Ron Hornaday Jr. took the lead on a restart with 18 laps to go and never looked back to win Saturday’s Built Ford Tough 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway. The No.33 Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 0.135 seconds ahead of Mike Skinner for his third straight victory.
Johnny Benson was the last driver to win three consecutive races in the series. During his 2008 championship season, Benson won at Kentucky, O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis and Nashville before his streak was snapped at Bristol.
This is the second time the three-time series champion Hornaday has won three in a row. In 1997, he won at Milwaukee, Louisville and Colorado. MiamiHerald.com
“On Lap 45, if you had told me we’d win this race, I’d have told you you were lying,” Hornaday said. “We brought the truck back to where we could run [Turns] 3 and 4 wide open. We definitely had to pass some trucks.”
Hornaday was sixth for the Lap 127 restart in the 150-lap race on the 1.5-mile track. Crew chief Rick Ren made chassis and air pressure adjustments to the tires on the final two stops to give Hornaday a faster truck.
Hornaday used his tremendous ability on restarts to jump up to third before another caution came out four laps later. On the ensuing restart, he passed rookie Tayler Malsam on the inside of Turn 2 and Aric Almirola on the inside in Turn 4 to take the lead with 18 laps remaining. NASCAR.com
Hornaday, who also won this month in Milwaukee and Memphis, captured his fourth victory of the season and extended his points lead to 96 over Matt Crafton, who finished third Saturday despite constant visits to pit row with various problems.
“Without a doubt it isn’t bad,” Crafton said, “but the guy sitting in Victory Lane is leading in points and we’re second and lost points to him.”
“Our old truck just got a little tight right there,” Skinner said. “We could get her done.”
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The race was delayed for seven cautions, including three in the last 20 laps, half of which were run under the caution.
There were 12 lead changes, with Hornaday regaining it for good with 18 to go.
“We finally got the truck right,” Hornaday said. The Associated Press
Skinner quietly charged through the field all night after starting 19th and got the benefit of a few late-race wrecks to bring him within striking distance in the final laps.
“I’m frustrated, but not as frustrated as I was when I was running sixth,” said Skinner, third in the points standings. “We were just able to keep the fenders on, and some other guys had problems that allowed us to take a fifth-place truck and run second.”
Crafton overcame a pit-road penalty to finish third. Timothy Peters and Almirola rounded out the top five. Kentucky.com
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