Ron Hornaday Jr. sits backwards on the start finish line at New Hampshire International Speedway. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Ron Hornaday Jr. toyed with the rest of the field Saturday and cruised to a comfortable win in the New Hampshire 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Hornaday beat Erik Darnell to the finish line by 4.211 seconds, and in doing so, the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet extended his series points lead over third-place finisher Mike Skinner to 29 points. The victory was Hornaday's fourth of the season and the 33rd of his Truck Series career.

"It's just awesome to get this truck to do what it's done," said Hornaday, who led 174 of the 200 laps. "We've finished second three times in this truck, and now we've finally won one. This truck was unbelievable.

"If we don't do it, Skinner will, so we've got to go out there and try to dominate and lead as many laps as we can."

Hornaday, who started from the pole position because Saturday morning qualifying was rained out, took the lead for the final time on Lap 143 when Willie Allen, Shane Sieg, Jon Wood and Clay Rogers made scheduled pit stops under caution for Kyle Busch's spin in Turn 3.

Mike Skinner finished third at NHIS. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

"We just flat out got our butts whipped today," Skinner said. "Ronnie put on a clinic, kind of like what we did at Kentucky. They've got it going on the way we did at the beginning of the year. It was a good race -- but kind of boring. The 33 led too much."

Darnell was hoping for a yellow flag toward the end of the race, but the event ran caution-free for the final 55 laps as Hornaday pulled away.

"We had a good truck in practice (on Friday)," Darnell said. "I wish we could have qualified, but we had good pit stops all day long, and we were able to come away with a second-place finish."

Though Hornaday had the dominant truck on Saturday, Skinner cautioned that there are seven races left on the schedule.

"We've got some good racetracks coming," Skinner said. "So I don't think you should fit the crown just yet."

SOURCE: NASCAR Communications