Winning from the Pole, Hornaday Dominates for Second Week in a Row

Hornaday Takes Home the Final Elvis Trophy from Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (June 28, 2009) --- For the second week in a row, Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team dominated Saturday’s Truck Series event.  Hornaday came into Memphis ( Tenn. ) Motorsports Park (MMP) as the new point’s leader following his dominant win in last weekend’s race at The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Mile.  In a commanding performance Hornaday and the No. 33 Longhorn team took the pole, as the only team to break the 22-second barrier, with a lap time of 22.947 seconds.  Leading an impressive 175 of 201 laps, Hornaday went on to claim his third victory of 2009 and the 42nd of his Truck Series career.    

“This has been a pretty commanding truck,” said Hornaday.  “I’m not sure what we keep doing to it, but we need to keep doing it. I really have to thank Rick Ren (crew chief) and all of these guys for all of their hard work. It was really hot this weekend, but no one gave up and everyone stayed well hydrated.  This is pretty cool that I won the last Elvis trophy that they are going to have here.  I race for trophies and this has to be one of the nicest.  I have to thank Longhorn, Kevin and DeLana (Harvick) and everyone else at KHI who makes racing these trucks possible.  The last two weeks have been really fun and I look forward to a few weeks off before Kentucky .”

As temperatures reached record highs in the Memphis area, teams in the NASCAR Truck Series prepared for the 11th race of the 25-race season.  Hornaday and the No. 33 team rolled into MMP with momentum on their side and the same truck they went to victory lane with the week before at The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Mile. The No. 33 Longhorn team was also looking to defend their win at Memphis one year ago and expand their point’s lead.

When the race began, Hornaday took the lead for the first 53 laps.  The caution waved at lap 53 for an accident in turn four involving the No. 87 truck.  Hornaday would relinquish the lead to bring the No. 33 truck down pit road for the first scheduled pit stop of the day.  The team took on four tires and made no adjustments to the truck.  The following lap Hornaday took on two cans of fuel.  TJ Bell, who did not pit for fuel, became the leader and Hornaday restarted second on lap 57.  By lap 58, Hornaday had once again assumed the lead. 

The No. 33 led the field for the next 54 laps until the fifth caution of the day waved at lap 110.  Playing right into their pit strategy, Rick Ren (crew chief) brought the No. 33 down pit road for their second scheduled pit stop of the day.  On lap 112, the team changed four tires and made a slight air-pressure adjustment to the left-rear tire.  The following lap the team came down pit road for one can of fuel, enough to make it to the end of the race.  A few teams, who had pitted nearly 30 laps prior to this caution, opted to stay out on the track. Hornaday restarted in the third position behind Brian Scott and David Starr on lap 116.  Hornaday quickly moved into second on lap 117.  However, Hornaday would have to battle Scott for 20 laps before retaking the lead for the final time on lap 135. 

Racing to the checkered flag, Hornaday built up a 25 truck length advantage in the closing laps.  An untimely caution at lap 196 would throw the MemphisTravel.com 200 into overtime and a green-white-checkered situation.  “The restart king,” Hornaday, held off a hard charging Scott to win his third race of 2009.  Hornaday continues to add to his Truck Series record of 42 career victories.  Scott finished second followed by Starr, Aric Almirola and Matt Crafton.

Hornaday and the No. 33 team now have a 76-point advantage over Matt Crafton.  The Truck Series will now take a two week hiatus, heading to Kentucky Speedway on July 18th.