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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 28,
2009) — Rain was the word of the extended weekend at
Kansas Speedway. For the second time in 2009, the NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series was forced to postpone their event
until Monday. Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Copart/Kevin Harvick
Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet team qualified on the pole for the first
time in 2009. Varying pit strategies and more rain resulted in
a fourth place finish for the No. 33 team as the race ended
under red-flag conditions. “I thought our pit strategy was
going to work out,” said Hornaday as the rain fell. “We had
the freshest tires of anyone out there. Rick Ren (crew chief)
made a good call. Had we have gone to the end of this thing; I
think we would have been the truck they were all chasing. It’s
really frustrating to race this way, but you can’t control
Mother Nature. I just want to thank all of my guys on this
Copart team. I had an awesome truck, I just hate we didn’t get
the chance to show what we had there at the end.”
Saturday’s event began under ominous skies. In the early laps,
Hornaday battled longtime rival Mike Skinner for the lead. The
first caution of the race waved at lap three for a spin by
Hornaday’s KHI teammate Ricky Carmichael. Following the
restart on lap six, Hornaday grabbed the lead for the first
time. The No. 33 truck took a commanding lead pulling away
from the field by 10 truck lengths. The first set of pit stops
for the field began at lap 39. The No. 33 team decided to take
four tires then come back the following lap to fill the truck
full of fuel. The rain came at lap 45 putting the field back
under the yellow flag and eventually leading to a red flag at
lap 52. NASCAR officials decided to reschedule the remainder
of the race until Monday. Following a day off, the No. 33 team
was ready to complete what they started. Under red-flag
conditions NASCAR normally does not allow teams to touch their
race vehicles. However, in this instance NASCAR did allow each
of the teams to fill their trucks with fuel, bringing teams
back to a level playing field as far as fuel mileage was
concerned. Restarting in the fourth position at lap 61,
Hornaday quickly showed the strength of the No. 33 truck
moving to second spot in less than a lap. A caution at lap 71
proved to be the turning point of the race. Several trucks
came down pit road to take fuel only. The No. 33 team decided
to take four tires, waiting to come down pit road for fuel at
the competition caution on lap 85. On lap 90, Hornaday resumed
the lead and began to pull away from the pack.
With the threat of rain on the horizon, the No. 33 team could
not make it to the end of the race on fuel. Crew chief, Rick
Ren felt that tires were vital in order to beat the leaders
and resume the lead. The No. 33 came down pit road at lap 113
to take four tires. The team came back down pit road on lap
115 to top off the tank in the event the race made it the
complete distance. Leaders Skinner and Brian Scott opted not
to take tires. On the restart, Skinner pulled out to a two
second lead on the field. Hornaday restarted in the ninth
position, but by lap 120 had moved into the fourth spot. Two
laps later, NASCAR threw the caution for rain. The race ran
under caution until lap 132 when the red flag was displayed.
The rain continued to fall and NASCAR decided to end the event
35 laps shy of the advertised race distance. The No. 33 Copart
Chevrolet ended the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 in the fourth
position, gaining one spot in the point standings, moving to
second. Hornaday remains 25 markers out of the lead position
behind Skinner. Skinner went on to win the rain-shortened
event followed by Johnny Benson, Brian Scott, and Hornaday.
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