The matte-black No. 54 Monster Energy Camry and Sam Hornish Jr. had a tough finish at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night when after a strong second-place start, the car’s handling turned bad and a late-race accident caused too much damage to recuperate from. The five-time 2014 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team endured a 30th-place result and took a good hit in the series Owner’s Championship point standings, now 37 behind the No. 22 leading Penske unit.
Hornish looked strong in initial practice sessions on Friday, driving within the top-five on the speed charts. One feeling the team continued to battle in those early sessions, however, was the looseness Hornish experienced driving into turn three. This was a condition the team felt they could control with adjustments made during the race, but rather, Hornish would continue to experience the same instability throughout the majority of the race.
Early Saturday the team came close to securing another pole award with a 30.814-second lap at 175.245 mph, but qualified in second place, on row one, for the beginning of the VisitMyrtleBeach300.com event.
Later, under a cool night sky, Hornish took the green flag with what would be his last scheduled run in the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry this year. He would immediately begin to feel an unstable condition with his Toyota Camry and he dropped to fifth place by lap 12. “I’m very tight in the gas and free on entry into (turn) three. I lost a lot of rear support those last two laps.”
The first opportunity to visit pit road came early on lap 25 and the team replenished two right-side tires and Sunoco fuel. Hornish gained positions to third place but again relayed, “I’m free on entry to the middle of the turn, car is tipsy pivoting off the right front.” Another pit road visit at lap 69 for four tires would provide some stability and launch the No. 54 up to second place, before the team settled down into the fourth position. Towards the halfway point in the race, Hornish described once more, “I’m loose both ends, can’t lean on it at all –wrecking loose!”
The team conducted a third pit-road visit past the race’s halfway mark, this time making big adjustments to the left-rear with a rubber and trackbar adjustment. Hornish was scored in 12th place. Hopeful the car would start to respond, the crew was disappointed when Hornish relayed a few laps later, “Very loose into the middle of the turn – plowing tight off, it’s like a pogo stick is under the left rear of the car.” Although feeling the No. 54 Camry’s handling was getting worse, the JGR team saw their driver advance a few more positions to eighth place. Coincidentally, the loose-handling condition was actually causing a tight-handling response which didn’t help crew chief Adam Stevens be able to determine easily next steps for adjustments.
With 30 laps remaining in the event, the team had another pit road visit to replace four Goodyear tires with air pressure adjustments. A green-flag restart at lap 174 and the group was hopeful their last adjustment was the one to correct the car’s handling the way Hornish needed. Unfortunately, they would not have the chance to see it play out to the end of the race. After a green-flag restart at lap 180, Hornish found himself caught in aggressive maneuvering by competitors in the waning laps of the event. Eventual race winner Brendan Gaughan of the No. 62 moved into Regan Smith in the No. 7, who drove into the No. 54 of Hornish, that forced him into the wall, which created severe right-side damage to the black Monster Energy machine.
The car was crushed pretty good in the back right and all down the side. In a desperate attempt to salvage important race points to support their run for the Owner’s Championship, the JGR crew spent time with Hornish and the No. 54 in the pit box for repairs. With effort not to go too many laps down, their plan was to drive around under caution then come back onto pit road, under green, again to salvage as many positions as were accessible. The damage was too destructive, though, and despite great energy to stay in the ballgame, the No. 54 ran out of time to be able to complete enough repairs to return to the race track in a competitive position. Hornish and the JGR team would conclude Saturday’s event with a heartbreaking 30th-place finish.
In seven races with the No. 54 Toyota team this season Hornish posted one win at Iowa Speedway in Newton, three top-five and three top-10 finishes, two poles and 269 laps led.
The No. 54 Monster Energy team owned by J.D. Gibbs remains in second place in the Owner’s Point standings, now trailing the race-winning No. 22 Roger Penske Ford by 37 markers.
Gaughan won the event, his second NASCAR Nationwide Series win in 111 starts. The No. 62 Chevrolet was followed by Brian Scott, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith. There were eight caution periods for 35 laps of the race along with nine lead changes across six drivers.
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