FORT WORTH, Texas — Ron Hornaday Jr. won at Texas again, coming from a lap down early for a dominating NASCAR Truck Series victory that got him within six points of points leader Johnny Benson with two races to go.
Hornaday, caught in the pit on an early stop because of a caution, regained the lead from Kyle Busch on lap 108 of the 147-lap race at the 1½-mile high-banked Texas Motor Speedway. Hornaday finished 0.958 seconds ahead of Busch, who led 87 laps in a backup truck salvaged this week from a hauler fire.
Benson finished third, nearly 9 seconds behind. But by passing two trucks in the final five laps to get that close, Benson retained the points lead in the close championship race — though his margin was trimmed from 31.
“It’s going to come down to the end. That’s what it’s all about,” Hornaday said. “It’s pretty cool. There are two more races. We’ll see.”
Hornaday, the first driver to sweep both Texas races since Brendan Gaughan did so in 2002 and 2003, won with an average speed of 126.210 mph. It was his sixth victory this season and 39th in his career.
“We’ll take third and walk out of here,” Benson said.
Next week, they go to Phoenix before the finale at Homestead.
After initially taking the lead from Busch on lap 51, Hornaday gave it up when he went to the pits five laps later. About the same time his crew jacked up the truck, a caution flag came out when Jack Smith made contact with the inside wall on the backstretch.
“I thought we were down and out again,” Hornaday said.
That pushed Hornaday a lap down, but he was back on the lead lap by the time there was another caution on lap 66.
Midway through the race, Hornaday and Benson raced side-by-side and nose-to-tail for several laps. They were running ninth and 10th at the time.
On lap 108, Hornaday drove his Chrevrolet, owned by Kevin and DeLana Harvick, past Busch and Travis Kvapil. Hornaday stayed in front from there, building a 2-second advantage at one point.
With Busch and Benson finishing 2-3, Toyota clinched its third consecutive manufacturing championship in the Truck Series. Toyota already clinched the manufacturing championship in the Nationwide Series this season, back in September.
Both manufacturing titles come within weeks after NASCAR made rule changes aimed at cutting horsepower on Toyota motors used in the Nationwide and Truck Series.
Busch, also the runner-up to Hornaday in June, qualified this time in a truck that was salvaged from a hauler fire late Tuesday night that destroyed the primary truck and a lot of equipment owned by Billy Ballew Motorsports.
The backup truck was filled with water after firefighters put out the fire, but his crew got the truck ready for the race. And Busch led the first 50 laps.
Rick Crawford, one of only two drivers to run in all 22 truck races at Texas, started from the pole for the first time. He finished 11th after being involved in an early accident.
Todd Bodine, a four-time Texas winner, was fourth and Colin Braun fifth. Terry Cook, the other driver to run every Texas race, matched his best finish in sixth.
Cale Gale completed only one lap in his first start in the No. 2 Chevrolet, the same Harvick-owned truck that Ryan Newman drove to Victory Lane at Atlanta last week in his first Truck Series start.
On the second lap, with Kvapil inside of him, Cale moved up to give Kvapil more room, and made contact with Crawford running above him. That created a chain-reaction accident in which five trucks were damaged — with Crawford the only one able to stay in the race. A 10-lap caution period was needed to clean up the track.
Hornaday was just in front of the melee. Benson, behind the mess, had to brake hard to avoid contact with other trucks and was able to get to the bottom of the track to avoid trouble.
1. (7) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevrolet, 147 laps, 134.3 rating, 190 points, $70,950.
2. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 147, 141.1, 180, $45,850.
3. (20) Johnny Benson, Toyota, 147, 104.6, 165, $34,570.
4. (10) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 147, 100.9, 160, $20,485.
5. (9) Colin Braun, Ford, 147, 109.7, 155, $16,885.
6. (26) Terry Cook, Toyota, 147, 95.9, 150, $15,285.
7. (4) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 147, 111.9, 151, $11,335.
8. (17) Mike Skinner, Toyota, 147, 88.3, 142, $12,485.
9. (25) Brian Scott, Toyota, 147, 81.2, 138, $12,385.
10. (18) Scott Speed, Toyota, 147, 93.5, 134, $13,710.
11. (1) Rick Crawford, Ford, 147, 72.7, 130, $14,360.
12. (24) David Starr, Toyota, 147, 79, 127, $11,985.
13. (11) Dennis Setzer, Dodge, 147, 82.8, 124, $11,885.
14. (15) Donny Lia, Chevrolet, 147, 70.6, 121, $11,785.
15. (19) Jack Sprague, Toyota, 147, 71.6, 118, $12,810.
16. (21) Brendan Gaughan, Ford, 147, 61.1, 115, $11,760.
17. (13) Shelby Howard, Chevrolet, 147, 71.6, 112, $11,460.
18. (12) Erik Darnell, Ford, 146, 98.3, 109, $11,360.
19. (27) Matt Crafton, Chevrolet, 145, 61.1, 106, $11,260.
20. (22) Paul Tracy, Toyota, 144, 53.6, 103, $11,860.
21. (23) Jack Smith, Ford, 113, 44.8, 100, $8,810.
22. (14) Ryan Lawler, Toyota, 106, 37.2, 97, $9,710.
23. (16) Chad McCumbee, Chevrolet, 105, 61.1, 94, $9,610.
24. (29) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, accident, 64, 44.8, 91, $8,510.
25. (28) Jason White, Dodge, engine, 62, 43.5, 88, $8,410.
26. (31) J.C. Stout, Ford, overheating, 27, 42, 85, $8,310.
27. (30) Butch Miller, Chevrolet, rear end, 25, 45.2, 82, $8,210.
28. (32) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, vibration, 21, 42.3, 79, $8,110.
29. (5) Max Papis, Toyota, accident, 16, 49.4, 76, $8,010.
30. (2) Cale Gale, Chevrolet, accident, 1, 37.6, 73, $7,910.
31. (6) Jon Wood, Ford, accident, 1, 35.6, 70, $7,835.
32. (8) T.J. Bell Jr., Chevrolet, accident, 1, 37.5, 67, $7,810.
33. (34) Ryan Mathews, Dodge, vibration, 1, 35.8, 64, $7,795.
34. (33) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, engine, 0, 34, 61, $7,785.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.220 mph.
Time of Race: 1 hour, 44 minutes, 49 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.957 seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-50; R.Hornaday Jr. 51-55; K.Busch 56-58; T.Kvapil 59-61; K.Busch 62-95; T.Kvapil 96-107; R.Hornaday Jr. 108-147.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 87 laps; R.Hornaday Jr., 2 times for 45 laps; T.Kvapil, 2 times for 15 laps.
Top 10 in Points
1. J.Benson, 3,489; 2. R.Hornaday Jr., 3,483; 3. T.Bodine, 3,266; 4. E.Darnell, 3,136; 5. M.Crafton, 3,133; 6. M.Skinner, 3,123; 7. R.Crawford, 3,113; 8. D.Setzer, 2,924; 9. J.Sprague, 2,910; 10. T.Cook, 2,804.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
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