carrying the Dodge banner in NASCAR," Busch said. "We want to get Dodge in the news as much as we can."

Hornish showed he could move his Dodge product last night.

"We sure would have loved to give them a win tonight," Hornish said. "We stand behind Chrysler and Dodge. They've been really good to us. The best thing we could have done is give them a win. We weren't able to accomplish that today.

"About 100 percent of my family business work is with the big three. They're hurting. We're hurting. We believe it's going to get turned around."

Busch has given Chrysler some good moments this season. He started last night's race as the Sprint Cup points leader. He's now in second place, but only 10 points behind Jeff Gordon.

"We were a solid top-five car until we messed with the track bar during a stop with just over 100 laps to go," Busch said. "At the end, we were sitting ducks trying to hang on to all we could. We just didn't have anything left for them."

Hornish is in his second year on the NASCAR circuit. He came over from the Indy Racing League. He's no stranger to success in Richmond, winning here twice on the Indy circuit.

"I've always enjoyed coming here, but last year, you would have thought I never ran here before," Hornish said. "I couldn't figure out one thing about it.

"Sometimes, it's the second or third time before you get more knowledge of how to drive, where you need to brake, the things you need to be doing."

Hornish moved as high as fourth last night. He didn't have enough car to threaten the leaders. He wasn't even sure he could have moved up another place had the race gone 20 or 30 more laps. Hornish was happy just to get the race done last night.

There were 15 cautions, tying a track record. The first six laps of the night were run under caution in an effort to get the track as dry as possible.

The drivers showed great respect for the conditions. They spent the early part of the race giving each other plenty of room. Drivers on I-95 don't give each other as much space as the Sprint Cup competitors left for each other in the early going last night.

No one wanted to wreck. No one wanted the early part of the race to be slowed by cautions. Everyone wanted at least 200 laps to be run so the race would be official, no matter what happened after that.

Hornish would have liked for better things to happen at the end. But he wasn't complaining.

"It was a real good run," Hornish said. "After qualifying [Friday] if you'd asked me if we could get up to sixth place, I might have been a little bit leery.

"We might have stayed out one run too long at the end before we put new tires on. We just didn't have enough time to get up there. But I'm real happy with the team."

Before the year is over, Hornish and Busch hope to give Chrysler some reasons to be happy as well.

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or .