LOUDON, N.H. (September 25, 2011) — Searching for his 50th career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Ron Hornaday kept his No. 33 Cooked Perfect Meatballs Chevrolet Silverado in the top 10 for the majority of Saturday’s event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Despite a fast Chevrolet, the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team came across the finish line in the fourth position, the team’s ninth top-five result thus far this season.
Hornaday qualified for the 175-lap event in the fifth spot and quickly captured the fourth position after the green flag waved. The No. 33 Cooked Perfect Chevrolet continued to hold the fourth position until the first caution flag of the day waved on lap 62 for debris. Happy with the handling of his Chevrolet, the veteran driver visited pit road on lap 63 for four tires and fuel.
The field resumed racing on lap 65 with the Cooked Perfect Meatballs machine scored in fourth. Just as the field began to break into single-file racing, the yellow flag waved for a second time on lap 71 for debris. Hornaday elected to stay out on track during the caution and remained in the fourth position for the restart on lap 73.
Hornaday fought to hold on to the fourth position but slid back to the sixth spot on lap 74. By lap 113, Hornaday dropped another spot and reported to his KHI crew that his Chevrolet was tight in the corners.
The field began to cycle through green-flag pit stops on lap 127. Hornaday, running in the seventh position, maneuvered his Cooked Perfect Meatballs Chevrolet to pit road on lap 135 where the crew added four fresh tires, fuel and made an air-pressure adjustment before returning the No. 33 machine to the track in the ninth position.
With 30 laps to go to the end of the race, Hornaday moved into the seventh position. The driver continued to quickly move forward as he powered his way to the fourth position with 28 laps remaining. Hornaday worked to reach the top three as the laps wound down but held on to the fourth spot as checkered flag flew. The top-five finish maintains Hornaday’s fifth position in the Driver’s Point standings, 47 points from the lead with six races remaining in the season.
The Truck Series will return to action at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, October 1. Watch the action live on SPEED at 8 p.m. ET.
Comments from driver Ron Hornaday:
“I am so proud of this No. 33 team. The team worked hard all day and really did a great job. The pit crew was on their game today and we were able to get in and out of pit road with no issues. This No. 33 Cooked Perfect Meatballs Chevrolet was fast all day but it was really difficult to pass. We went single-file racing for the majority of the day and just couldn’t catch the leaders. We are gaining points on some of the guys in front of us in the championship battle. We are definitely going to go down to Homestead for this championship.”
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