Race winner Ron Hornaday waves the checkered flag after taking his first win of the season. (Jenna Wolford/High Sierra Photo)

Last year, Ron Hornaday left Mansfield Motorsports Speedway in a state of frustration. After dominating the race here last year, a late-race penalty for jumping a restart left him mired back in the pack and out of contention to win. Upon returning in 2006, Hornaday, driving Kevin Harvick's No. 33 Chevrolet, leaves vindicated after picking up his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record 28th-career victory in the City of Mansfield 250.

Hornaday looked to have his work cut out for him early on as the Germain Racing teammates Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave made a shambles of the field. Bodine started from the pole by virtue of his current standing in the series owner's points, and led the first 117 laps of the event with ease. However, the longer Bodine and Musgrave stayed out, the larger Hornaday loomed in their mirror. Hornaday pitted on lap 44, and his truck came to life and he quickly chased down the lead duo. Finally, under the eighth caution of the day - of a series record 18 which consumed 85 laps - Bodine and then Musgrave peeled off to pit road, handing the lead over to Hornaday.

"It's been an emotional week," Hornaday said. "We lost Ann, a girl who works in our office. She lost her life and we don't really know why. And T.J. Clark and his family lost their son Spencer. It's just been an emotional week. That's partly what that burnout was all about, I wanted to get a few minutes to get my emotions under control. But I am a competitive person, and (Kevin) Harvick always says he is the king of burnouts, and I wanted to show him I could go all the way around the track lighting them up. I guess that shows you how hard the tires are here that we went all that way and only blew out the right front."

There were a series record 18 caution flags, breaking the record set in April at Martinsville. The 85 caution laps held the average speed to just 62.999 miles per hour. Virtually every truck in the field showed battle scars of short track competition, and although many were involved in incidents there were only a couple that involved heavy wall contact. Aric Almirola got together with Mike Skinner on lap 163 that sent him hard into the inside wall on the frontstretch. Skinner was again involved in another incident, this time on the backstetch with Bobby East that sent East hard into the outside wall in turn three. Skinner and East were involved in a lap-long bumping grudge match that culminated in the accident.

Bodine and Musgrave each earned their worst finishes of the the 2006 season, finishing 15th and 16th respectively. Bodine continues to lead the championship standings by 20 over Musgrave. Reutimann is third, Starr fourth, Benson fifth, Sprague sixth, Setzer seventh, Crafton eighth, Terry Cook ninth, and Bliss tenth.