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NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series
TRUCKS: Hornaday Goes For Fourth Title
Ron Hornaday can clinch the Truck Series title tonight in Phoenix..
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 13, 2009   Avondale, AZ
Ron Hornaday Jr. took the points lead at The Milwaukee Mile in June, where he began a remarkable streak of five consecutive victories, followed with wins at Memphis, Kentucky, Indianapolis and Nashville. He hasn’t trailed in the points since. (Phot
It’s been a magical season for Ron Hornaday Jr., who has dominated the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series all year long. And tonight at Phoenix International Raceway, Hornaday should cap it off by clinching his record fourth Truck Series championship.
Ron Hornaday Jr. took the points lead at The Milwaukee Mile in June, where he began a remarkable streak of five consecutive victories, followed with wins at Memphis, Kentucky, Indianapolis and Nashville. He hasn’t trailed in the points since. (Phot

The 51-year-old Palmdale, Calif., native will start the Lucas Oil 150 with a 197-point lead over Matt Crafton. If he finishes ahead of Crafton at PIR, Hornaday will clinch the championship.

And even if Crafton wins the last two races of the season and leads the most laps in each, Hornaday will only have to average a 22nd-place finish to win the title.

Thus, that Hornaday will win a fourth Truck Series title is pretty much a foregone conclusion. The only question is where he clinches it — here at PIR tonight, or at Homestead-Miami Speedway in a week.

Hornaday took the points lead at The Milwaukee Mile in June, where he began a remarkable streak of five consecutive victories. After winning at Milwaukee, he followed with triumphs at Memphis, Kentucky, Indianapolis and Nashville. He hasn’t trailed in the points since.

It really has been a spectacular season for Harvick, crew chief Rick Ren and the rest of the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. team. Tonight at PIR, though, Hornaday will try to make amends for one of last year’s nightmares.

While racing Johnny Benson for the 2008 Truck Series championship, Hornaday crashed on the opening lap at PIR, and went on to finish 25th in the race. The following week at Homestead, Benson finished one spot ahead of Hornaday and took the championship by a mere 7 points.

So despite this year’s many successes, Hornaday still has something to prove tonight at PIR.

“When you look back and think of why we didn’t win the championship in 2008, a lot of people point to Homestead,” said Hornaday. “I look at the season as a whole, running out of gas at Martinsville, getting taken out in Mansfield, and then wrecking on lap one in Phoenix. Even though this year our circumstances are different, we can’t look only at Homestead for the final call as to why we will or will not win the championship. Titles are won during a season, not in one race. I would really like to have last year’s Phoenix race to do over, but we don’t and now we are in a similar situation this year with just a different point margin. This year maybe I can keep the truck going in the right direction for more than a lap.”

In tonight’s race, Hornaday will drive the No. 33 VFW Chevrolet, chassis No. 037, which he last drove at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he finished second with it.

And make no mistake, he has his eyes squarely fixed on the big prize tonight.

“To me right now we are just focused on two more races,” said Hornaday. “I don’t look at the championship until Homestead. The No. 33 team is not only racing for the driver’s championship, we want to make sure Kevin and DeLana win the owner’s championship as well. I don’t go into it looking at how many points we are ahead. I know that we just need to win the last two races. That’s what I want to go do and then the points will take care of themselves.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to



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