The timing couldn’t be better for Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) to return to Mansfield Motorsports Park. Hornaday, the defending race winner at Mansfield, ended a 17-race winless streak when he grabbed the checkered flag at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last Friday night.
Hornaday had not won a race since Kentucky Speedway on July 8, 2006. The streak was the third-longest of Hornaday’s career – he went 28 races without a victory in 2005-2006.
The win moved Hornaday up to third in the standings. It is the first time Hornaday, the series champion in 1996 and 1998, has been third since Oct. 2005, following Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hornaday now has 30 career victories in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – a series record. He has won at least one race in nine different seasons, including every season that he has started more than one race (he started one race in 2004 and finished sixth).
Saturday’s Ohio 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Park will be broadcast on FOX, the second series race the network will air this season.
Before the season, FOX announced that two races would air on the network – the March 31 race at Martinsville Speedway and a second event to be determined.
The Martinsville race earned a 1.6 national rating on FOX, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the most watched series event in 10 years.
The last time a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race had been broadcast on network television before this season was in 2000.
