Ron Hornaday held off Austin Dillon over the final 10 laps to win the Kentucky 225 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night for his 50th victory in NASCAR’s Camping World Trucks Series.
Hornaday, the winningest driver in Trucks history, beat Dillon by 0.438 seconds to take Kevin Harvick Inc. to victory lane for the third time this season.
The 53-year-old driver has won races on 30 tracks, is the series’ all-time short track winner with 22 wins and also won three races on road courses. His best season was 1997, when he won seven times, but Hornaday has won six or more races in five seasons. Louisville Courier-Journal
Hornaday led the final 11 of 150 laps on the 1.5-mile speedway after leader Todd Bodine pitted. The key to Hornaday’s win came on his last pit stop for four tires and fuel. Hornaday led four times for 42 laps.
Hornaday talked more about his 50 wins than his late-race duel with Dillon, a 21-year-old in his second full season in the series.
“It will mean a lot when I sit on the front porch in the rocking chair with my grandkids and I can tell them that I won 50 races,” Hornaday said. “Austin is an up-and-coming star, and at age 53, I beat him.” NASCAR.com
Finishing second, Dillon increased his lead in the championship standings to three points over James Buescher, who placed third.
“I was driving so hard, but the right-front [of the truck] started pushing really bad,” Dillon said. “I just got too tight in traffic.”
Nelson Piquet Jr. finished fourth, followed by Brian Ickler, who drove Kyle Busch’s No.18 Toyota, and Ricky Carmichael.
Todd Bodine, Cole Whitt, Dakoda Armstrong and David Starr completed the top-10. MiamiHerald.com
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