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Hornaday Puts Up Tough Fight, Finishes 24th After Late-race Accident
August 22, Bristol, TN--- Ron Hornaday and the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado team were looking at a possible top-five finish and a gain in the NASCAR Truck Series point standings on Wednesday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in the O’Reilly 200 presented by Camping World RV Sales. But a late-race accident relegated the team to a 24th-place finish.
“It is just Bristol,” Hornaday said. “I thought I checked up. I don’t know who got in the back of me and lifted the back tires off the ground. I had no control. I was going to go low. It is a shame. The Camping World Chevrolet was good. We knew Johnny (Benson) pitted and we were just trying to gain some points on him, I didn’t know he was running sixth, but with 20-something laps to go, we had to stay out. We needed one more stop to make the truck good enough to beat those guys, but we still had a good enough truck to run in the top five. It’s a shame and I hate to see that happen. It’s tough on the points.”
Hornaday started from the sixth position when the green flag flew on the first of 200 scheduled laps and quickly took over the fifth position by lap 10. With the truck’s handling on the loose side, he battled to hold on to the fifth spot before settling into sixth by lap 30, where he ran for the next 11 laps.
When the caution flag came out on lap 40, crew chief Rick Ren called Hornaday to pit road for the first pit stop of the night for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Because four of the top-10 trucks opted to stay out under caution, Hornaday restarted from the 11th position on the lap 45 restart.
Hornaday took the fifth position on lap 78, where he continued until taking the fourth spot on lap 110.
On lap 179, with Hornaday still running in the fourth position, the trucks of Shelby Howard and Bryan Silas got together and spun going into the middle of turns one and two. As Hornaday and KHI teammate Jack Sprague slowed to avoid the wreckage, but unfortunately they got collected in the accident, forcing NASCAR officials to red flag the race for 10 minutes to clear the track of debris.
The No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado was taken behind the wall for repairs and Hornaday was evaluated and released from the infield medical center. Once the caution was displayed, the crew instantly went to work repairing the truck. Hornaday got back behind the wheel and returned to the track on lap 196 and was able to gain a position before finishing the race in the 24th position.
After the race, Hornaday remains in second place in the NASCAR Truck Series point standings, 119 points behind leader Johnny Benson with nine races remaining in the season.
Sprague Endures Mayhem at Bristol with Top-Fifteen Finish
August 22, Bristol, TN--- Jack Sprague and the No. 2 American Commercial Lines (ACL) Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet team were involved in a late-race multi-truck crash that resulted in a 14th-place finish Wednesday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in the O’Reilly 200.
“Ernie (Cope, crew chief) and the guys gave me a great truck,” said Sprague following the race. “Prior to qualifying we changed everything, the entire setup. After qualifying, I felt like we were going to have a good race. I was really saving my stuff after our only pit stop. I knew that I was going to have to race that set of tires a while so I was conserving and trying to stay out of trouble. By the end of the race we were a top-three or-four truck. With about 20 laps to go, there was that wreck in one and two, by the time I figured out what was going on, Hornaday had the brakes locked up and so did I. I got into him and ruined his night. I hate that we got together, after that it was just survival, my night was over too.”
Sprague began the race from the 12th position. As the green flag dropped Sprague methodically moved his way toward the front. The team came down pit road under caution on lap 41 for their only pit stop of the day. They took four tires and fuel, returning to competition in the 13th spot.
Through the middle portion of the event, Sprague consistently ran lap times faster than the leader and eventual race winner, Kyle Busch. Sprague continued to conserve his equipment, telling the No. 2 team that his truck was coming to him. On lap 179 Sprague was running in the fifth position, catching KHI teammate Ron Hornaday for the fourth spot. Two trucks crashed in turns one and two, and Hornaday and Sprague both locked their brakes to try and miss the incident. However, Sprague ran into the back of Hornaday, sustaining major front-end damage to the No. 2 ACL Chevrolet.
Following the incident, the team determined the damage was not severe enough to warrant a trip to pit road. With 16 laps remaining, Sprague restarted the race in ninth place, but struggled to hang on to his badly wounded No. 2 ACL Chevrolet, crossing the finish line in the 14th position.
Jon Wood in the no. 21 Wood Brothers Barnhill Group Ford F-150 Finished 16th in O'Reilly 200
August 21, Bristol, TN---
It was a race full of cautions in typical Bristol
fashion, with a seemingly bleak start in the 34th position near the rear of the
field, Jon Wood had a decent run in the no. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Barnhill
Group Ford F-150 and completed the race in 16th place.
Jon took the green flag in the in the 34th position after an afternoon of
battling with a tight handling race truck during both practice sessions and
qualifying on Wednesday August 20th. Throughout the event, there was hard racing
with beating and banging, multiple cautions and a red flag. Jon reported a tight
condition from the start, but began to move up in the field by lap 40. He was in
the 30th position and one lap down to the leader. At that point he discovered
that if he drove on the high side of the track, he ran pretty well, but on the
low side of the track, it was extremely tight.
After the fourth caution and close to the midway mark of the 200 lap race, Jon
realized that the issue at hand was that they most likely over adjusted the
springs after qualifying, trying to fix the tight condition that still
persisted.At that point there was nothing they could do to change it, just
adjust the truck the best they could to help with the handling issues.
As the race restarted on lap 92, Jon was scored in the 27th position. He
radioed to the crew, “The truck is flawless if I drive on the high side of the
track.” As another caution came out of lap 109, Jon won his lap back by being
the first car one lap down from the leader. The team made a pit stop for four
tires and fuel. He restarted on lap 116 in the 20th spot.
On lap 124, a multiple truck wreck caused the caution flag to wave; Spotter
Danny O’Quinn gave precise instruction for Jon to move out of the way of the
crashing race trucks. With the good calls, Jon escaped with no damage. He
restarted in the 21st position on lap 134.
As the laps wound down, the team struggled with a loose condition that came into
play. Caution on lap 178, was the second multi-truck accident that brought out
the red flag for track clean up. Jon and Crew Chief John Monsam, contemplated on
whether to pit or not at that point. The restart would leave only 20 laps to the
finish. They decided not to pit and ride the rest of the race out dealing with
the condition the best they could. Jon restarted the race on lap 183 in the 18th
position. After three more cautions ensued, the green, white, checkered flag
scenario went into play. Jon finished the event in the 16th position.
Wood Brothers Racing and the no. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford F-150 will head to St.
Louis, MI for their next race on September 6th with Keven Wood back behind the
wheel for the Camping World 200.
NCTS Recap: Busch Wins O'Reilly 200; Benson
Falls Short
By Amanda Brahler
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
August 20, Bristol, TN--- Kyle Busch continued his NASCAR dominance Wednesday night, winning the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway for his third Craftsman Truck Series win of the season and his 17th overall in 2008 in NASCAR’s top three series.
The scheduled 200-lap race was extended three laps after Erik Darnell spun off of Turn 2 on Lap 199 to bring out the last of a record 12 cautions and set up a green-white-checker finish. Busch’s No. 51 Toyota struggled with vapor locking under previous restarts, but his final and most important restart on Lap 201 was flawless and he easily beat Todd Bodine.
“The last restart, it did it coming to the white (flag). Fortunately we were able to get it there,” Busch said of the vapor locking issues. His ninth series win was the first on a short track bettering a pair of fifths.
Busch led 145 laps and now has won in all three series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and NCTS – at the .533-mile track. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle previously captured Bristol's national series "hat trick."
Johnny Benson, who was trying to become the first driver to win four consecutive truck races, finished fourth behind polesitter Scott Speed. Rick Crawford was fifth.
T.J. Bell, Mike Skinner, Dennis Setzer, David Stremme and Ted Musgrave rounded out the top 10.
Two-time and reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson made his truck debut and led for a bit before ending the night in the garage. During a caution, Johnson stayed out and inherited the lead on Lap 42. He led 29 laps before Busch, with fresher tires, drove by on the inside of Johnson’s Randy Moss Motorsports Chevrolet to reclaim the lead.
Johnson’s night ended on Lap 102 when he lost control of his truck, spinning in the middle of the track. Jeff Green, with nowhere to go, slammed Johnson’s parked Chevrolet. Johnson finished 34th.
The night also had a red flag that stopped the race for 10 minutes, 30 seconds. On Lap 177, Shelby Howard and Bryan Silas got together in Turn 2, blocking the track. Kevin Harvick Inc. teammates Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday Jr. were collected when Sprague got into the rear of Hornaday as both cars tried to avoid the accident.
Hornaday remained second in the points standings behind Benson, but his 24th-place finish dropped him from 45 points back to 119 with nine races left in the season.
TOYOTA NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Bristol Motor Speedway
August 20, Bristol, TN--- Kyle Busch won his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race of the season Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch won back-to-back races earlier this season at California (Feb. 23) and Atlanta (March 7). Busch led twice for a race-high 145 of 203 laps in the Billy Ballew Motorsports No. 51 Tundra. Todd Bodine (second), pole-sitter Scott Speed (third) and Johnny Benson (fourth) also scored top-five finishes for Toyota.
Tundra drivers Mike Skinner (seventh), David
Stremme (ninth), Ted Musgrave (10th), Justin Marks (22nd), Terry Cook (23rd),
David Starr (29th) and Ken Schrader (33rd) were also in the field. Busch's win
is the eighth of the season for Toyota in NCTS competition, and 47th for the
manufacturer since joining the series in 2004.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Energy Drink Toyota Tundra, Billy
Ballew Motorsports Finished: 1st
How does it feel to get to victory lane for the third time in the Truck Series
this year?
"It feels pretty good. This is definitely a great race team. It's a lot of fun
with Billy Ballew (owner), Richie (Wauters, crew chief) and all these guys. We
just had a great race tonight. This thing was pretty good when we unloaded it.
Same stuff as last year. We just kind of fine-tuned on it a little bit. We
got into it a little bit with Johnny (Benson) there. Sorry about that. I
didn't even see him come down there. I got my nose in there, and he was trying
to miss a lapped truck, I guess. Overall, we just wanted to stay up front up
all night and keep our nose clean. To bring this Miccosukee Resorts and NOS
Energy Drink Toyota to victory lane is awesome."
What does it mean to have won in all three NASCAR series at Bristol?
"It's fun to be able to win anywhere. It's also fun to win in anything at any
track, but to win in all three series at one track is pretty special. I've been
able to do it at Phoenix and here, and one shy at a couple other places, two shy
at some places and three shy at most of them. I've still got a long way to go.
I have to thank all the guys at Toyota and TRD."
Did you learn anything for the Cup Series and Nationwide Series races later this
week?
"A little bit. Some of those guys started off pretty tight and just got
tighter. I started off loose and got a little tight. I was just a little freer
than those guys. I was a little bit more able to carry my speed better through
the corners than they were, and that helped me. I just got some good restarts
and was able to hold them off."
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finished:
2nd
There were reports your engine was sputtering. Did you have any problems?
"The last half of the race it (engine) didn't do it, but it did it really bad
there one time. It kind of worried me, but it didn't do it after that. I was
keeping it cleaned out really good on the restarts and on the cautions and
trying to keep it cleaned out. This Toyota power plant ran good. The Toyota
Tundra was awesome. The Lumber Liquidators crew did a great job. We've
struggled the last month-and-a-half, running really well and getting caught up
in wrecks, and just dumb things happening. Last week, we got third in Nashville
and we got second tonight. So, hopefully we got this Germain race team turned
around and going in the right direction again."
Could you have caught Kyle Busch?
"No. His truck would roll in the center and that's where he would beat me. We
had that problem in practice. Unfortunately, it was still there in the race --
we didn't get it fixed. I could run with him everywhere except through the
middle. At Bristol, that's what you have to do -- you have to roll through the
middle good."
Did you have to worry about Scott Speed?
"Scott (Speed) was good. I think Scott (Speed) actually had a little better
truck than us, but when you're that close in speed it's hard to pass. He did a
great job and Johnny (Benson) did also coming back with those tires."
Why did you have 'Beautiful' written above your race truck's door?
"I really wanted to win this race for 'Big Guy' (Steve Helwig). If you met 'Big
Guy' he was your best friend. That's just the kind of person he was. We got a
big hole in our hearts right now. I wanted to win this for him. I got
'Beautiful' up here on the truck -- that's 'Big Guy's' saying -- that's what
he's known for. We tried to get a beautiful win for him but just didn't get
it,"
SCOTT SPEED, No. 22 Red Bull Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing Finished: 3rd
What's your first impression of racing at Bristol?
"It was cool. The racing was a lot more difficult than driving in qualifying.
It was great. Honestly, definitely one of the more fun tracks -- like
Michigan, where you can really run two-wide, there are two grooves here. For
short track stuff -- this is easily my favorite."
Have you every seen this race track before?
"I've seen it (Bristol) on TV. Being here is a lot different when you take the
car on the track in person. The banking is more aggressive in person. It's
just two corners though. They give me a good truck -- like they always do --
then we normally run in the front."
Did you have anything for Todd Bodine late in the race?
"We were fast. I saved a lot in the middle knowing we had to be good in the
end. Honestly, at the end, I think we had the best truck out there. We saved
our right front really well, but with all the green-white-checkers and
everything -- and me and Johnny (Benson) getting together really bad -- we
missed our opportunity to attack."
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 23 EXIDE Batteries Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing Finished:
4th
How was your race tonight and how costly was the late pit stop for tires?
"Well, it was okay. Trip Bruce (crew chief) and the guys -- week in and week
out -- do a great job on this Exide Tundra. We're pretty excited about how the
night ended. We were having tire problems like everybody out there. We had to
pit. We had to do the safe thing knowing that we could drive up there. We just
didn't have enough -- we just didn't have enough green stuff and the yellows
kind of caught us in some bad spots. I'm proud of the guys. They did a great
job."
Do you have to race more conservatively now that you're leading the point
standings?
"No, not at all. I think we have to win more races to win the championship.
We're not going to change anything we've been doing."
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing Finished: 7th
DAVID STREMME, No. 15 Hyprene-Ergon Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 9th
TED MUSGRAVE, No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finished: 10th
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 9 Crocs Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finished: 22nd
TERRY COOK, No. 60 Wyler.com Toyota Tundra, Wyler Racing Finished: 23rd
DAVID STARR, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finished:
29th
KEN SCHRADER, No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Toyota Tundra Finished: 33rd
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