Rains may have dampened everyone's spirits early in the day, but a dominant performance left two-time series champion and current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship point leader Ron Hornaday in a jubilant mood following the New Hampshire 200 on Saturday. Hornaday started from the pole after qualifying was cancelled by the early morning rains and from there dominated, leading 174 laps en route to his fourth victory of the 2007 season.

With only four cautions throughout the day to slow the pace, Hornaday was able to stretch the legs underneath his No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet, at times opening up a 6-plus second advantage. Behind him, Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine spent several laps trying to decide who would run second. But within the final 30 laps, Erik Darnell's truck came to life and he charge past both Skinner and Bodine. Darnell was able to hold on to second, but was never able to significantly reduce Hornaday's advantage. At the end, Hornaday won by 4.2 seconds.

"I have to credit Rick Ren and all these guys for giving me such strong trucks," Hornaday said after the race. "The guys at RCR have really helped us out to understand this coil binding package. This is the third time we've raced this truck and it's always finished second. We had a new truck ready to go but we decided to go back to this one. To come out here and to be as dominant as we were, it was unbelievable."

Hornaday was good in practice yesterday, and his team was prepared for the changes in track conditions that were anticipated when the forecasted inclement weather struck.

"We were good in practice yesterday and in the heat of the day," Hornaday said. "We put old tires on it and it did the same thing with 70 laps on it. We were ready for the rain because we knew it was coming. The only thing about it we don't like is getting the pole because of the rain. We know Skinner is a good qualifier and he can always pull one out when it counts, but we thought we had a chance to get the pole this weekend too. But to start from the pole and win the race is pretty cool."

Darnell was able to reduce Hornaday's lead from nearly six seconds with 35 laps to go down to 4.2 seconds at the finish, but didn't have anything for the 1996 Loudon winner unless there was a caution near the end. While others may have been frustrated at being as fast, or faster, than the winner at the end, Darnell was pleased with his team's performance and his finish.

"This has been such a frustrating year for us," Darnell said. "John Quinn and the guys did a great job for us before this week, and Matt Puccia and his guys did a great job here. We might had had something for Ron if we got there, but the only way we were going to catch him was if there was a caution."

Mike Skinner, No. 5 Toyota Tundra kept the points chase close with a third place finish at Loudon. (Ronda Greer Photo)

Mike Skinner started alongside Hornaday at the start and was able to lead 13 laps after he won the race off pit road during the first round of pit stops. But with every point on the line as the chase for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship heats up, Skinner was upset that he gave up 20 points to Hornaday.

"Third sucks," Skinner said. "Ron won a race a few weeks ago and we were third and it just left us feeling empty inside. We have good equipment, we're making good calls in the box, pit stops were phenomenal today and there's nothing I can really complain about. We just got our butts whipped."

Defending series champion Todd Bodine was fourth and Mike Bliss rounded out the top five finishers. Rick Crawford, Ted Musgrave, Johnny Benson, Jon Wood, and Shane Sieg rounded out the top ten.

The race ran cleanly, with just three incidents throughout the day. Early on, Scott Lynch spun in turn three and backed into the wall. Just a few laps after the restart, Chad Chaffin and Clint Bowyer came together coming off turn two, collecting Aric Almirola and Stacy Compton as well. Chaffin and Bowyer were forced to retire due to the damage. The final caution of the day came out with 60 laps to go when Kyle Busch spun and crashed in turn three.

There were a total of six lead changes among five drivers. Hornaday averaged 109.78 miles per hour as he collected his 33rd career series win.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series moves to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the Las Vegas 350.