LONG POND, Pa. (August 1, 2010)—- The No. 33 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Chevrolet team came to the “tricky triangle”, a new addition to the Truck Series schedule in 2010, with momentum, scoring win number one of the 2010 season last weekend at O’Reilly (Ind.) Raceway Park. However, bad luck, an unfortunate theme in the four-time champion’s season, struck once again, as Hornaday was involved in a late-race crash, resulting in a 29th-place finish. Hornaday took a hit in the championship point standings dropping to seventh, 268 points behind leader Todd Bodine.
“We were just too loose,” said Hornaday after the accident. “We were all racing for positions back there, I was on the top, Johnny [Sauter] was in the middle. He just got loose when Todd [Bodine] got under him. Before I knew it, we were wrecked. It’s just a disappointing day for the No. 33 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Chevrolet team.”
Hornaday started the Pocono Mountains 125 from the eighth position, while his Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) teammate Elliott Sadler scored his first Truck Series pole. On-track action began as soon as the green flag waved. The first caution came out on lap one for a spin down the backstretch. It was too early for teams to come down pit road and be able to make it a one-stop race, so the No. 33 team decided to stay out. The race restarted on lap three and one lap later Hornaday had gone from eighth to fourth, quickly catching the lead pack of Sadler, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin. However, as the laps clicked off, Hornaday’s truck became too tight.
By the half-way point at lap 25, Hornaday was scored in the seventh position. The second caution waved on lap 26, allowing the field to come to pit road for service as it put them in their window to make it to the end of the race on fuel. The No. 33 team opted for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. A solid stop by the No. 33 team allowed Hornaday to maintain his track position of seventh for the restart on lap 29. Only a few laps later, on lap 39, the caution waved again. Hornaday reported to his team that he was struggling with the aerodynamics of the truck, unable to move away from his competitors.
Hornaday continued to slide back through the field, and was scored in the ninth position when the caution waved again at lap 40. There was much debate between the leaders on whether to pit during what could have been the final caution of the race. However, none of the leaders chose to pit, setting up a restart with only 10 scheduled laps remaining. Hornaday battled up through the field on the restart, but was stalled by Mike Skinner and was only able to gain two positions, moving into seventh when the caution waved again on lap 45, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
The inaugural Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway went into overtime for the restart on lap 49. Hornaday, Johnny Sauter and Todd Bodine went three-wide into turn three. Bodine became loose on the bottom, running Sauter up the track into Hornaday in the top lane leaving him nowhere to go. Hornaday almost saved the No. 33 truck, but after a spin through the grass careened hard into the inside wall, ending his day. Hornaday’s KHI teammate Elliott Sadler went on to win the Pocono Mountains 125, scoring the third consecutive Truck Series win for KHI.
The Truck Series returns to action next weekend, August 7th at Nashville Superspeedway, where Hornaday is the defending winner.
STATS RECAP
Race Info
July 31, 2010
Pocono Raceway
Race: 13 of 25
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Started: 8th
Finished: 29th
Truck Series Point Standings: 7th (268 points behind leader Todd Bodine)
Next on the Schedule for the No. 33:
Date: August 7, 2010
Track: Nashville Superspeedway
Event Name: Nashville 200
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Broadcast Time: SPEED 8:30 p.m., EST MRN 8:45 p.m., EST