Heading into Eldora Speedway on Wednesday night, Ron Hornaday Jr. looked to get his 2014 season back on track following a disappointing finish at Iowa Speedway a few weeks ago. Hornaday looked to put together a solid run in his second-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Eldora Speedway. The four-time NCWTS champion and his Exide team accomplished that feat, leading laps and bringing home a runner-up finish for Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) at Eldora.
During the one-day show at Eldora, the NCWTS had two practice sessions where Hornaday and the No. 30 Exide team put down the 13th and fourth- fastest laps, respectively. Hornaday then went out in qualifying and laid down a lap of 20.025 sec., which was good enough for the third starting position. Due to Eldora’s unique format, the lap Hornaday laid down determined the starting positions in the NCWTS qualifying heat races. The NCWTS veteran competed in the third of five heat races from the pole and went on to lead every lap en route to winning the heat. Winning the third qualifier put Hornaday in the third starting position for the 150-lap main event.Taking the green flag in the third position, thHornaday quickly settled into his spot. Prior to the first caution of the race, a flying Hornaday was able to move into the second position on lap 26, while the NCWTS veteran reported that the Exide truck had no forward bite. Hornaday was able to take advantage of the first restart following the lap 28 caution. Hornaday battled with the leader for one lap before moving to the point position on lap 32. The NCWTS veteran remained in the top spot for the following 17 laps before surrendering the lead to the eventual race winner on lap 49. By the time the first competition yellow began after 60 laps, Hornaday slipped a few positions to fourth in the running order. When the race resumed with 90 laps remaining, Hornaday moved forward to the third position, continuing to battle with the race leaders. By lap 70, Hornaday was back up to second, where the NCWTS veteran remained until the second competition caution flew on lap 110. When the race resumed, Hornaday slipped one position to third. Hornaday remained in the third position in the race’s closing laps, until on the final lap, when TSM teammate Larson lost his brakes, moving the No. 30 Exide truck into the second position, where Hornaday would ultimately finish. The top-five finish was Hornaday’s third of 2014. Hornaday now sits fourth in the NCWTS Driver Point Standings, 19 points out of the championship lead heading into Pocono Raceway next weekend.
Ron Hornaday on his run at Eldora Speedway:
“Well, that was a fun race, but anytime you can run up front and lead laps it’s going to be fun; that was definitely the case tonight out on the dirt. I can’t thank Turner Scott Motorsports enough for the opportunity to go out and compete in these trucks. I also want to thank Exide for coming on board for this weeks race at Eldora. Getting to meet them this week was a lot of fun and it was even more enjoyable being able to put together a solid run for everyone here. Our No. 30 team will look to build upon this and have another strong run next weekend at Pocono.”
TSM PR
