Ron Hornaday added to his trophy collection on Saturday with his well-earned victory at New Hampshire International Speedway. With this win, along with his three previous wins this season, he has now amassed a record-breaking 33 career victories in the NASCAR Truck Series.
Hornaday's Camping World Chevrolet was a contender as soon as the first practice session began Friday morning. Hornaday turned 41 laps, and posted the second quickest time of 29.758 seconds (127.992 mph). During the final practice session, Hornaday ran 33 laps, including several qualifying runs. He ended the final practice session second, with a time of 29.526 seconds (128.998 mph).
The championship leader started from the pole position for the first time this season when qualifying was canceled due to a heavy morning rainfall and NASCAR set the field by owner's points.
A great start for Hornaday gave him an immediate four length truck lead ahead of second place championship contender Mike Skinner, who quickly fell back to third. The field began to stack up two and three-wide as Hornaday continued to pull away with ease.
Hornaday led the field to pit road for a scheduled pit stop while under the first caution of the day on lap 39. The Camping World team changed four tires and added fuel to the No. 33 Chevrolet, but unexpected trouble with one of the front tires slowed the stop and Hornaday restarted in second.
On lap 51, Hornaday dove inside of Mike Skinner in turn three and they began to race side-by-side but Hornaday soon completed the pass. With Hornaday back in the lead, the field was fighting for position behind him, and it was evident early on that no one had anything for the No. 33.
At the halfway point of the 200-lap event, Hornaday had a 1.6 second lead over Todd Bodine.
While still in the lead, Hornaday headed to pit road on lap 129 for a scheduled green-flag stop for four tires and fuel only. When Hornaday rejoined the field, he was a lap down with the front six trucks still left to pit.
The caution flag flew again on lap 142 and the trucks that had not pitted began heading to pit road for service. Once the field cycled through the last caution period, Hornaday was able to reclaim the lead.
As the race went back to green on lap 144, Hornaday meticulously maneuvered his way through the lapped trucks. Once Hornaday cleared all of the lapped machines he was easily pulling away from the field once again.
Crew chief Rick Ren told his driver that with 15 laps to go, he had a 4.9 second lead over the field. Hornaday replied, "I'm not even giving it everything."
By lap 178, Hornaday had a six second lead over second place Erik Darnell, and it was clear that unless there was another caution, Darnell would not be able to reach Hornaday.
Hornaday crossed the start-finish line in first place after leading 174 of 200 possible laps. He is the only repeat winner in the 12 race Truck Series history at New Hampshire International Speedway. His first win at New Hampshire occurred in 1996. Hornaday's margin of victory over Darnell was 4.21 seconds. Previously, the margin of victory had never been more than one second.
Hornaday, already first in the Championship Point Standings, extended his lead over Mike Skinner to 29 points.
Ron Hornaday Quotes: "I can't say that I have ever had a truck that was as good as what I had today. I can't thank Camping World, Chevrolet, Rick Ren, Kevin and DeLana Harvick enough. We have to thank everybody who has anything to do with this team and this effort. What an awesome crew. Danny and all those guys do an awesome job on this truck. This is the same truck we have finished twice with three times, and we finally won with it. This is our lucky charm right here. Wow, 33 wins, that is unbelievable, that is cool.
"KHI keeps putting awesome trucks underneath me week in and week out. It is just unbelievable to be able to race this hard and to finish like this."
Rick Ren Quote: "We figured out a couple weeks ago that we have to qualify well, lead the most laps and just race to win because this championship is going to come down to the wire. The Camping World Silverado was just bad. I mean, she was just fast right out of the hauler. That truck has finished second three times and she finally got to go to victory lane."