Catchfence

LOUDON, N.H. (September 20, 2010) — Three-time New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) winner Ron Hornaday came to the one-mile oval looking to rekindle some of the luck the “magic” mile had dealt him in years past. Hornaday, driving the same truck he won with earlier in 2010 at O’Reilly Raceway Park, started the afternoon in New Hampshire by qualifying in the third position. However, a tangle with a lapped truck with 25 laps remaining in the 175-lap event created left-front damage on the No. 33 truck. A few laps later an on-track incident with another competitor led to a broken brake rotor sending Hornaday behind the wall, ending his day at NHMS.

It is a really disappointing finish for the No. 33 team,” said Hornaday following the accident. “We had a really good No. 33 Shopezgo.com Chevrolet. I think we could have had the pole, but I messed up our lap in qualifying. I am really proud of the No. 33 team, each week we go to the race track and contend for the win, we lead laps. I just can’t catch a break these days. I’m not too sure what happened with Mike [Harmon] there, but he ended up in my lane and I couldn’t avoid him. The No. 33 was wounded at that point and Timothy Peters ended up getting into me. I hated that we wrecked a good truck, but I’m looking forward to heading to Las Vegas next weekend.”

Hornaday began TheRaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175 from the third position, behind his Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) teammate Kevin Harvick, who started second. As the race got underway, Hornaday slipped back to the fourth position while Harvick and pole sitter Kyle Busch battled for the lead. The first caution of the race flew early in the event when the No. 4 truck of Ricky Carmichael spun into the outside wall on lap two. Hornaday and the No. 33 team decided to stay out to maintain track position. Hornaday rode in the fourth position until the second caution of the day waved on lap 61.

Hornaday reported to the team that he was too tight as he brought the No. 33 truck down pit road for four tires and fuel for scheduled service. The team removed a left-rear spring rubber to try to loosen up the truck for Hornaday. A good pit stop by the No. 33 team placed Hornaday in the third position for the restart on lap 66. Four laps later the caution waved once again for a spin by the No. 23 truck on the backstretch. The No. 33 team remained on the track, opting not to pit. The fourth caution waved on lap 79 for a spin by the No. 81 truck, and while under the caution Hornaday reported to the

team that he was sideways entering the corners and still too tight coming off the corners. Going back to green, the No. 33 truck continued to improve as the laps clicked off. Hornaday maintained the third position and began to slowly close the gap which leaders Busch and Harvick had opened up.

The caution waved for the fifth time on lap 127. The No. 33 team found themselves within their fuel window and chose to give up the third position to come down pit road for their final scheduled pit stop of the afternoon. Hornaday told the team that the truck was pretty good over the previous run, but he needed to be better on the restart. Crew chief Kevin Buskirk called for four tires, fuel and a slight air-pressure adjustment. The No. 33 team once again maintained Hornaday’s track position on pit road placing him third for the restart on lap 130. With only 45 laps remaining in the event, Hornaday did his best to stay with the leaders. On lap 142, the No. 33 truck ran the fastest laps of any truck on the track. As the leaders began to catch lapped traffic Hornaday caught the No. 89 of Mike Harmon deep into the corner. The lapped truck of Harmon slid up into the preferred groove, catching Hornaday in the left-front fender and causing damage to the fender and the hood, which brought out the seventh caution of the day. The No. 33 team quickly assessed the damage and decided that the fender was not rubbing the tire, and with so few laps remaining they made the decision not to come to pit road.

Hornaday restarted the race on lap 163 in the third position. As the leaders took the green flag, Hornaday began to fall back through the field due to the damage on the left front. Six laps later, the seventh-place truck of Timothy Peters caught Hornaday and became extremely loose underneath the No. 33 truck. Peters lost the nose and slid up into Hornaday, sending him into the outside retaining wall. Hornaday brought the mangled truck to pit road to the attention of the crew but after surveying the damage it was determined that the No. 33 truck had a broken left-front rotor, leaving Hornaday with no brakes. The No. 33 retired from the race finishing the event six laps down in the 24th-position.

Busch went on to win TheRaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175, marking his 80th career NASCAR victory. Busch was followed by James Buescher, Hornaday’s KHI teammate Harvick, Matt Crafton and Austin Dillon. The Truck Series returns to action next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 9:00 p.m., EST.

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