Hornaday Sweeps Texas with Win, Closes Points Gap

Monday November 3, 2008

 

Ron Hornaday
No. 33 VFW Chevrolet Silverado
Chevy Silverado 350K Post-Race Report

Hornaday Sweeps Texas with Win, Closes Points Gap

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 3, 2008) – Ron Hornaday and the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 33 Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) Chevrolet Silverado team rallied from being one lap down just before the midway point of the race to win the Chevy Silverado 350K at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) on Friday. The victory was the sixth for the team this season and extends Hornaday’s NASCAR Truck Series (NTS) career wins to 39. Hornaday led 45 of the 147, including the final 40 laps, to record his second consecutive win at TMS, becoming only the second driver, and first since Brendan Gaughan in 2003, in Truck Series history to accomplish this feat. With the win, Hornaday closed the gap to six points in the Truck Series point standings with two races remaining in the season.

“I’m just really proud of this VFW team here tonight,” Hornaday said. “First of all, I’ve got to thank all the troops for everything that they do for us. I also want to thank VFW, Camping World, Chevrolet and Mark Smith (engine builder). Rick Ren (crew chief) made the right call to pit. Then that caution came out and put us a lap down, but I knew we had really good truck. This is awesome to come back to Texas and get another win.”

Hornaday started the race from the seventh position and made his way into the top five on the second lap after a multi-truck accident involving a handful of the leaders, including KHI teammate Cale Gale, on the frontstretch brought out the first caution of the race. Hornaday restarted in the fourth position on lap 13.

By lap 25, Hornaday had raced his way to the second position, where he continued to run until he passed Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 51, earning five valuable championship bonus points. After leading five laps, crew chief Rick Ren made the call for Hornaday to bring the No. 33 VFW Chevrolet Silverado down pit road for a scheduled pit stop on lap 56 to take four tires and fuel. As the No. 33 crew completed their work on the right side of the truck, the caution came out after Jack Smith spun in turn two, putting Hornaday at the tail end of the lead lap. The race was restarted on lap 62 with Hornaday running in the 16th position.

On the restart, Hornaday was able to stay out in front of the leaders, keeping him on the lead lap. When the fourth caution of the race came out on lap 64, Hornaday was able to come back around the track and join the rest of the field before being called to pit road for fuel and a trackbar adjustment. He restarted from the 13th position on lap 69.

As the caution came out for the fifth and final time on lap 93, Hornaday was running in the fourth position. He brought the No. 33 VFW Chevrolet Silverado down pit road on lap 95 for four tires and fuel before restarting from the fourth position on lap 99.

Running in the second spot, Hornaday passed Busch on lap 108 to retake the lead before sailing to his sixth win of the 2008 season.

STATS RECAP

Date: October 31, 2008
Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Event Name: Chevy Silverado 350K

Race: 23 of 25
Started: 7th
Finished: 1st
Truck Series Point Standings: 2nd

NEXT ON SCHEDULE:

Date: November 7, 2008
Track: Phoenix International Raceway
Event Name: Lucas Oil 150

Broadcast Time:
TV: The Lucas Oil 150 can be seen live on SPEED at 7:30 p.m., ET.

Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the race live at 8:00 p.m., ET.

This report was provided by an outside PR source and posted by Kim DeHaven.

 

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