IN IT TO WIN IT: Ron Hornaday may have over 1700 laps around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval of Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, but only 147 of those laps completed were in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He made his first Darlington start in the series in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet last season and brought home a solid third-place finish. In addition, Hornaday has 11 previous starts at the ‘Lady in Black’, two in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and nine in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The four-time series champion will be looking to improve on their third-place finish and get to victory lane for the 48th time in his Truck Series career.
NUMBER 300: Just one week after celebrating its 300th Nationwide Series start, Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) will hit the same milestone in the Truck Series this weekend in Darlington. In their previous 298 starts, KHI trucks have earned 33 wins, 119 top-five’s, 177 top-10’s and two Truck Series championships.
TOO TOUGH TO TAME…FOR NOW: In the 10 years since KHI made its debut in the Truck Series, the team’s truck program has visited Darlington five times. The track that’s “Too Tough to Tame” has eluded KHI as one of the eight tracks on the current Truck Series schedule that the team has yet to earn a win, and is one of 10 tracks where KHI has not earned a Truck Series pole. However, the team is close to crossing Darlington off the list. In 2010, Hornaday earned KHI’s best Truck Series start at the track (fifth) and also scored the organization’s best finish of third.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. KHI 33-team took home a third-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway with chassis No. 051 and will once again utilize this chassis at Darlington. This particular chassis proved its potential last weekend and also during a test session at Gresham (Ga.) Motorsports Park in early February.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: The No. 33 Sherwin-Williams Chevrolet team was ready for action during the Truck Series event at Phoenix International Raceway. Four-time series champion Ron Hornaday wheeled the Chevrolet Silverado with a solid performance and ended the caution-filled night with a third-place finish, shooting up the charts from 28th to 10th in the point standings.
THOUGHTS FROM THE DRIVER: Ron Hornaday
What are you looking forward to heading to Darlington?
“I’m really looking forward to having another solid finish at Darlington. We finished third here last year and it was a best for KHI. We hope to set another best for KHI and bring home a victory. This track can be a beast if you aren’t careful. The track is pretty narrow so there is a lot of rubbin’ that goes on during the race.
“With all of the tracks on the Truck Series schedule today, there are eight that I have yet to grab a win at. Darlington is one of those. Hopefully this weekend the No. 33 team will help bring that list down to seven and prove that we can tame the track.”