Defending series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. scored an utterly dominating victory from the pole in Saturday night's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Hornaday's Camping World No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado survived a record number of cautions to best his KHI teammate Jack Sprague, who finished second in his No. 2 American Commercial Lines Chevy, ahead of the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 of rookie Colin Braun, who finished a career-best third. Johnny Benson was fourth in his Toyota.

"We raised the bar last year when we won the championship," said Hornaday's crew chief, Rick Ren. "That 33 Camping World Chevrolet fell out of the truck fast yesterday and hasn't slowed since then."

It was Hornaday's 34th career victory and his first since New Hampshire late last year. All told, he led 134 of 167 laps.

From the get-go the KHI Chevys clearly had the measure of the field, with the only question being whether they would have enough gas to go the distance.  Hornaday broke clear on the opening lap, with Sprague taking the second spot from Chad McCumbee and the No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Silverado on Lap 2.  The two KHI drivers were both piloting brand-new chassis and early on, they clearly were the class of the field with Hornaday opening a 1.8-second lead on Sprague by Lap 15, with McCumbee a full 5 seconds back in third.

The first caution flag came out after Mario Gosselin's Chevrolet grenaded its motor. That sent the field to the pits on Lap 27, with McCumbee taking fuel only and getting out of the pits first, ahead of Sprague and Hornaday, both of whom opted for four tires along with their fuel.

The track went green on Lap 31 and Hornaday immediately reclaimed second place on the restart. He then took the lead back on Lap 32, with Sprague following him back into second place.

On Lap 36, Stacy Compton's Dodge Dealers Dodge Tam got loose and spun in Turns 1 and 2, collecting Jon Wood's U.S. Air Force Ford in the process, both vehicles suffering heavy damage in the process. During the ensuing caution, McCumbee pitted for the tires he didn't take 10 laps earlier, dropping him deep in the field.

That left Hornaday and Sprague out front when the green flag flew on Lap 43, ahead of Braun and his teammate, Erik Darnell's No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford. Todd Bodine was fifth in the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota.

Hornaday led his teammate lead a lap and collect 5 bonus points on Lap 47, then went right back in front. Five laps later, the track went yellow again when Shane Sieg's Miccosukee Indians Toyota Tundra got loose and tapped first Brendan Gaughan's International MAXX Force Diesel F-150 and then the Turn 4 wall.

On Lap 53, most of the leaders pitted, but McCumbee stayed out and took over the top spot ahead of Sprague, Mike Skinner's Toyota Tundra, Braun and Hornaday. But Darnell, last year's winner, got tagged by Rick Crawford's Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 coming out of Turn 2, knocking him out of contention for a repeat victory.

Rookie Landon Cassell brought out the next caution after spinning his unsponsored Chevy at the exit to Turn 4 on Lap 66, chewing up a fair amount of infield grass in the process and sending most of the field back down pit road. Sprague led on the Lap 71 restart, out in front of Johnny Benson's Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra  and a handful of other drivers who opted not to pit.

Rookie Marc Mitchell's great day ended two laps later, when his No. 15 Ergon Toyota tapped David Starr's Red Horse Racing Toyota and then bounced off Dennis Setzer's Arringtonengines.com Dodge as well.

Sprague pitted this time around. Once again, Hornaday found himself out front for the restart on Lap 78, leading Cook, Starr, Gaughan and Matt Crafton in the No. 88 Menard's Chevrolet. But Crafton's shot ended when Braun hit the back of him and shoved him into the wall on Lap 83.

Three laps later, Scott Lagasse crashed at the exit to Turn 2, bending up his Tad Geshickter-owned Ford F-150.

On the Lap 89 restart, Hornaday led Cook, Gaughan, Bodine and Braun. But the green lasted all of two laps, as Crafton's already damaged Chevy went around again. Skinner was up to fifth by now, but the top four remainder unchanged on the Lap 94 restart, with Hornaday leading Cook, Gaughan and Bodine.

Caution No. 8 came on Lap 107, when Andy Lally went backwards into the wall in his TRG /Adobe Road Winery Chevrolet. The lead-lap trucks all came in one lap later . This time Jack Smith stayed out to lead briefly in the Dave Porter Truck Sales Ford, but Starr led off pit road ahead of Donny Lia in the Autismspeaks.org/TRG Chevy and Hornaday.

After the restart, Lia got loose in Turn 4 and wrecked himself and Starr, tearing up both trucks severely. Gaughan pitted, but most of the other leaders stayed out. 

On the Lap 112 restart, Hornaday led Bodine and Benson. By Lap 121, Braun was up to third and heavily pressuring Bodine for second place, though he was unable to get around the 2006 series champ.

On Lap 126, Setzer's right-front tire blew at the exit to Turn 4, as he went into the wall and Bobby East went skidding through the infield grass in the No. 09 Zaxby's Ford.

Hornaday's crew chief Rick Ren said the team needed eight laps of caution to make it to the end of the race, and he hoped it would take the track crew a while to remove Setzer's stricken truck from the infield.

The green flew with 36 laps left, with Hornaday ahead of Bodine, the two breaking out while a fierce three-way battle ensued for third among Braun, Benson and Sprague. Braun solidified the spot after a couple of laps and set out after Bodine.

There was no question that Hornaday had a superior truck, but whether he had enough gas to go the distance remained an open question. With 15 laps to go, he had a 1.7-second lead over Bodine.

Then it all changed in a big way. With 12 laps to go, Bodine was attempted to lap East on the entrance to Turn 3, when his Toyota got loose and went around into the wall, giving Hornaday the extra caution-flag laps he needed to make it until the end with enough gas.

East left the bottom open for Bodine, but Bodine apparently misjudged his closing speed and lost it.

At the green flag, Hornaday led his teammate Sprague and Braun, with Benson fourth and Cook fifth. But Brian Scott spun to bring out a record 12th caution flag and at the same time, Cook's Toyota was smoking heavily. He was subsequently black-flagged.

The final caution set up a two-lap shootout and Hornaday was able to fend off his teammate for the victory.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.  He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.  The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to speedtvanswerman@gmail.com