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Hornaday Scores His 50th Truck Series Win

Sparta, Ky., Oct 1 – Ron Hornaday, driving for Kevin and Delana Harvick, scored his 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the Kentucky 225 at Kentucky Speedway. It was Hornaday’s third victory at the track.

After 36 laps of caution in the first 89 laps of the 150-lap race, the rest of the race was run under the green flag.

Fastest qualifier Austin Dillon elected to start the race on the outside of the front row. At the end of the first lap, the top three were running three-wide with Austin Dillon holding a slight lead over Hornaday, who started second, with Brian Ickler third.

Ickler took the lead on the second lap. He was leading when the first yellow came out on lap five after Josh Richards got loose while running under David Starr and hit the Turn 2 wall. Richards left a lot of fluid on the track as he drove to the pits causing a long yellow as oil dry was spread on the track.

Within the first five laps, Matt Crafton, who started at the rear of the field after changing an engine, headed to the pits and went behind the wall to change the rear end gear. Parker Kilgerman also pitted to change right side tires as he had a punctured tire.

The green came out on lap 12 with Ickler leading but he lost the lead the next lap to Ron Hornaday who led through the second yellow, which came out when Ryan Seig blew a tire, causing him to hit the wall in Turn 3.

Under the yellow, Matt Crafton, who had returned to the track after repairs, was given the wave around, giving him back the first of the three laps he eventually got back under yellows.

The pits were busy under this yellow and when the green came back out, Nelson Piquet, Jr. assumed the lead, holding it until he pitted under the next yellow, which occurred when Clay Greenfield hit the Turn 2 wall.

When the track once again went green, Timothy Peters led when the track once again went green on lap 45. His lead was short-lived however as the leaders came to the stripe three wide with Cole Whitt taking over the top spot, followed by Peters and Hornaday.

Peters had reassumed the lead when the most serious incident of the night occurred on lap 51 when Miguel Paludo spun and took Kligerman into the wall with him. Max Papis clipped Kligerman as he tried to squeeze between the two wrecked trucks, damaging his mount. None of the drivers were injured.

As the green came back out on lap 58, Peters was in the leads but relinquished it to Hornaday on the next lap, by lap 65 held a 1.6 second lead over Piquet and Austin Dillon.

The yellow banner was unfurled yet again on lap 67 after John King spun out in Turn 4. Under the yellow, most of the field elected to pit.

Johnny Sauter did not pit and assumed the lead when the field as the track went back to green on lap 70 but only held it for one lap as Piquet took over the top spot.

During pit stops Joey Coulter collided with Blake Feese, spinning Feese and damaging his car.

At lap 75, the halfway point of the race, the top ten were Piquet, Sauter, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Hornaday, Whitt, Justin Lofton, Dakota Armstrong, James Buescher and Ickler, with Piquet holding a 1.3 second lead.

Ross Chastain brought out the yellow yet again after spinning and coming to a stop on the front straightaway. This was a short yellow, lasting just four laps. At the green, Piquet still led followed by Whitt, Austin Dillon, Buescher and Sauter.

What turned out to be the final yellow of the evening was waved when Brendan Gaughan spun in Turn 2 and brushed the outside wall on the 87th lap.

This was declared a quick yellow by the officials, allowing all cars to pit at the same time. Piquet and Whitt took advantage of the opportunity to come to pit road, allowing Austin Dillon to assume the lead.

At the green Dillon was followed by Buescher, Armstrong and Sauter with Ickler rounding out the top five.

As soon as the green flag flew, Buescher and Austin Dillon were side-by-side, swapping the lead for the next several laps, but there was concern in the Richard Childress pit as the water temperature in Dillon’s car began to climb.

At lap 100, the top five were Austin Dillon, Buescher, Hornaday, Armstrong and Ty Dillon. By lap 102, Austin Dillon held a 3.2 second lead over Buescher.

As the laps ran down, green flag pit stops began. During these stops, both Sauter and Peters served penalties for being too fast in the pits, putting both out of contention for the win.

On lap 120, Austin Dillon made a pit stop under the green, relinquishing the lead to Hornaday.

Hornaday stretched the lead before heading to the pits on lap 133, giving the lead back to Piquet, who led until he pitted on lap 138, giving the lead to Todd Bodine for one lap until Bodine pitted for fuel, which cycled the race lead back to Hornaday.

In the final 10 laps, the race became a contest between Hornaday and Austin Dillon with Hornaday having just a .2 second lead on Dillon.

It became apparent as the race neared its end that Dillon would not be able to catch Hornaday. Dillon was the only one even close to Hornaday as the race finished with only six cars on the lead lap.

As the checkered came out at the end of the 150-lap event, Hornaday had captured his 50th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory by .438 seconds over Austin Dillon. Buescher finished third, followed by Piquet and Ickler, who rounded out the top five.

Hornaday’s first truck series win came in the Series’ second race on April 8, 2005 at Tuscon Raceway Park.

As Hornaday celebrated his victory, his good friend Todd Bodine came into Victory Circle and offered a congratulatory hug. Many other drivers also offered their congratulations.

The victory was bittersweet as Hornaday’s car owners Kevin and Delana Harvick are disbanding the team at the end of the season, leaving Hornaday currently without a ride for the 2012 season.

“I want to thank Kevin and Delana for the opportunity,” Hornaday said following his victory. “They believe in me and I want to thank them for putting me in the truck.”

“This is pretty cool at age 53 (the 50th victory.) Its kind of a boost that is needed right now,” he added.

When he spoke of his job search he said, “I really haven’t looked yet. I’ve been told to bring money. I never had to do that before, but I think that’s where the series is going.”

Hornaday is the last of the regulars in the series that has been competing in it since his inception and he sent a bit of a message to one of the most formidable of his formers competitors when he said, regarding his 50th victory, “Jack Sprague, eat your heart out!”

Summary
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Kentucky Speedway Kentucky 225

FIN ST CAR DRIVER STATUS

1 2 2 Ron Hornaday 150 Running
2 1 3 Austin Dillon 150 Running
3 8 31 James Buescher 150 Running
4 3 8 Nelson Piquet Jr. 150 Running
5 4 18 Brian Ickler 150 Running
6 16 4 Ricky Carmichael 150 Running
7 12 5 Todd Bodine 149 Running
8 10 60 Cole Whitt 149 Running
9 20 98 Dakoda Armstrong 149 Running
10 14 81 David Starr 149 Running
11 5 6 Justin Lofton 149 Running
12 35 32 Blake Feese 149 Running
13 9 22 Joey Coulter 148 Running
14 17 13 Johnny Sauter 148 Running
15 24 33 Cale Gale 148 Running
16 25 92 Clay Rogers 148 Running
17 13 17 Timothy Peters 148 Running
18 15 121 Ty Dillon 147 Running
19 18 62 Brendan Gaughan 147 Running
20 36 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb 145 Running
21 32 57 Norm Benning 143 Running
22 23 66 Ross Chastain 142 Running
23 6 88 Matt Crafton 141 Running
24 19 23 Jason White 131 Oil Pump
25 21 7 Miguel Paludo 109 Running
26 29 93 B.J. McLeod 88 Overheating
27 30 07 John King 72 Accident
28 22 9 Max Papis 51 Accident
29 7 29 Parker Kligerman 49 Accident
30 34 168 Clay Greenfield 40 Accident
31 28 87 Chris Jones 29 Rear Gear
32 26 138 Mike Garvey 21 Clutch
33 27 39 Ryan Sieg 19 Accident
34 11 151 Josh Richards 4 Accident
35 31 174 Mike Harmon 4 Engine
36 33 127 Brent Raymer 2 Vibration

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