WIX Filters Lap Leader Logo

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD SERIES RACE

AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2010, PAGE 1.

- Ron Hornaday Jr. clinched the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader Award in tonight’s Ford 200, capturing the honor for the THIRD CONSECUTIVE season. Hornaday Jr. edged Elliott Sadler by three races (7-4) to capture the honor and the $10,000 cash prize.

· Hornaday Jr. led once for 15 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race in tonight’s Ford 200. He finished the season with 407 total laps led.

· Hornaday Jr. posted a second-place finish, his 11th top-five of the 2010 season and 13th top-10. UNOFFICIALLY he placed seventh in the series championship standings.

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS

Ron Hornaday Jr. 7

Elliott Sadler 4

Kevin Harvick 4

Austin Dillon 3

Johnny Sauter 3

Jason White 1

Clint Bowyer 1

Ron Hornaday Jr. - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett- Getty Images

“That’s just hats off to KHI [Kevin Harvick Inc.] for giving me the great equipment they’ve been giving me and the great WIX Filters that get the air to the carburetor and run fast. What an up and down year for me to win this thing for the third time means a lot. It’s just an honor. We’ll take it with pride and keep running WIX Filters.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO RUN UP FRONT AND LEAD LAPS IN THE NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES?

“The competition level is so big right now in this Camping World Truck Series. Any given day anybody can win. To lead the laps to get this award means a lot to me. This is a compliment to the team.”

YOU HAD SOME PRETTY STRONG FINISHES DOWN THE STRETCH.

“We needed to end this way. This is a testament to my whole team never putting their head down and working hard. One time in the race I looked up and I think there was like 20 to go and there were five KHI trucks that Kevin [Harvick, team owner] sold. That’s just a testament to my boss and all those guys that work back at the shop. It’s a lot of fun and I’m just glad that this year is over, that we can just start fresh at Daytona. I’m very proud of these guys and how much they changed on this truck from the first day that we got here to this morning’s practice. My hat is off to NASCAR for even getting a practice in for us. We’ve got a lot of good teams coming out and a lot of new faces and it’s going to be a lot of fun again.”

YOU HAD A GREAT RUN BUT DIDN’T NEED THAT LAST CAUTION.

“Well I don’t know about the last caution or not. He was running me down. I was just getting too tight. Man I was sitting there wide open. I don’t know where he gets that burst on the bottom and everything but I was wide open and he snuck up beside of me and turned down. That must have freed him up pretty good.”

DOES THIS GOOD RUN TONIGHT GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT OF MOMENTUM THROUGH THE WINTER AND INTO NEXT SEASON?

“You know what’s so good about these guys is they never put their head down. They kept their head up. They know we’ve got a great team and a great truck and I am just so proud to drive for these guys at KHI and all these great sponsors that we have. We knew we could run good. It was just that the truck was a little too tight. We were really free and the guys switched it over completely and to come back and run second. Kyle hits the fence and comes back to win it. I don’t understand that bit it was a great day. I’ve got to thank WIX and Georgia Boots, everybody to be part of this.”

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE

EVENT DRIVER

NextEra Energy Resources 250 Elliott Sadler, 25 laps

E-Z-Go 200 Kevin Harvick, 100 laps

Kroger 250 Kevin Harvick, 187 laps

Nashville 200 None Awarded

O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Johnny Sauter, 101 laps

Dover 200 Jason White, five laps

N.C. Education Lottery 200 Elliott Sadler, 31 laps

WinStar World Casino 400K Ron Hornaday Jr., 31 laps

VFW 200 Austin Dillon, 18 laps

Lucas Oil 200 Austin Dillon, 187 laps

CampingWorld.com 200 Kevin Harvick, 143 laps

AAA Insurance 200 Ron Hornaday Jr., 129 laps

Pocono Mountains 125 Elliott Sadler, 31 laps

Nashville 200 None Awarded

Too Tough To Tame 200 Ron Hornaday Jr., 29 laps

O’Reilly 200 Elliott Sadler, 17 laps

EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Ron Hornaday Jr., nine laps

Built Ford Tough 225 Ron Hornaday Jr., 23 laps

TheRaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175 Kevin Harvick, 11 laps

Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350 Austin Dillon, 93 laps

Kroger 200 Johnny Sauter, 49 laps

Mountain Dew 250 Ron Hornaday Jr., 49 laps

WinStar World Casino 350K Johnny Sauter, 31 laps

Lucas Oil 150 Clint Bowyer, 97 laps

Ford 200 Ron Hornaday Jr., 15 laps

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

- Camp & Associates, Inc. Press Release

Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet Silverado, celebrates with the series championship trophy after clinching the title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona.

“I couldn’t think of a better track to clinch the championship, I love Phoenix” said the newly-crowned champion. “This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to accomplish something like this, all these team guys and everyone back at the shop. But, we aren’t done yet. We still have to get the owner’s title too. Kyle (Busch) is pretty close to us. I can’t say enough for Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) and the whole KHI organization. These trucks are awesome. I don’t know what happened during the pit stop, or how we rallied back, but Rick Ren (crew chief) and the entire team did a great job. It is so much fun to drive for Kevin and DeLana, I just can’t believe it. I just want to thank everyone who has been apart of making this happen this year, VFW, Copart, Longhorn, Turtle Wax, Georgia Boots, Rheem, Hungry-Man, Wiley X, Indian Motorcycles, Miller Welders, Merit Pro everyone. It is unbelievable. This is a lot of fun.”

Hornaday started the Lucas Oil 150 from the third position, immediately behind boss Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Longhorn Chevrolet. With only eight laps complete, a lap truck began to lay down liquid on the racing surface. Harvick brought out the first caution of the night when he hit the moisture and spun off of turn four to the entrance of pit road sustaining no damage. Hornaday emerged from the smoke unscathed for the restart on lap 13 after NASCAR cleaned the racing groove. Hornaday battled with Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch for the race lead, but settled comfortably in the third position until the second caution of the race on lap 35.

The No. 33 team decided to come to pit road for their first scheduled pit stop of the night. Initially the plan was to take on four tires on the first stop and come back the following lap for fuel. However, with the leaders taking fuel only, the team made a quick change to fuel only. A lap later the team was called back down pit road by NASCAR for a pit-road violation and decided to make the most of the penalty which put them at the tail end of the longest line. On lap 37, the team took on four fresh tires and restarted the race in the 23rd position on lap 38. Hornaday began to work his way back through the field, but it was slow going on the one-mile track. By lap 60, the point’s leader had moved his way back into the top 15, but his truck had become too loose through the center of the corners to be able to get back to the gas when he wanted. As Hornaday battled Todd Bodine for the 15th position and worked his way back toward the front of the field, his KHI teammate Harvick ran in the second position chasing Almirola for the top spot.

The third caution of the evening waved on lap 91 and the No. 33 team took full advantage, giving up the 10th position to bring the truck down pit road for four tires and the following lap for fuel. Two quick stops gained Hornaday three positions on pit road placing him in the seventh position for the restart on lap 96. The “restart king” was able to use his four fresh tires to move back into the top five as Harvick took the lead from Almirola. Hornaday gained one more spot before the checkered flag waved to finish in the fourth position. Harvick held off a hard charging Kyle Busch through four late-race cautions and a green-white-checkered finish recording his second Truck Series victory of 2009 followed by Busch, Almirola, Hornaday and Johnny Sauter.

Hornaday was crowned the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion with one race remaining in the 2009 season next weekend at the Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. The owner’s championship will be decided next weekend as DeLana Harvick continues to hold a 60-point advantage over Billy Ballew.

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

LUCAS OIL 150

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates winning his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Hornaday is the oldest driver to win a championship in NASCAR's three national series. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)

RON HORNADAY, JR., NO. 33 VFW SILVERADO, KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 LONGHORN SILVERADO, DELANA HARVICK, TEAM OWNER AND ERNIE COPE, CREW CHIEF, POST RACE AND POST CHAMPIONSHIP TRANSCRIPT –

RON HORNADAY, JR:
CONGRATULATIONS ON THIS FOURTH TRUCK SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP: “Thank you. I couldn’t think of a better track. I love Phoenix. It looked pretty grim for a while, but it’s not over by far. We’re racing Kyle Busch for the owner’s points — that’s the true goal. That shows how great our team is and Kyle (Busch) has really been running strong. He’s got six or seven wins this year. We’re going to do everything we can to hold him off down there. At least we can go down there and have a little fun and race a little different now — we can have some fun.”

IS YOUR STRATEGY TO RACE SMART AND NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES?:

“I guess you didn’t watch the race because we tried to race smart. We left the gas can out in the back and that put us pretty far back. I was sweating it out because I got behind the 11 (TJ Bell) and I just started pushing real bad and I thought my right front tire started blistering. I put about five turns of rear brake in it and started sliding it in. I learned something a little bit. Third to the last restart I got in there and the thing wouldn’t turn and it just started shoving the tires. I had to put more rear brake in it then. Luckily, that all happened that run because that put us in the top-five and Johnny Sauter was really coming strong. To come home in the top-five, that’s what we needed to do to keep Matt (Crafton) behind us.

Matt (Crafton) is a heck of a racer, I’m glad they turned their program around. They gave us a run for our money all year long. There’s just so many people to thank. You guys have been following all year what it takes to go racing with Copart, Longhorn, VFW, Georgia Boots, hold on one more, one more — Turtle Wax. It takes a lot and having all them sponsors work together and do what they’ve done, it works great. Mark Smith with the motor program, what he’s done with Chevrolet and everything that they do — the wind tunnel and what they do with all their support — it just take a bunch of people and I’m just fortunate enough and my wife and I are old enough to where the kids are growing up and now we’re coming to the race track and having fun.”

HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN NASCAR HISTORY? HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS IT TO YOU TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM JACK SPRAGUE AND BE THE FIRST GUY TO WIN FOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS?:

“You said it, I got one up on (Jack) Sprague and that’s all that counts. I said it on my interview out there, I told him that now he has to come back and try to get a fourth one and just keep me racing. Jack (Sprague) and I have been fighting for wins and championships back and forth and Jack (Sprague) kind of quit and gave me a little head start so I don’t know how many he’s won — he’s got 27 or 28 wins and I think we’re back and forth.

I would win 23 and he would be 24 and then I was 24 and he was 25. It’s been a fun battle with Jack (Sprague) and I wish he was still out here. He’s a heck of a little racer. I don’t know — I don’t look it — I have to build another trophy case I guess. I only have five so I’ll have to move one over and put two together. This has been a long week, Lindy’s (Hornaday) Mom went through surgery, she came out of that real well. They only gave her a 35 percent chance of surviving it and she came out of it real well. She’s at home today so we can’t wait to get home and see her tomorrow.”

HOW COOL IS IT TO THINK ABOUT THE DRIVERS THAT HAVE SLEPT ON YOUR COUCH — JIMMIE JOHNSON, KEVIN HARVICK? COULD YOU HAVE IMAGINED THAT GUYS SLEEPING ON YOUR COUCH COULD HAVE AS MANY CHAMPIONSHIPS AS THEY HAVE AND YOU WOULD HAVE THIS MANY?:

“My wife made me sleep on the couch last week. It’s kind of cool and I think this is the payback — what Kevin and Delana (Harvick) have given me. It’s not over, we have to go win that owner’s points for them. They definitely deserve it, they give me great trucks all year. The truck Kevin (Harvick) drove tonight was a 2010 — what we’re going to run next year. A lot of help from Chevrolet and Kevin (Harvick) never quits. I went in the shop like two weeks ago and we had 14 trucks, I got down there and there’s only five trucks left. I said, ‘Where’s all the trucks?’ They said, ‘Kevin sold them all — you’re getting all new ones again next year.’ I think we won five races in a row and they were all brand new trucks so my hats off to the boss man right here — he knows what it takes to win. Here’s the boss lady, I forgot. It’s been fun and we’re not done. As long as Kevin and Delana (Harvick) will still have me, we’re going to win some more.”

ARE YOU GOING TO DONATE THE COUCH TO THE NASCAR HALL OF FAME?:

“You know what’s funny is that it don’t work no more. We had a good friend, Blake Feese slept on it and he went back that Monday morning and got fired from Hendrick. Or he didn’t sleep the whole night on it and he left in the middle of the night. Kevin (Harvick) slept there for months. We got rid of the biggest part and we’ve got the smallest part. I really can’t tell you the real story as to why they slept on the couch — they just couldn’t make it upstairs.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PEOPLE SAYING THAT NASCAR IS A ‘YOUNG MAN’S GAME’ WHEN YOU ARE A CHAMPION AND MARK MARTIN IS BATTLING FOR THE SPRINT CUP CHAMPIONSHIP?:

“When you drive Kevin and Delana’s (Harvick) equipment, you feel like you’re 18 years old. If you want to watch the race from here last year, Kyle Busch was 22 back then or whatever, I tried to out drive him going into turn three. You feel young, the trucks they give me, it just makes me feel like a hero. It didn’t show how good my truck was tonight. We were points racing and we did what we had to do. Kevin (Harvick) said he was going to win the race. Only one more week, he promises. I don’t know how it feels. Next week when we try to win that owner’s championship, then it will all come into play. Jimmie (Johnson) slept on the couch so I would like to see him win four (championships) too, but they’ve got their game together just like we do over at KHI (Kevin Harvick Incorporated). It’s fun to drive the trucks and I’m sure Jimmie (Johnson) and Mark (Martin) and all them are having fun driving over there too.”

HOW BIG OF A LUXURY IS IT TO WRAP UP THE CHAMPIONSHIP WITH ONE RACE REMAINING?:

“If you look at the whole year, we’ve had a pretty good points lead then we ended up blowing the tire at Dover and Matt (Crafton) caught us. Then we had another bad race where we ran out of fuel and Matt (Crafton) passed us. We’re not even done racing — we have to go down and race Kyle Busch. Those owner’s points mean more to me than that trophy because it says that whole team worked hard and we beat everybody. Kyle Busch comes in and pulls an upset, then it’s going to be terrible. We’re going to go out and do what we have to do and Kyle’s (Busch) on a roll. He almost won three last weekend. We’re going to try to go out there and get the owner’s championship and we’re not done racing.”

HOW NICE IS IT TO CLINCH THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN PHOENIX?:

“I already said how nice it is — I think Kevin (Harvick) was telling (Ricky) Carmichael that I raced it when it was dirt before they even started it. It was fresh asphalt. It’s cool, I’m not talking about the championship, it’s cool to win it for me, but it’s not over yet and it’s not even close. Kevin and Delana (Harvick) deserve a lot more because of the equipment that they give me, the people that they put in places — it takes a lot. To get all our sponsors to work together, the program that they put together to make it happen, this is what it’s all about.”

IS THERE AN ADDED SPECIAL SENSE OF WINNING THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE SAME WEEK AS VETERAN’S DAY AND SO SOON AFTER THE TRAGEDY AT FORT HOOD?:

“I appreciate that. We’ve been VFW for the past couple races and its hard to go out there and see all them soldiers, men and women and see the tragedy up there at Fort Hood. A lot of support from VFW and you can’t say enough about them. I’ve got an opportunity to go to Iraq and see what those men and women do first hand and TV, newspapers and everything don’t do it justice. I brought pictures home and I can’t explain them to my wife, you have to smell and everything else. My hats off to all the men and women and its pretty cool and it’s special and I never even thought about it, but thanks for bringing it up.”

HOW UNIQUE IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU BEING A VETERAN DRIVER AND A YOUNG DRIVER, OWNER?:

“I’m mad because I couldn’t go up there and race him for the win. I had to play it smart and I did what I had to do, we overcome our pit stop failure. Rick Ren (crew chief) made a great call by only putting one can of fuel in just to beat the 88 (Matt Crafton) out and it worked out great. It always fun to race Kevin (Harvick) because you know he’s going to race 120 mph faster than you are. The first time I ran his Nationwide car and he was running two of them and he turned me sideways and passed me, I thought, ‘Does he know he owns this car?’ I couldn’t go run into the back of him because he did that. That was the first experience that I really had with Kevin (Harvick), he don’t really care whose car it is, he’s going to move you out of the way to race it. You would be amazed for him being my good friend and now being my boss, the things that I don’t do in front of him no more. Yes sir, no sir, yes mam, no mam. And I’ll see you tomorrow or Monday morning.”

(L-R) DeLana Harvick, team owner Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday Jr. (C), driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet, Linda Hornaday, and crew chief Rick Ren, celebrate after Hornaday clinched the series title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona

“In 2005, we put Ron (Hornaday) in the truck and we really didn’t have our stuff together and we knew from that point that we had what we needed from the driver’s side of it and we finally in 2007 built a team that was capable of keeping up with the driver. From that point on, it’s been a lot of fun to watch and from an owner’s standpoint, it’s one of those things where you really don’t have to do a whole lot because these guys, when they’re off, they know it and they go to work and try to fix it. If they do something wrong, you don’t even have to tell them and they fix it.

From an owner’s standpoint, that makes life easy. It’s been a long year to say the least. With the economy and everything and everybody has really chipped in to make sure the team is where it needs to be from a performance standpoint. Been a lot of challenges and to see it finish with Ron (Hornaday) winning the championship is something that’s really neat. I know it’s very rewarding for Delana (Harvick) and I, but it’s more rewarding to watch theses guys as a team and Ron (Hornaday) as a person, as a friend, as an employee, there’s a lot of things that go with it and come into the equation. It’s just a lot of fun to see it all evolve and come together.”

CAN YOU SPEAK TO JIMMIE JOHNSON TALKING ABOUT RON HORNADAY BEING KNOWN FOR HELPING YOUNG RACERS?:

“I don’t think that’s it, you go over there and there’s still a lot of people and their house is always open. It’s always been that way. What you see is what you get with Ron and Lindy (Hornaday) and the whole family. It’s always been one big family and if you want to be a part of it then come on over. That’s just the way that they’ve always been. Always been the same is what you can say. I know his hair has changed colors a couple times, but that’s about it. To lock up the championship here for us is extra special too just for the fact that a lot of us spent a lot of time here growing up and racing here. It’s pretty cool, he’s got a great following here and I know we’ve got a lot of fans here. It’s fun to be able to win the race and win the championship and I know there’s a lot of fans that appreciate that in this particular area.”

HOW UNIQUE IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU BEING A VETERAN DRIVER AND A YOUNG DRIVER, OWNER?:

“I think for me, I think its just really neat for me just for the fact of the whole scenario as I came up through my career and I always think back to races at Mesa Marin and the nights that he and Rick Carelli and Mike Chase and all the guys that used to race in the open comp days back then and at the start of the Southwest Tour. I was sitting in the grandstands and now I have Ron (Hornaday) and Rick (Carelli) and Ernie Cope and a couple kids from the West Coast. We have Andy Houston who came up through the Truck Series so its just a lot of us that have raced together. I know from our standpoint, we don’t go in the shop — when they see me coming in the shop they think, ‘Oh no, what is he going to make us build this week.’ Its all about the race vehicles. There’s a time and a place for the stuff on the other side of the wall from the marketing side of it, but I really enjoy the fact that we go in and we’re very aggressive on how we build stuff. These guys go out and drive it and I really enjoy all different aspects of it so that makes it a lot of fun.”

KEVIN HARVICK ON RACE WIN
HOW WAS YOUR RUN TONIGHT?:

“We made it entertaining in the beginning, that’s for sure. I don’t really know what happened other than I spun out. I went into (turns) one and two and pushed the front tires like there was something on the race track and go to (turns) three and four and just lost it. We came in and we left that set of tires on and Ernie (Cope, crew chief) said that they were down to the cords on the right rear. We overcame that and we didn’t hit anything and they did a great job on pit road. It took me a little while to get my confidence back up to dive the thing in and get up underneath another truck and know that it was going to stay underneath me. The truck was great the rest of the night and we made up spots on pit road, we made up spots on the track and once we finally got track position back and from there it was good.”

HOW WAS THE TRUCK HANDLING TONIGHT AS THE TEMPERATURE CHANGED?:

“The handling was really loose in the beginning, much looser than what we had at any point during practice. We came back in and changed the tires after we ran the first 35 laps or whatever it was and the truck was right back to where it was. The characteristics of the race track seemed to stay pretty much consistent through the night. Our truck didn’t change a lot from practice until tonight except for the first little bit of run there. All in all I think the track stayed pretty good.”

DOES IT STILL MAKE IT SPECIAL FOR YOU WHEN YOU BEAT KYLE BUSCH?:

“Yeah, I think we’ve run like five races and it seems like we’re racing Kyle (Busch) every time we’re on the track. That makes it a lot of fun and its cool that it came down to a couple green-white-checkers, I think that was the biggest chance that he had to make up some ground there and we were able to hold him off. It makes it fun. Kyle (Busch) and I get along really good and I like the way he races. I like the way he goes about things, I like his attitude. Even though sometimes you get mad, he gets frustrated, I get frustrated the same way too. Both of us aren’t very good about keeping our tempers to where it needs to be so it’s fun. I just like the fact that he likes to race so that makes it a lot of fun. He says a lot of dumb things sometimes, but we all say dumb things, right?”

DID YOU FEEL ANY PRESSURE TONIGHT WITH RON HORNADAY RACING TO WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP?:

“I felt like those guys are pretty much in control of their own destiny, they just need to go out and be smart. Obviously, anything can happen and we came in pretty focused on going out and trying to win the race and I felt like they could handle what they needed to from their standpoint.”

HOW MUCH AS YOUR TRUCK AND NATIONWIDE TEAM BOOSTED YOUR SPIRITS THIS SEASON?:

“Every time we get in the truck, we have a chance to win the race. Nationwide car runs in the top-five and won races all year. I tell people all the time that if it wasn’t for these two things and being competitive that I feel like I would put a hole in my head or feel like it anyway. Its just one of those things where it hasn’t been fun on Sunday and this is a lot of fun to come over and win races, run in the top-five every week and it makes you still know that you remember how to do it from the driver’s seat. Those guys have done a great job on Sunday, we were absolutely terrible at the beginning of the year and the last eight to 10 weeks, our cars have been very competitive. It hasn’t been a small project for Sunday. When you start off the year and build 30 or 40 cars that you think it’s the right road to go down and you have to start over in the middle of the year, I can respect that from an owner’s standpoint. You don’t like it from a driver’s standpoint, but they’ve done a good job in getting it turned around.”

ERNIE COPE, CREW CHIEF
WHAT WAS YOUR VIEW OF THE RACE TONIGHT?:

“The biggest thing was that we never give up there when we spun out on lap three there. We knew those tires were worn out from spinning, but we couldn’t put a set on at that time. He just had to tough it out and ride it out — didn’t have no grip. Might have over-adjusted on it, but came back for that last set and took another shot at it. Then pretty much had a dominant truck.”

DELANA HARVICK

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE RON HORNADAY WIN THE DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP?:

“I actually wasn’t even going to come, I’ve been battling the flu and had the flu for the past week. I gave it to Ron (Hornaday) apparently. This is quite honestly the best medicine for anything that ales you. Just to watch Ron (Hornaday) go out and do what he does. I told him back in 2007 that he had a job forever — I didn’t tell him that he was going to get paid forever, but as long as he keeps winning championships we’ll work on something. I’m just so impressed with everybody at KHI (Kevin Harvick Incorporated) and like Kevin (Harvick) said, this year was pretty hard to come together. The challenges that we faced with the economy, but everybody at KHI pulled together and we worked toward a common goal. To see Ron (Hornaday) win his fourth championship is unbelievable.”

- GM Racing Communications Press Release

Chevrolet Logo

Hornaday secured the unprecedented feat with a fourth place finish in tonight’s race. Heading in to the season’s final race next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the battle for the 2009 NCWTS owners’ title is still undecided. DeLana Harvick holds a 60-point lead over second place.

“ I couldn’t think of a better track and I love Phoenix,” said the newly-crowned champion. “This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to do this, all the guys back at the shop. Just had another great truck Mark Smith with the motor program and what he has done and with Chevrolet and everything they do including the wind tunnel and all their support and Pratt and Miller. It just takes a bunch of people and I am just fortunate enough that my wife and I are old enough that we are just at the race track and having fun.”

Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Fun Sand/Rodney Atkins/Curb Records Silverado finished fifth in the race scheduled for 150-laps but a caution on lap 149 forced the race in to overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.

Matt Crafton, No. 88 Australian Gold/Menards Silverado, finished eighth to give Team Chevy four of the top-10 finishers in tonight’s race. Crafton is second in the standings, 150 points ahead of third place as the season winds down to one race to go.

Kyle Busch (Toyota) and Aric Almirola (Toyota) finished second and third respectively.

The final event of the 2009 season will November 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

LUCAS OIL 150

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

No. 4 Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw, Getty Images

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 LONGHORN SILVERADO, RACE WINNER:

HOW MUCH FUN IS IT TO HAVE A GREAT TRUCK?

“It is pretty awesome to have a vehicle like this. I mean, from the time we unloaded it, it was just flat awesome.

“To have (Ron) Hornaday clinch the drivers’ championship and me win the race is pretty cool. I mean we got to do twin burnouts out there. I couldn’t hardly do a burnout; he definitely had me topped on that one. I couldn’t get my tires spinning. That was not good. But it was pretty cool anyway.”

Kevin Harvick wins the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw, Getty Images

“Well Ron has been the catalyst of everything that has turned this team in to championship caliber. You know you don’t have worry about what is happening from the driver’s seat, you know that everything is coming out of the driver’s seat that is absolutely possible. From there, we have built a team around him that was capable of giving him the trucks that he needed. Like I said, he gets everything out of them that he can. It is fun to watch and Ron is a great friend of mine. Meant a lot to me coming up through my career. To win a second championship with him is pretty cool.”

Ron Hornaday Jr., driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet Silverado, celebrates with the series championship trophy after clinching the title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona. Photo Credit: ToddWarshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

“We aren’t done yet. We have to get the owner’s title too. Kyle (Busch) is pretty close to us. KHI, I can’t say enough for them. These trucks are awesome. I don’t know what happened during the pit stop, but for them to rally back…and Rick Ren (crew chief) with that short gas just to keep us out in front of that No. 88. It is so much fun to drive for Kevin and DeLana (Harvick), I can’t believe. VFW, Copart, Longhorn, I can just sit here and name everybody, it has been great. Turtle Wax, Georgia Boots, Miller Welders, thank you for all the help. Wiley X, Indian Motorcycles. It is unbelievable. This is a lot of fun.

“I am glad Kevin won this race, that is cool. This is a compliment to the team. It takes a lot of people to do this, all the guys back at the shop. Just had another great truck.

“Our favorite truck got wrecked, it really ran good here. These guys brought this truck back, I knew I didn’t have a winning truck, but I had to play it smart in points.”

A GREAT START TO THE SEASON, CONSISTENT, FIVE WINS IN A ROW MID-SEASON, HOW DID YOU STAY FOCUSED DURING THE LAST HALF OF THE SEASON?

“We had the post lead and then we ended up wrecking at Dover. These guys never say quit. Kevin kept building me new truck each week. Kevin had a brand new truck here which will be for 2010. He is going to run one next week. I can’t say enough for everyone.

“Jack Sprague, buddy, I wish you were out here racing me. I got four so now you have to come back and get another one.

“This is unbelievable. Four. We still have hard work to do. Kyle is pretty tough. We have to stick with him at Homestead to get that owner’s”

Matt Crafton

“No I felt like we had a top-five truck. We didn’t have a winning truck tonight for sure, but I felt we had a top five truck. We just lost a lot of spots there on that last deal. The crew guys said they dropped a lug nut and we got behind on that and some of the guys beat us out on the fuel stop and I don’t think they took but a splash and there were some of the Toyotas saving fuel there in the end. They must have put just enough in it to make it.

“For some reason we were really good at the beginning……..I shouldn’t say really good but pretty good. And then on the last two runs we got really off for some reason. I don’t know if it was air pressure or what we did but it was definitely off at the end. I don’t know. Not a horrible day but not a good day.”

HOW ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP? YOU LOST TO ONE OF THE BEST.

“I’m over it. I want to win races. I mean congratulations to Ron and the whole deal. They were good the whole year and they were winning races and we got out fuel-mileaged and beat on that. I look forward to the new……I should say the old pit rules the way it should be done and I definitely think we are going to be a lot better next year.”

(L-R) DeLana Harvick, team owner Kevin Harvick, Ron Hornaday Jr. (C), driver of the No. 33 VFW.org Chevrolet, Linda Hornaday, and crew chief Rick Ren, celebrate after Hornaday clinched the series title with a fourth place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 13, 2009 in Avondale, Arizona Photo Credit: Getty Images

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP

“Thank you. I couldn’t think of a better track and I love Phoenix. It looked pretty grim for a while. But its not over by far because we are racing Kyle Busch for the owner points and that is the true goal. That shows how good our team is and Kyle has been really racing strong and has six or seven wins this year. So we are going to do what we can to hold them off down there but we are going to go down there and have a little fun and race a little different.”

WAS YOUR GOAL TONIGHT TO RACE SMART AND TO NOT MAKE ANY MISTAKES?

“You didn’t watch the race because we tried to race smart but we left the gas can out the back and that put us in the back and I was sweating it out because we got behind the 11 and I started pushing real bad and I thought my right front tire started going. I put about five turns of brake in and I started sliding and I learned something.

“On the third to the last restart it wouldn’t turn and started shoving the tires and I had to put more rear brake in it just then. Luckily that kind of happened in that run because it kept us in the top-five and Johnny Sauter was really coming strong so…….we came home in the top-five and that’s what we needed to do to keep Matt behind us. He’s a heck of a racer and I am glad they turned the program around and gave us a run for our money all year long and there are just so many people to think and you guys have been following it all year and see what it takes to go racing with Copart, Longhorn, VFW, Georgia Boots, and Turtle Wax. It really takes a lot and having all those sponsors to work together and do what they have done is just great.

“Mark Smith with the motor program and what he has done and with Chevrolet and everything they do including the wind tunnel and all their support and Pratt and Miller. It just takes a bunch of people and I am just fortunate enough that my wife and I are old enough that we are just at the race track and having fun.”

HOW SIGNIFICANT AND HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TO YOU TO SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM SPRAGUE AND BE THE FIRST 4 TIME CHAMPION?

“You said it right there. I got one up on Sprague and that’s all that counts. I said it out there, that Sprague needs to come back and try and get a fourth one and just keep me racing. Jack and I have been fighting for wins and championships back and forth and Jack had to quit and give me a little head start so we went back and forth and he had 23 then I had 24 then he had 25 so its just been a fun battle with Jack and I wish he was still out there because he is a heck of a little racer. I don’t know. Maybe I will have to build another trophy case. I only have five so maybe I will have to move one over and put two together so.

“Its been a long week because Lindy’s mom went through surgery and she came out of that real well and they had given her a thirty five percent chance of surviving it and she is doing real well and at home today. So it will be good to get home and see her tomorrow.”

YOU HAVE TALKED BEFORE ABOUT GUYS COMING AND SLEEPING ON YOUR COUCH. BUT HOW COOL IS IT TO THINK THAT YOU HAD JIMMIE JOHNSON, WHO MIGHT BE A FOUR TIME CHAMPION, YOU ARE NOW A FOUR TIME CHAMPION AND YOU GOT HARVICK IN THE MIX. YOU LOOK BACK ON THAT AND COULD YOU IMAGINE THAT GUYS WHO WERE SLEEPING ON YOUR COUCH WOULD HAVE AS MANY CHAMPIONSHIPS AND YOU WOULD HAVE AS MANY CHAMPIONSHIPS AND ALL THAT STUFF BACK THEN?

“My wife made me sleep on the couch just last week. (laughs). Its kind of cool and I think this is kind of the payback with what Kevin and Delana have done for me and like I said its not over. We have to win that owners point championship. They definitely deserve it because they have given me great trucks all year. And the truck that Kevin built tonight was a 2010 that we are going to run next year and we have had a lot of help from Chevrolet and because Kevin never quits. I went into the shop a couple of weeks ago and there were like fourteen trucks and then I came back and there were like five trucks. I said, ‘where did all the trucks go?’. He said, ‘Kevin sold them all and you are getting all brand new trucks again next year. And when we won five races in a row they were all brand new trucks and so my hats off to the boss man right there. He has what it takes to win them and oh, here is the boss lady…..I forgot. But its been fun and we are not done. As long as Kevin and Delana has me, we are going to win some more of them.”

RON – IT IS UNUSUAL TO WRAP UP A TITLE WITH ONE RACE TO GO, THAT HAS TO BE A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR YOU:

“It took me 30 years to do it. If you look at the year, we had a pretty good points lead and then we ended up blowing a tire at Dover and Matt caught us. Then we had another bad race and ran out of fuel. Like I said, we’re not done racing. We have to go down and race Kyle Busch. Those owner’s points mean more to me than a trophy because it says the whole team worked hard and we beat everybody. So we are going to go out and do what we have got to do. Kyle is on a roll. He almost won three of them last weekend. We are going to go out there and get the owner’s championship…so we are going to keep racing.”

RON – TALK ABOUT HOW SPECIAL THIS TRACK IS TO YOU FROM YOUR SOUTHWEST TOUR AND WINSTON WEST DAYS:

“Kevin was telling Carmichael (Ricky) that I was racing here when it was dirt, before they even started it. Oh, fresh asphalt. It is cool. I am not totally talking about the championship. It is cool for me to win it, but it isn’t over yet, it is not even close. Kevin and DeLana deserve a lot more because of the equipment, the people they put in places. It takes a lot. Without our sponsors that work together and the program they put together to make it happen, this is what it is all about.”

RON – IS THERE AN ADDED SENSE OF BEING SPECIAL IN THE VFW TRUCK WITH BEING SO CLOSE TO VETERAN’S DAY AND COMING ON THE HEELS OF THE TRAGEDY AT FT. HOOD? “

I appreciate that. The last few have been VFW races it is hard to go out there and see all those soldiers and see the tragedy at Ft. Hood. A lot of support from VFW. I can’t say enough about them. I had the opportunity to go to Iraq and see what the men and women do first hand. TV, newspaper, they really don’t do it justice. I brought pictures home and tried to explain it to my wife. About the smells and everything else. My hat is off to all the men and women. It is pretty cool and it is special and thanks for bringing it up.”

RON – TALK ABOUT HOW UNIQUE IS THE RELATIONSHIP IS BETWEEN YOU AND KEVIN:

“I’m mad that I didn’t get to go up there and race him for the win. We had to play it smart and do what we had to do to overcome a pit stop failure. Rick Ren made a great call to only put one can of fuel in to beat the No. 88 out of the pits. It worked out great. It is always fun to race Kevin because you know he is going to run 120 mile an hour faster than you. I remember the first time I ran his Nationwide car, he was in the second car and he turned me sideways to pass me. I was like “Doesn’t he know he owns this car? I couldn’t go run into the back of him just cause he did that. That was the first experience I had with Kevin, he doesn’t really car whose car it is he is going to move you out of the way to race it.”

KEVIN – SAME QUESTION:

“For me, I came up through my career. I was thinking back to races at Mesa Marin, the nights the he and Rick Carelli and Mike Chase and all the guys that used to race in, it was open comp back then, then Southwest Tour. I was sitting in the grandstands. And now I have Ron and Rick and Ernie Cope and a couple of kids from the West Coast, and Andy Houston that came up through the Truck Series, so it is just a lot of us that raced together. It is about the race vehicle. These guys go out and race it and enjoy it”

About General Motors:

General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications Press Release

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