BRISTOL, Tenn. (August 20, 2010)—- Ron Hornaday wanted to do the Ickey Shuffle in victory lane at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in homage to his new sponsor Tide/Kroger and Darrell Waltrip who took the “Tide ride” to victory lane at the “World’s Fastest Half-mile” in 1989. However, an on-track incident on lap 52 placed Hornaday one lap down in the 34th position. Hornaday spent the remaining 135 laps fighting his way back through traffic and avoiding a record tying 12 caution periods, to finish the O’Reilly 200 in the third position, his third top-10 finish in a row.
“It was a good night for the No. 33 Tide/Kroger Chevrolet,” said Hornaday after the race Wednesday night. “It really should have been a lot better, but after we pitted we got stuck back in the thick of things in the field. I’m not sure how the No. 12 truck got in front of us, but for some reason he got loose and came down over the nose of my truck sending me into the inside wall. The truck didn’t get too much damage, but we had to fix it which cost us a lap and then we just had to fight traffic the rest of the night. I think had the race gone green the rest of the way I might have had Aric [Almirola], but with all the stuff we went through tonight I’ll take a third-place finish.”
Hornaday began the O’Reilly 200 from the fifth position. The high speeds at the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway saw action quick and often during the 200-lap event. The first caution of the night waved on lap 11 with the No. 33 scored in the third position, Hornaday radioed his crew chief Kevin Buskirk to inform him that the truck was a little free off (the corner), but it was coming to him. Under the third caution of the night on lap 37, the No. 33 team decided to come down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. The timing was just right for the team as they knew from that lap on the No. 33 could make it the rest of the race on fuel.
However, differing pit strategies were abundant throughout the field, miring Hornaday deep in the pack in the 22nd position for the restart on lap 39. Stuck in traffic, Hornaday carefully began to pick his way back toward the front of the field. By lap 50, he was scored in the 17th position. Two laps later Hornaday got under the No. 12 truck passing in the bottom lane. The No. 12 came down on the
No. 33 taking the air off of Hornaday sending him spinning down the 36-degrees of banking at Bristol into the inside wall. The No. 33 truck sustained minimal damage, but Hornaday did bring the No. 33 down pit road on lap 55 to repair the splitter and check for any other issues to the nose of the truck. After repairing the damage, the team took two right-side tires and filled the truck with fuel. The race restarted on lap 56 with Hornaday scored in the 34th position one lap down to the leaders.
A timely caution on lap 62 resulted in Hornaday being awarded the “lucky dog” so that he could return to the lead lap. The No. 33 team took advantage of their good fortune and came back down pit road on lap 65 for two left-side tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. Hornaday restarted the race on lap 68 in the 28th position. By lap 97, Hornaday had broken back into the top 10 and continued to move forward picking trucks off one by one. Hornaday said little about the handling of the No. 33 truck, focused on making his way back to the front of the field. The yellow flag was displayed once again on lap 129. Hornaday radioed to his spotter Rick Carelli to do whatever he could to get him to the high lane as quickly as possible on restarts, since his truck worked the best on the top of the race track.
As the laps quickly wound down, Hornaday was scored in the seventh position on lap 150. The leaders became separated with lap traffic in the closing laps making it difficult for Hornaday to advance his position. On lap 164 the second and third place trucks of Timothy Peters and Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) teammate of Elliott Sadler got together in turn one. Both trucks sustained damage and Hornaday was able to move into the sixth position and rejoin the leaders for the restart on lap 169. Hornaday used the high side to his advantage, rocketing past the bottom lane of trucks into the third position. The caution waved twice more before a large crash on the back stretch put the O’Reilly 200 under red flag conditions. The No. 33 team was good to the end of the race on fuel, but many of the leaders were unable to make it for the green-white-checkered finish. Hornaday held off Mike Skinner to take the checkered flag in the third position.
The run marks Hornaday’s third top-10 finish in 12 days of racing in the Truck Series, he moves up one position in the point standing to fifth, 333 points behind Todd Bodine. Kyle Busch went on to win his third straight Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway followed by Aric Almirola, Hornaday, Skinner and Justin Lofton.
The Truck Series returns to action next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway for the EnjoyIllinois.com 200, which can be seen, live on SPEED at 8:30pm, EST.
STATS RECAP
Race Info
August 18, 2010
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race: 16 of 25
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Started: 5th
Finished: 3rd
Truck Series Point Standings: 333
points behind leader Todd Bodine
Next on the Schedule for the No. 33:
Date: August 27, 2010
Track: Chicagoland Speedway
Event Name: EnjoyIllinois.com 200
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Broadcast Time: SPEED 8:30 p.m., EST MRN 8:45 p.m., EST