Hornaday Grabs Pole, Closes in on Benson’s Point Lead with Fifth-Place Finish 

LAS VEGAS (September 22, 2008) – Ron Hornaday and the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado team made a strong showing on Saturday in the Qwik Liner Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by winning their third pole and scoring a fifth-place finish.

“I don’t know what to say,” Hornaday said. “My hat is off to Rick Ren (crew chief) and everyone on this Camping World Chevrolet Silverado team. We weren’t the best truck but we finished in the top five and we did everything we could do. We will go home and study this truck; it was a brand new build. It was a lot of fun today.”

Hornaday led the field to the green flag and led the first lap, earning five championship points. A few laps later, he radioed to crew chief Rick Ren to report a loose-handling condition. Over the next 12 laps, Hornaday went from running in the third position to running in the 10th position. The caution came out on lap 24 and the team took the opportunity to tighten the truck’s handling. Hornaday came down pit road under caution on lap 26 for four tires, fuel and a left-rear shock adjustment. He restarted on lap 29 from the 16th position.

The shock adjustment proved to be helpful as Hornaday drove from the 16th spot into the top 10 by lap 40. By lap 60, he was running just outside the top five, in the seventh spot. On lap 65, the caution came out after point’s leader Johnny Benson made contact with the outside wall. Ren called Hornaday down pit road for the second time of the night for four tires and fuel. Hornaday restarted on lap 71 from the seventh position.

Hornaday made another run to the front of the pack over the next 25 laps before the caution came out on lap 96. Knowing that they could make it the remainder of the race on fuel, Ren called Hornaday down pit road for the final time of the night on lap 98 four tires and fuel. With only himself and Todd Bodine taking four tires and everyone else taking two tires or fuel only, Hornaday restarted on lap 102 from the 15th position.

By lap 110, he had driven back into the top 10 and was running in the top five by lap 137. When the next-to-last caution came out on lap 138, Hornaday had taken the fourth spot. On the lap 141 restart, the field got bunched up ahead of Hornaday and he was forced to slow down and settled into the eighth position before the final caution came out on lap 142. On the final restart, with three laps to go, Hornaday drove back into the top five and took the checkered flag in fifth position.

With Saturday’s fifth-pace finish, Hornaday was able to gain 73 points on Johnny Benson and now trails Benson by one point in the NASCAR Truck Series point standings with six races remaining in the 2008 season. The next race for the Truck Series is October 4, 2008, at Talladega ( Ala. ) Superspeedway.