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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
DUNLAP: Upping The Ante
Despite the recent string of down-to-the-wire NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships, expect the 2010 season to upstage those that preceded it...
Ray Dunlap  |  Posted January 14, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Ray Dunlap, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Reporter. (Photo: SPEED)
Ron Hornaday and the Kevin Harvick Inc. organization have become the dominant team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and unlike many athletes, passing the half-century mark in age doesn’t seem to have slowed the California native at all. Much like his close friend Jimmie Johnson in the Sprint Cup series, if someone plans to dethrone either driver, they are going to have to up the ante.

Had Hornaday not missed clinching the 2008 championship by one position (seven points), we would be calling him a five-time title winner, three of those consecutive. The No. 33 truck won five straight races during the middle of last summer and Big Ron’s career win total stands at an astonishing 45.

However, in my opinion, the 2009 season and Ron Hornaday’s record-setting run at the championship was a bit of an anomaly. The unique landscape of the season better enabled Hornaday and the No. 33 KHI Chevy to dominate in an easier fashion than might have been possible in years past. So many odd factors were at work, such as former Truck Series champion Mike Skinner driving for a new team and new manufacturer, Johnny Benson sidelined due to injury and Ted Musgrave and Jack Sprague’s absence from the driver seat, not to mention the national economic downturn.

Despite the recent string of highly competitive, down-to-the-wire championships in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, I expect the 2010 season to upstage those that preceded it. If things go as planned, look for the upcoming season to be about 40-percent more competitive than 2009.

Following the championship awards banquet, Rick Ren resigned as Hornaday’s crew chief to serve as the director of competition for Kyle Busch Motorsports, a new two-truck operation, leaving a void that theoretically could level the playing field against Hornaday. Although a new team, you’d be foolish to count out Busch’s trucks. Furthermore, Skinner has established himself with Randy Moss Motorsports and has a secret weapon in veteran crew chief Gene Nead, newly named to guide the No. 5 team.

I’ve always lauded Ren as an integral part of Hornaday’s success – he didn’t get to be the winningest crew chief in series history by accident. However, Busch’s team has an incredibly daunting task ahead to quickly build and prepare equipment, not to mention their team and its chemistry. Additionally, they’d like to put a third team together for Johnny Benson if sponsorship surfaces, and if they do, that third team would pose an even larger undertaking for the start-up organization. While I consider Ren to be the best in our business, this challenge will test even his resolve, but when the kinks are worked out, look for Kyle Busch Motorsports to give KHI and Hornaday a weekly run for their money.



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