Hornaday Brings Home Solid Sixth-Place Finish at Texas

In his 23rd-career start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) at Texas Motor Speedway, Ron Hornaday made a solid showing in his No. 30 Ruud Chevrolet, bringing home a sixth-place finish. Hornaday’s weekend got off to a great start as his Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) team advanced to the final round of NASCAR’s knockout qualifying, ultimately qualifying 10th for the WinStar World Casino & Resort 400. When the green flag dropped, Hornaday quickly settled into the top 15, gearing up for racing under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway. By lap 15, Hornaday was back into the top 10 and looking to continue his march to the front. By lap 33, the four-time champ was up to fourth, just as the first caution of the race flew a lap later, bringing all of the lead lap trucks down pit road. The No. 30 Ruud team elected to put on four Goodyear tires and fill up the Silverado with Sunoco race fuel. A blistering-quick pit stop allowed Hornaday to not only maintain his position in the top five, but to also exit pit road as the new race leader. When racing resumed on lap 39 Hornaday fell from the top spot, settling into the third position. Hornaday maintained among the top three for a majority of the remainder of the race, withstanding multiple cautions and restarts. The final yellow flag of the race was displayed on lap 105, jumbling the field back up and allowing Hornaday an opportunity to challenge for the lead position on the restart. The NCWTS veteran made a daring three-wide pass into Turn 3 as the race resumed, ultimately coming out of Turn 4 as the race’s new leader. Two laps later, Hornaday settled into second as the race began to take on the look of a long sustained green-flag run. As the laps ticked off, it appeared more likely that fuel mileage would play a role in the overall finish of the event. Hornaday held strong in the second position until lap 158 out of the scheduled 167 laps, ultimately giving up the top-five spot to fill up his truck with Sunoco fuel after his TSM team concluded that the No. 30 Ruud Chevrolet would be unable to complete the scheduled distance. The forced pit stop ultimately relegated Hornaday to a sixth-place finish in the event.

Ron Hornaday on his top-10 finish:

“I’ve got to thank everyone back at the Turner Scott Motorsports shop for giving me a great Ruud truck tonight. It was a lot of fun racing up towards the front and battling for the lead. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make it on fuel, and that hurt our finishing position. Overall, I’m still proud of the crew and look forward to another solid run next weekend at Gateway.”

 

The finish marked Hornaday’s fourth top-10 finish of the season, and the veteran now sits third in the NCWTS Driver Point Standings, 23 points out of the lead. The NCWTS heads to Gateway next weekend for the seventh race of the 2014 season.  The Drivin’ for Linemen 200 will air live on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. EDT.

 

TSM PR