HORNADAY: Q & A
07-17-2009 12:58 am

This will be a big weekend for Ron Hornaday Jr., the three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and current series points leader.

Hornaday has won the two most recent NCWTS events at Milwaukee and Memphis in his No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet Silverado out of the Kevin Harvick Inc. stables. On Saturday, he will look to make it three in a row with the running of the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway, a track that's never had a repeat Truck winner.

These topics and more were discussed by Hornaday in this week's NASCAR teleconference. Excerpts follow.

Talk about your outlook this weekend at Kentucky.
Taking another new truck there. So optimistic. I mean, I know the track, it's changed. The only fortunate thing we have up at KHI is we already ran a Nationwide race there. … Everybody is going to work real hard on that Longhorn Chevrolet this weekend just to get it over the bumps. That track has started to age. It's going to be a multi-groove race. I'm looking forward to it.

What do you feel is the toughest thing for drivers in general to be able to compete at this level that you compete at, and what is still toughest for you?
When the Truck Series started, they called it the stepping grounds to get your feet wet, to learn the radial tires, learn the different tracks, learn the pit stops, to move on to a different series. What the Truck Series has done in the last 15 years, it's made its own identity. Now it's standalone.

It's just tough to come in there. Just to get to know the racetracks, you can see from some of the racetracks from the first and second year, when you go back there, you see how much you learn about them, learn about the other drivers. That's the biggest thing with Ricky Carmichael (rookie teammate at KHI), is learning how to drive the other drivers. When you get underneath somebody, different manufacturers, the trucks are maybe tighter or looser. That still is the toughest right now. (Crew chief) Rick Ren and everybody at KHI is really working hard to get a different balance I should say with the approved spatial plates that we have to run to get it down the straightaway faster and still have the handling ability. We're still working hard on it. Just knowing the different racetracks and who to race.

What remains the biggest thrill for you that really hasn't changed?
Well, I'm fortunate enough to drive for Kevin and Delana (Harvick). They give me an opportunity to drive fast stuff. I know every time we unload, we have an opportunity to run in the top five if not win the race. That makes me feel good. My kids are growing up now. I don't have to worry about putting shoes on their feet. Now I can just go out there and just have fun racing and go after all them trophies. The NASCAR Truck Series is definitely putting on some beautiful looking trophies. I got that last Elvis trophy, Memphis trophy up there. It's pretty cool.

You mentioned trophies. Mark Martin after a while says they get a little bit invisible. Do they get invisible for you?
No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I was just up there last night showing some people the room. I'm trying to get my wife, she got me a theater room about 10 years ago. My trophy room is kind of small. It's getting smaller each week. So I'm gonna try to enhance it back into the theater room and go from there.

I had a question about Brian Scott and Tayler Malsam. They are near the top in points. Do you see them continuing to do well this year and having a good future in the Truck Series?
Yeah, Brian Scott especially. He's a good friend of mine. We hang out a lot together. The way he's racing with one arm, basically I call him the one-arm bandit now, he's definitely got the drive, he's got the capability, the team and everything behind him. With his crew chief now believing in his driving style, that's what it takes, is just two people really hooking up together. Then the rest of the team will follow.

How hard do you think it is driving with a broken wrist at a high level?
I had my appendix out a couple years ago. I got to run a truck race at Gateway. Once you strap in there and you put that seat belt on, you don't think about it until you're running bad. When you start running bad, that's when everything starts hurting. Your wrist hurts, your head, your appendix, whatever it is. But when you've been running as good as he's been running, you don't even notice he's got a broken wrist. They change the cast every week. It's a little flexible. He's actually doing a great job with it. I told him just to keep the cast on, it's the best races he's been running.

Kentucky Speedway has many grooves.
Yeah, that's what we were just talking about, how the track is getting aged now, the bumps are coming into effect. Kentucky is one of them places where they're doing it right. They're not going out there and grinding the bumps and all that. Actually now you have to work on your shock package, you got to work on your spring package, don't take the balance off and everything. It's definitely going to put it in the crew chief and driver's hands. That track has multi-grooves. It puts on one of the best races out there.

Can you dominate at that track as you've done the last two races?
I sure hope so. I know Rick Ren and Danny Stockman, everybody up there at KHI is working hard to do that. They keep putting new trucks underneath me. Real fortunate the truck I ran the last two weeks, I think it's ran six times and has won four. If we put another truck like them, we're going to keep them, Ricky can have a rest, we just need two good trucks right now.

What is your favorite track, or which one do you wish we still raced at?
My favorite track is the one I win at. That's always my answer. I really miss the road courses. Truck Series puts on a great show at every road course we've been to, Topeka, Watkins Glen, Sears Point, now Infineon. It shows kind of your talent. You turn left and right. Instead of just sitting there following the guys, worrying about aerodynamics, you have to make the truck handle and turn left and right. I really miss the short tracks. I always thought if it could be like ARCA races a little bit where they go to dirt tracks, different venues of different tracks. NASCAR is doing that. The only thing they're missing is the road courses and dirt tracks.

Do you think you stand a good chance of winning another Camping World Truck Series championship this year?
Well, we're sure gonna try. We gave that one away last year. Going down into Phoenix, the first lap I wreck with Kyle Busch. He got a good run on the outside, it sucked me around. That's what we were just talking about with Ricky. It's how you drive different people and how the truck reacts different, different manufacturers. My truck got extremely loose. I ended up wrecking half the field doing that.

Johnny (Benson) ended up having problems when we went to Homestead. Anything can happen. We've already led the points once this year. Had three bad races, blew a tire, had another tire problem the following week. Just as long as we keep living by our mistakes, don't let what happened to us last year, we definitely have a good shot. Kevin and Delana have definitely given us the equipment, all the tools, people, back in my hands, Rick's hands, the whole team. We'll do everything we can. I'd really like my fourth championship.