By JOHNNY BUCK - Martinsville Bulletin Sports Editor
Defending truck series champion Ron Hornaday won five consecutive races last season, something that hadn’t been done since 1971.
At this point, however, finishing on the lead lap would be an improvement. Though Hornaday qualified well at the season-opener at Daytona (fifth) and the March 6 race in Atlanta, where he won the pole, the veteran driver has yet to finish better than 27th this year.
Considering Hornaday’s 45 career victories are the most all-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the rough start has been tough on him.
“If you go back to last year, we had two DNFs, and we just can’t have any more mulligans this year, so we’re just gonna go out there and try to win this thing,” said Hornaday on Thursday. “I try to go to every race to win, and the points will fall where they’ll fall.”
Surprisingly, a win Saturday in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville would be Hornaday’s first at the paper-clip shaped oval. It’s one of just nine tracks on the circuit where he’s never won, a fact made even more odd because 20 of his career wins have come at short tracks, a total that tops all other NCWTS drivers.
“We definitely just need a good finish,” he said. “I mean, I’d love to win here at Martinsville ... but there always seems to be a problem.”
A good finish will be much tougher for the No. 33 Longhorn pilot if the trucks can’t qualify. Saturday’s weather forecast included a 30 percent chance of showers, and if Friday’s qualifying session was postponed and not made up, the field would be set based on points.
In Hornaday’s case, that would mean the 28th starting spot.
Even if he does get to qualify, there are plenty of tough competitors to deal with. Mike Skinner had a 111.6 driver rating at short tracks last season, and veteran Johnny Benson will also be in the field.
Benson won the 2008 points championship but has competed in just 9 of 27 NCWTS races since. That being said, he’s he has scored three top 5s and five top 10s in those contests.
Points leader Todd Bodine, who finished second at Martinsville’s fall race last year, and Timothy Peters, currently No. 2 in points and the defending champ at Martinsville, will also be in the field.
So will Hornaday’s team owner, Kevin Harvick, who took the checkered flag at Martinsville’s ’09 spring race.
Harvick’s won the last three truck races in which he’s competed (Phoenix, Homestead, Atlanta). That means a win Saturday would be his fourth straight, a feat that hasn’t been matched since, well, Hornaday in ’09.
The four-time series champ fully understands that his boss writes the checks, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get out of Harvick’s way at Martinsville, especially if a win’s on the line.
“We’ll have to approach that (situation) when it comes,” he said. “We’ll race him hard like we race everybody else, and he’ll race us hard. We’ve just got to look at the big picture, and if we can finish 1-2 for KHI (Kevin Harvick Incorporated), that’s what we’ll do.”