Sunday
Right-Rear Tire Failure Leads to Ninth-Place Finish for Ron Hornaday in the Lone Star State
Press Release“Two-Time Texas Winner Denied Third Victory”
“I really thought we had a shot at it on that last restart,” said Hornaday after the race. “I hate that we lost the tire at the end. We must have run over something because we didn’t have any contact with another truck. We had a really good Longhorn Chevrolet tonight. It just wasn’t our night.”
Hornaday started the WinStar World Casino 400K from the seventh position. By lap two Hornaday radioed the team that the truck was really loose and dropped to the 10th position on lap five.
The first caution waved on lap 18 with Hornaday in the 10th position. The No. 33 team brought Hornaday down pit road for four tires, fuel, an air-pressure adjustment and to remove tape from the grill. The race restarted on lap 23 and three laps later Hornaday had moved from ninth to sixth. By lap 31, Hornaday had broken into the top five and by lap 42, Hornaday caught pole sitter Austin Dillion and Ricky Carmichael. Making quick work of the two rookies Hornaday passed them both on the same lap to move into third. Aric Almirola who was running in the second position experienced mechanical trouble and shot down pit road on lap 49, moving Hornaday into the second position.
The No. 33 team made plans to pit under green on lap 75 while leader Todd Bodine peeled off the track to pit road on lap 74. Gaining five bonus points for leading a lap, crew chief Doug George called Hornaday just as the caution the caution waved on lap 75 leaving Hornaday as one of only four trucks on the lead lap.
Under the yellow, Hornaday brought the No. 33 truck down pit road to the attention of the crew for four tires and fuel. As the stop ended, the jack dropped and Hornaday left his pit stall with the gas can still engaged. This resulted in a stop and go penalty for removing equipment from the pit box, and Hornaday was placed at the tail end of the longest line for the restart on lap 81. Hornaday quickly began to work his way through lapped traffic as he raced three wide in an effort to get back to the front.
Hornaday struggled to catch third gear on the restart and fell back to third, battling Timothy Peters for second as Bodine pulled out to a sizable lead. Hornaday caught a break as the caution waved on lap 154, tightening the field once again. With only seven laps remaining, the No. 33 truck restarted the race from the third position in the bottom groove, where they had been dominant all night. A great restart by Hornaday looked as though he was going to battle Bodine for the win when the final caution of the night flew on lap 163, setting the field up for a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart Hornaday charged the outside battling Bodine for the win, while fending off Johnny Sauter for second. Going into the final lap, Hornaday radioed to the crew “I have a tire down” as the No. 33 truck jumped sideways down the back straight-a-way. As the right-rear tire disintegrated on the No. 33 truck, Hornaday brought the wounded vehicle home crossing the finish line as the last truck on the lead lap in the ninth position.
Bodine won his sixth race at Texas Motor Speedway followed by Johnny Sauter, pole sitter Austin Dillion, Mike Skinner and Hornaday’s KHI teammate Ken Schrader who scored his career-best Texas Motor Speedway finish.
Hornaday remains fourth in the Truck Series point standings, 155 markers out of first. The Truck Series returns to action next week at Michigan International Speedway.
About Longhorn Moist Snuff:
The Longhorn brand offers the best value to consumers by delivering a simple combination of premium quality and really great price. Introduced in 2003, Longhorn is a low price leader in the moist snuff category, manufactured in the same fine tradition as some of our other tobacco products including Red Man, Timber Wolf and White Owl. Longhorn moist snuff gives you the taste you demand at the price you want. For more information on Longhorn, visit our website at www.longhornsnuff.com
About Kevin Harvick Inc.:
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001 by Kevin and DeLana Harvick, is an 80,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. Home of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship team, KHI enters 2010 in its seventh full year of competition with two full-time Truck Series teams and one full-time Nationwide Series team. Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday returns to the helm of the No. 33 Truck team looking for his fifth title and third championship for KHI (2009 and 2007), while Sprint Cup series stars Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler guide the No. 2 Truck team. Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Harvick will again shine as the lead driver of the No. 33 Nationwide Series team as he continues to make his mark in motorsports and establish KHI as one of the top teams in NASCAR competition. For more information about KHI and its teams, please visit www.KevinHarvickInc.com.
- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release
Article Tags: Aric Almirola, Austin Dillion, Doug George, Johnny Sauter, Ken Schrader, Kevin Harvick Inc., KHI, Michigan International Speedway, Mike Skinner, No. 33 Longhorn Moist Snuff Chevrolet Silverado, Ricky Carmichael, Ron Hornaday, Texas Motor Speedway, TMS, Todd Bodine, WinStar World Casino 400k
