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

No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado

BACK-TO-BACK: Ron Hornaday looks to become the first back-to-back Truck Series winner at Gateway (Ill.) International Raceway if he should win the Copart 200. Ted Musgrave became the first repeat winner at the track going to victory lane in 2001 and 2005.

SMALL WORLD: How times have changed. Eleven years ago at Gateway International Raceway Hornaday was battling rival Rick Carelli for the inaugural win. Hornaday fell 0.351 seconds short as Carelli cruised to his second career Truck Series victory. These days Hornaday hears Carelli’s calming voice over the radio each and every race weekend, as Carelli now serves as spotter for the No. 33 Longhorn team as well as General Manager for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI).

“Gateway is a tough little place,” Carelli said. “You really gain your speed in turns three and four. I remember the race in ’98 well; I moved (Greg) Biffle out of the way and had a great race with Hornaday. It was cool to go back there last year and finally see Hornaday get a win.”

IN THE LOOP: Hornaday leads several of NASCAR’s Loop Data statistical categories at Gateway International Raceway. Over the last four races at Gateway Hornaday leads the driver rating category which takes into account wins, finishes,top-15 finishes, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. For any given race the maximum points that can be earned is 150. Hornaday has a driver rating of 116.1 at Gateway, despite having an average finish of 12th and has finishes of 30th, 15th, second and first respectively. Hornaday has also led the most laps (207) at Gateway over the last four races.

HOME TRACK FOR REN:

Rick Ren, crew chief for the KHI’s No. 33 Longhorn team, hopes to make this weekend’s trip to Gateway International Raceway a happy homecoming. Ren is a native of Danville, Illinois, approximately 211 miles northeast of Madison, Illinois, where the race track is located.

Ron Hornaday

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT RACING AT GATEWAY?

“Gateway is very different from other tracks we race on because of the corners. Turns one and two are tight and banked and three and four are wide and flat. We had a good day at Gateway last year; we started second and led the most laps in route to my first win at the track. We need to do the same thing this year. I am really looking forward to heading back there to defend the title.”

CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 33 Longhorn team will take chassis No. 027 to Gateway International Raceway. Chassis No. 027 has taken to the track three times thus far in 2009. Hornaday raced this truck at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway where he finished second to KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick. The No. 33 team also went to victory lane with this truck at The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Mile and Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park this year.

PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Hornaday and the No. 33 team finished fourth in the inaugural race at Iowa Speedway. The team struggled all weekend with an ill-handling truck. Starting from the 15th position, Hornaday was able to utilize restarts and work his way up through the field to battle the leaders and score his 11th top-five finish of 2009. With only eight races remaining Hornaday holds a 225 point lead over Matt Crafton.

ABOUT SWEDISH MATCH:

Swedish Match is a global Group of companies with a broad assortment of market leading brands in smokeless tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco, matches and lighters. Some of our well known brands include Red Man, Timber Wolf, Longhorn, Macanudo, Partagas, Cohiba and Borkum Riff. Swedish Match North America is headquartered in Richmond, VA, with manufacturing facilities in Owensboro, KY, Dothan, ALA, and the Dominican Republic. For more information visit the website at www.SwedishMatch.com

ABOUT KEVIN HARVICK INC.:

Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full-time Truck Series teams, including the 2007 series champions. The No. 33 team is led by three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and the No. 4 KHI All-Stars team is comprised of Ricky Carmichael, the most successful motocross racer in American history, J.R. Fitzpatrick and a variety of NASCAR Sprint Cup stars. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Nationwide Series team competing full-time with drivers Kevin Harvick (a two-time Nationwide Series champion), 2008 Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman, Ron Hornaday, Cale Gale and Kelly Bires. The 2009 season marks KHI’s sixth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s elite divisions. Visit www.kevinharvickinc.com for more information.

- Kevin Harvick Inc. Press Release

Hornaday started 15th in the inaugural NCWTS race at Iowa Speedway but battled through handling issues to finish fourth and extended his lead in the standings to 225 points over fellow Chevrolet driver Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menards/Ideal Door Silverado.

Johnny Sauter piloting the No. 13 Fun Sand/Rodney Atkins/Curb/Karl Chevrolet Silverado finished fifth in the 200-lap race with Crafton taking the checkered flag in sixth.

With eight races remaining in the 2009 season, the NCWTS travels to Gateway International Raceway, Madison, IL for the September 12 running of the Copart 200.

Ron Hornaday

“The guys on this Longhorn Silverado did a great job. We didn’t have truck to beat tonight, (Mike) Skinner did. We just fought loose in, tight off all night. Actually we really struggled the last two days but this is why this KHI team is championship caliber.

“It was a lot of fun here, we didn’t give up and with eight to go, we still have our lead. (Matt) Crafton was good tonight. I am not sure how we gained five points on him but we’ll take it. I just want to thank Longhorn, Copart VFW, everybody who helps us on this program.”

Matt Crafton

“The truck was really, really good. It started off really free, then we tightened it up a little bit and on that last run the track got a little more rubber and we just got too tight. And then, you know, we just couldn’t pass. It was plain and simple it was just a bottom feeder and if you just stayed on the bottom, it was the only way around. Then if you would catch a lapped guy, you had to catch him at the right spot. That’s how Johnny got by me, he had a really fast truck but he caught me at the right place for him and wrong place for me. All in all, not a bad night but we lost some more points.”

Johnny Sauter

“Yeah, you know I mean it is good obviously and I am super-proud of all my guys on the Thorsport Fun Sand Curb Records Chevrolet. I really thought we had the truck to beat tonight but you know, I just got so tight in traffic but none-the-less it was a good race and this track is awesome. Its so funny though because this track races so different at night than it did yesterday during practice. I ran a completely different line and now I get the Richmond comparison so I drove it a lot like Richmond here tonight. It was a good night for us, not what we want but I suspect we will be getting a lot better here over the next couple of weeks.”

Austin Dillon

“Tonight’s race was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the entire weekend in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and hope to be back soon. It was cool to bring back the black No. 3 Chevrolet Silverado at Iowa. The number carries so much history with it and to roll it out in my debut on the truck side was special. We had a truck capable of finishing in the top 10, but that spin cost us track position. I’m proud of how we bounced back and picked off those spots at the end. A special thanks to Bad Boy Mowers for tonight and a big thanks to everyone back at RCR and ECR for preparing a great Chevy Silverado this weekend.”

About General Motors:

General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 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 Company 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 Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Press Release

It is the 10th top-five and 13th top-10 finish for the three-time NCWTS champion who has won six times in the 15 races run to-date in the 2009 season.

Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menard’s Silverado, finished second in the 200-lap/100-mile race and continues to chase Hornaday in the standings holding the runner-up point’s position by 94 points over third.

Ryan Newman wheeled the No. 2 Pringles Silverado to a fourth place finish in a third entry from the Kevin Harvick, Inc. stables.

Kyle Busch (Toyota) won the race and Brian Scott (Toyota) completed the top-five.

The next race on the NCWTS schedule will be on August 28th at Chicagoland Speedway.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

O’REILLY 200

BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY

TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES & QUOTES

AUGUST 19, 2009

Matt Crafton

MATT CRAFTON, NO. 88 MENARDS SILVERADO, FINISHED 2ND: YOU GUYS JUST DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TO GET TO THE 51 TONIGHT?

“No, but these guys did an awesome job tonight. If you had any idea of all the changes these guys made to this truck today……….I mean we were coil-bound all day and right there at the very, very end and the last change we went to conventional and just threw everything at it but the kitchen sink and it’s all about these guys behind me that work their butts off. I have to thank them, and Menards and Chevy………….and gosh this thing was good but we were short on fuel and they kept telling me to soft-peddle and save fuel but all-in-all a good night.”

YOU NEEDED A LONG GREEN FLAG RUN:

“Yes, definitely. Our truck, it was just unbelievable how good that thing on long run. It wouldn’t take off for about four or five laps, then it just kept getting better and better as we went along. I can’t thank these guys on this Menard’s Chevy Silverado enough. They busted their tails today. We were coil-bound and then the last five minutes of practice we went conventional and I threw everything at this thing to start the race and we had no idea what we had. It was about 15 laps in to the race and I told them that I thought we had a pretty good piece.

“I was so sick when that yellow came out with 20 or 30 laps to go. I thought we were better than him on a long green flag run. They were reading me lap times, if they were really telling me what they were, we were faster than him on the long run. You know how crew chiefs always tell you that you are catching the leader. Good night for us.”

Ron Hornaday

“I told Kevin (Harvick) a top-five here tonight would be great here. We have such bad luck here. We run good, we just have bad luck. Rick Ren made a great call on our only stop for this Georgia Boot Chevrolet. It was cool. I learned a bunch. Kyle (Busch was just so dominate up top. He had his truck free enough at the beginning and I learned that and then when he pitted and then came right back in for fuel, that is what hurt us right there. We lost so much track position right there. It was my own fault, I should have been paying attention, I was following the guy in front of me.

“Overall, winning five in a row. I have to thank of these fans and everything that has been written. It has been a lot of fun. We will just start all over again.”

RON, YOU KNEW THAT THE STREAK HAD TO END AT SOME POINT.

“I did and you know, Bristol is one of the toughest ones here. I found something out with ten to go and I don’t know. I just left a lot out there and I was pretty conservative and I got a top-five and that’s what I needed for these points and I have to thank Georgia Boots, Longhorn, VFW, Miller Welders, and everybody that has been really supportive of our team. It’s been pretty cool and I hope these fans enjoyed the race and we were coming through the pack there and I should have followed Kyle down there and got fuel but I didn’t, and that’s what hurt us right there.”

YOU DON’T GET MANY CHANCES TO ADJUST THE TRUCK OR MAKE CHANGES DO YOU?

“No, we had one chance right there and he got it really free and the way I was driving it I made it tight, and towards the end I got it better.”

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH YOUR POINTS LEAD?

“All the races, You just saw what can happen. You can run third all day long, but when (Matt) Crafton keeps doing that and running like that, he is going to make points on us. It was a good points day for us and we will take it. We have Talladega coming up and Martinsville coming up, heck we don’t know. It takes a lot of people to do this.

“I have to thank Georgia Boot, VPW, COPART, Longhorn, Chevrolet, Mark Smith, everybody. It has been quite a ride and we aren’t done yet.”

Ryan Newman

“Well, I felt like I or we let the guys down. We didn’t come back in and get our fuel and lost a lot of track position on that deal and just never got it back. We had a fast truck with this Pringles Chevrolet, but just lost or track position and just never got it back. Ultimately it’s my fault. I just didn’t know I was supposed to come back in for the fuel deal, just not used to it. Guess you can call it a rookie mistake.”

Kevin Harvick

“No. (Laughs) It is just incredible to see the roll that these guys have gone on. The whole team and Ron, Rick (Ren, crew chief) and everybody at the shop being a part of it. These guys on the No. 4 and the No. 33 put each other’s trucks together. They put the No. 2 truck together with the Nationwide crew. It is fun to see everybody work together and winning races. You just don’t ever know when you are going to win the next one let alone five in a row, but a good night all around for Georgia Boot and Pringles and the Fitzpatricks. Two trucks in the top-five and three trucks in the top-11, Hard to complain. This has been one of our worst tracks for whatever reason as far as performance and to have two trucks in the top-five is a huge accomplishment.

HOW MUCH ENJOYMENT HAVE YOU GOTTEN OUT OF THE OWNERSHIP SIDE THIS SEASON?

“Well, than having a miserable year on the Cup side, really the rest of it has been really good. We got our first win in the Nationwide car and for the most part, that car runs in the top-five every week. We were able to win a truck race and seeing Ron win all his truck races, I think we have won seven (7) out of the 15 truck races. That has been fun. This takes a little bit of pressure of off that, but Sunday’s have still been miserable.”

About General Motors:

General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 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 Company 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 Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications Press Release

JULY 24, 2009

Ron Hornaday Wins at O’Reilly Raceway Park to Become First Driver in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series History to Win Four Consecutive Races; Extends his Lead in the Point Standings to 174 Points

Indianapolis, IN – Ron Hornaday, Jr. made NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history tonight at O’Reilly Raceway Park (ORP) taking his No. 33 VFW.org Silverado to victory lane to become the first driver to win four consecutive races.

It was the three-time NCWTS champion’s third win at ORP and the 44th of his career. He extended his lead in the point standings to 174 points with 13 of 25 races in the 2009 record books as he battles for an unprecedented fourth title.

Dennis Setzer, No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Silverado finished fourth.

Mike Skinner (Toyota), Aric Almirola (Toyota) and Colin Braun (Ford) completed the top-five finishers.

The next event for the NCWTS will be on August 1, 2009 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Ron Hornaday

“I have to thank Kevin and DeLana (Harvick, team owners). People ask me how I do it and it is those two people right there. They just keep putting trucks underneath us, getting the right employees, just so. awesome. Mark Smith and everybody at the motor shop, PME, and especially all these fans. This is so cool to come around and see them put their hands up. This is what makes it so special. I have my wife here, this is so cool.

“We were just really tight on those long runs and I just kept playing with the rear brake and all that stuff. Then (Mike) Skinner put those tires on and I thought he had us. Once I found a groove that worked. I saw Kyle Busch run up and you can get a good run off. If you miss it by a half inch, you are going to get loose up off. I concentrated every time and when Mike got that good run off of there and he could have put me up against the fence, but he didn’t. We haven’t got a mark on this truck. I have to thank Mike for that.

“Colin Braun ran one heck of a race. Man this is what the truck series is all about, this is a lot of fun.”

HOW ABOUT FOUR IN A ROW, HOW DO YOU GUYS DO IT?

“Kevin and DeLana (Harvick). That’s all you can say. Another brand new truck. (Mike) Skinner had tires and I didn’t think I had him. I’ve got to thank VFW and Longhorn, Hungry Man, Vlassic Pickles I get to run them tomorrow that’s going to be fun. I tell you Mark Smith and them guys put on these motors, I’ve really got to thank them and all the guys back at the shop, everyone of these guys right here. Four in a row, that’s cool. Three has been done and to do this says a lot. I tell you Colin Braun I thought he was going to win this thing, he had a better truck and he rolled through the center better. Skinner put tires on and I don’t know how I held him off. I’ve got to thank him for running such a clean race. He definitely had a better truck toward the end. Kevin and DeLana this one is for you guys. This is cool.”

DID YOU KNOW THAT SKINNER WAS COMING AS FAST AS HE WAS?

“Yeah, he put tires on and I said can’t we come in and put tires on with six to eight to go? It’s just an awesome night. I know I’m forgetting everybody, Rick Carelli. Goodyear brought a brand new tire, an awesome tire. This says a lot for the Truck Series. I tell you what I wanted that fourth one so bad.”

I HOPE YOU HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TO SAVOR THIS BECAUSE ITS REALLY QUITE AN OCCASION AND THE MOMENTUM YOU’VE PUT TOGETHER WITH THIS TEAM IS SOEMTHING WE HAVEN’T SEEN IN A LONG, LONG TIME.

“Well I’m going to keep taking my hat off to Kevin and DeLana. Everybody back at the track that are working real hard to get these sponsors. I mean there are a lot of them and I know I’m forgetting some of them. Copart and VFW again there’s jsut a lot of them. Just to see how everything is working and Kevin and DeLana working hard to keep everybody together. We’ve got nine trucks that they’ve put bodies on. This just says a lot for KHI. Kevin and DeLana have just really built the program up where its a lot of fun to race and a lot of fun to drive their stuff. When you win four in a row you can’t get tired of nothing.”

DENNIS SETZER, NO. 8 MALCOLMSON CONSTRUCTION SILVERADO, FINISHED 4TH:

“We were just fortunate. Randy Dean (crew chief) and these guys did a good job making adjustments. We were just fair to start with but they just kept plugging along making adjustments and did what we needed to do. We are having fun. It is good to be racing again. This team needs to be in the top-three every week. We just need to get the consistent runs to be up there.

“Randy did a good job making the call on the tires. Man, that is a lot of fun when you have tires and those other guys don’t. I was in that situation early in the race. We stayed out one time and I was sitting duck and kind of rode it out. I just went a lap down and the caution came out. But we rallied back.”

Matt Crafton

“Like I said to the guys I’ve got big shoulders. I made a mistake. We talked about coming down pit road going down the front straightaway and I just followed the leaders right by pit road. My truck was good on the short run. It would go 10 laps and then it would just fall off real bad. I made the mistake. I’ve got big shoulders and I hate it for the team because I made the mistake going by pit road and didn’t get tires. Like I said that happens.”

TALK ABOUT THE FOCUS AS WE GO DOWN THE STRETCH AND YOU CONTINUE IN THIS POINTS BATTLE.

“I’m just going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve been so good on our intermediate track stuff. Our short track stuff we went and tested this week and I thought we made some progress. We made our stuff go on the short run but it wasn’t as good on the long run. We’ve just got to work on it more. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep up with the No. 33 except on these short tracks. I think next week when we go to Nashville we’ll be just fine.Our intermediate stuff is pretty good.”

About General Motors:

General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 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 Company 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 Company can be found at www.gm.com.